Fun realization

Today, I came to my senses (well those that are left). I have no guilt about time between posts. I'm not making excuses to anyone, including me. This blog is here to serve me. So here I go.

I am taking steps to make myself as healthy as possible. I have for years spent more money than I had on snake oils to make me healthy, get rich quick schemes to make me wealthy (irony), and read books to make me more spiritual.

Now I say FUCK IT!

I'll follow doctor's orders, do physical therapy, eat healthfully (most of the time),  read and watch what I want , talk to those that make me happy, and do what I damn well please!!

I already feel better.

Later,

Jodi

Sticking with a habit

I am dealing with a life-long battle with inconsistency. Here I come again with my blog. The good part (always digging for that silver lining) is that my posts are always a surprise for my readers. My blogs are like a box of chocolates in the home of a chocoholic: not only do you not know what you're gonna get - you're never sure the box even has one! Ah well, accountability is tricky for a brat like me. Habits feel like limits- like straight jackets limiting creativity. However, music theory has rules in place that don't limit creativity. It just lays a foundation. What am I composing today? 

Physical Therapy Continued...

The last post contained mostly my waxing poetic about physical therapy and my new fascination with stretching. Today I would like to continue with why PT is so useful to the lives of those of us lucky buggers drafted into this fascinating disease.

There is a great introduction to physical therapy for MS at WebMD.com. They list several issues with MS that physical therapy can help. I will discuss those with which I have personal experience. Stretching is helpful for flexibility, but also to combat the clumsiness that leads to falls. My experience has been that stiff legs don't easily make the hundreds of tiny adjustments needed to keep one's balance. A great incentive to stretch is just falling straight-legged on your back from standing once. It hurt, but scared me more. It was like being kidnapped by gravity!

Clumsiness is another issue. My brain knows that to cut my steak, I need to hold the steak still on the plate with my left hand, while sawing through it with my right hand holding the knife. Damn, I miss that being easy! This week, I was rather successfully eating my delicious steak, lovingly prepared for me, and I dropped my fork, which rolled into my lap, along with the steak!! Ah, well, my lap is better than the floor, certainly.

This leads me to my favorite new word, proprioception. It means knowing where your  body is through your senses. That's tricky when your information highway is mangled!! I will just have to keep going until my body can create some bypasses with neuroplasticity. Thank heavens for that, so my brain can stretch to hold new vocabulary!!

See you tomorrow!

Physical therapy!!

That was all I can give you about the chair at the moment. Incidentally, my buddy Doug, from college, has given me a great name/acronym for it! It is now called... wait for it...F.R.E.D. - Fast Responsive Enabling Device. Thank you, Doug!!

Today, I want to talk about my favorite MS therapy—Physical Therapy. It is something I can see without a microscope, and the benefits are fast-acting and EMPOWERING! Pardon the caps attack, but I do feel strongly enough about this that I sometimes forget to use my indoor voice.  I always look forward to PT appointments. 

It feels good to move my body- especially when an expert is watching me so I know I'm not hurting myself. There is an immediate sense of accountability. There is no getting away with anything! Kind of like drill sergeants, but nice. They remind me of Mary Poppins. I do what they ask happily, as  if I'm taking a 'spoonful of sugar.' 

Honestly, I am, in a way. I have never met a physical therapist I didn't like. There must be something in the water at those schools. Alternatively, the students know so much about the human body, that they treat their own very well. A good recipe for happiness!

Wow, just talking about this, I feel like working out right now. Well at least my bedtime stretches.

This is about my new stretching book. I love it!!

High-end wheelchair part II

I promised to finish talking about my wheelchair today (or actually yesterday) but now it's a different today so... ah well.

That was a classic Jodi digression.

Onward! My chair is a Quantum Q6. I couldn't find which model I have in the Q6 series. I'm not a savvy consumer. One feature I didn't mention in the previous wheelchair entry is that it RECLINES. The first day I had the chair, after an exhausting maneuverability training, I rolled into the kitchen and reclined. It's like a freaking La-Z-Boy!! I fell sound asleep.

 When I woke up groggily (it was a good nap) I saw what the guy who sold me on the chair warned me about. I need to shift my weight or, better yet, get out of the blasted chair for a bit to (gasp) prevent pressure sores! It seriously scared the bejeebers outta me. So, I made dates twice or three times a day with Stan (my walker). Yes, I name my mobility devices. The cane is Candy (I miss her). my wheeled walker was Floyd, named after my great uncle who owned it before he passed. My manual wheelchair is Wheelma, and I haven't named the power chair yet. She's enormous and powerful, so maybe Big Bertha.
Well, dear friends, I have to go to bed. It's far past my bedtime. More tomorrow, when I'm awake.

Interesting...

High-end Wheelchair

Recently, I got myself a power wheelchair. It was hard to come to terms to this decision.

For years when I was talking about the illness and people recognized that I was having difficulty getting around, I would always say, "at least I'm not in a wheelchair!" I can't do that anymore. Well, I still move as much as possible without it. I'm stubborn as a bull with an infected nose ring! Gross! What a nasty image for me to impart! I'll pass it off as a clumsy simile. Sigh...Writer's block is a handicap to which I will not succumb.

Ah... the chair ... It's the BMW of assistive  devices. It can turn on a dime,  it can get through most doorways, unless there are prohibitive operator errors. Aaargh (thank you, Charles Schultz!) It's like Driver's Education, but I can't  burst into tears and swear that I'll just ride the bus for the rest of my life.
 
This chair is dangerously powerful. While learning maneuverability, I managed to move the sofa, the bed, and inadvertently try to remove some door frames, until I quit to catch my breath.

In addition to the movement, when stationary, this chair is  amazingly comfortable! It can recline, has a headrest, rather remarkable padding, and armrests.

The rest of the entry will have to continue tomorrow, but I'll leave you with this video, directed by my fantastic roommate!!

Happy connections!

What an extraordinary weekend! I recently came in contact with a friend from high school. This week, he took it upon himself to send me homemade preserves. What a beautiful gesture — as well as tasty. I've never had preserves made with Whiskey before. It didn't intoxicate me, but it did lend warmth and interest to the flavor. That was a delicious surprise! Pardon me while I wax some poetic about Facebook. I am in touch with my friends from high school, college and grad school with whom I probably wouldn't meet physically. I can see where my friends are working, pictures of their children (some pe-natal), their pets and (not as exciting) the Woodmore Wildcats football team. Also, I'm kept abreast of those who are sick or who have passed. I have recieved photos of tornado damage. It is being part of a community where I no longer have a physical presence. Living in this era is exciting! Not a long post, but my bed is calling me temptingly!! Good Night!

I owe this idea to Douglas Adams.

I  came across this idea watching the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It seemed like such a good idea to me that I'm trying very hard to  incorporate it  into my life. It now has a different meaning to me since I am faced with a more advanced level of disability.

The first really trying issue was when I no longer felt that I could drive myself. The next was when it was clear that I should have a wheelchair -- a power wheelchair even. Life stole my ability to drive and stole my ability to walk without assistance but it really hits a tender nerve when it threatens my sense of humor. Hope is still hanging in there.

My sense of humor is having one last gasp. I have decided that my guardian angels are Abbott and Costello. It seems to me that they are having a great time just seeing how my sense of humor rescues me hourly. It gives me joy to imagine them laughing at me laughing at myself! Also I find myself joking with them then asking for a little bit of assistance. The three of us have a grand time dealing with my different losses of ability and the funny things it makes me do!

I'm glad that you're sharing this with me. One of the reasons that I can is that I have dictation software so it doesn't take me four years to write a paragraph! I must admit, though, that speaking all of the punctuation is challenging!I

I will talk to you tomorrow!

Here is a little giggle for you.

Again! Again!

To those who know me, here is yet another  attempt at creating a blog. My challenge is to keep the passion going longer than just the idea of the blog, one post and then,'Kaput!.' My Enneagram friends will attribute this to my '7-ness.' Probably so. Nevertheless, this inability to stick with projects to completion is driving me insane! Still, I'm no quitter. So here I go again! Oh brother-- I need to correct myself. I am a serial project starter, so I guess I'm also a serial quitter - but not my intention. Wow! That was arrogant. I don't believe anybody starts a project expecting to quit it. I digress. Another consistent habit of mine. Ah well. at least there is consistency in my inconsistency- doggedness in my indifference- Organization in my chaos. I could go on forever. Thesauruses are amazing. I looked up thesauruses to see that it wasn't thesauri. Apparently you can say that, too! I am starting to recognize what a dork I am. I'm comfortable with that.