falls

[positiveness]

so I have known the floor for many years now, but for some reason I wanted to get reacquainted with me this morning. My knees refuse to stay bent, so it’s harder getting up and back on my feet again. My wife definitely had to help me this morning.

[jimeka]

I am so sorry that you and the floor have got reacquainted, I hope you didn’t hurt yourself. I wish I knew the answer to not falling but it seems part and parcel for ms. Someone recommended that I learnt how to fall so I didn’t hurt myself, but with me it just happens, I don’t have time to think. If you find the secret, let me know, blessings Jimeka 😊

[kdali]

I'm so sorry 😞 How long have your knees been giving you trouble?

[Sandydemop]

it is unfortunate the floor wanted to get reacquainted with you! i hope you are ok now. when you say your knees refuse to stay bent are your legs very stiff? My knees refuse to hold me up! anyway, wishing you all the best.

[positiveness in reply to Sandydemop]

Thank God, I am ok and my wife was able to help me. I was getting closer and closer to where I needed to be. Thank you so much for asking. It’s been happening about once a week. I have what they call extensor spasticity. So my legs always want to be straight. Last week I was able to get onto a bench using my triceps and then from the bench to the top of the radiator. This way I was in a sitting position and was able to stand up. Anyhow, this time my triceps didn’t want to be as strong. Maybe because I am due for my Kesimpta shot in a week. This is when I move more slowly and feel a little weaker. However, there are many people that have it a lot worse than me, so I am thankful it’s no worse.

This is a poem I wrote several months ago that so many MSers can relate to

How’s it going to be when I walk and talk a little faster

How would it be going up and down stairs in a breeze

And walking in the park

How would it be

walking hand-in-hand around the mall and around town

Opening doors for you and pulling out your chair

How’s it going to be

Not falling and meeting the floor again and again

Raising fear and being picked up

How would it be

Without a wheelchair

Without a walker

Without a cane

How would it be with no PT, OT and physiologist needed

How would it be

With clear vision and no optic neuritis

no TN pain

No spasticity

How would it be

With no sudden urgency and

No tremors and Eating with your dominant hand smoothly

No sitting breaks all the time

How would it be

Carrying in groceries and putting them away

No walker with a tray

How would it be

With no wife working three jobs In hopes to make ends meet

How would it be

Not being carried and helped up and down stairs

How would it be

Not needing medication to manipulate your immune system

To have your body not attack itself

How would it be

with no pillow between your knees and walking straight

Going to sleep with no fear of getting worse

How would it be

Not to need a reacher and to bend down without your knees coming together

How would it be

Not to furniture and wall surf

But have great balance instead

How would it be

Not to have cold and heat sensitivity

To drive again

How would it be

With no MS

Cause I wouldn’t know

James Harmon

[jimeka in reply to positiveness]

You nailed it. 👍 well done, life with ms is a journey, one with bad adventures but then you have beautiful things happen. I think ms makes you appreciate the smaller details in life for example, right now we have a wonderful clear sky, and with my star and planet identifier on my iPad I can name the stars, I can see Saturn 🪐 Jupiter etc, ms gives me the time to star gaze now, so thank you for the poem, it’s made me think. Blessings Jimeka 🤗🍫

[positiveness in reply to jimeka]

You are by far very welcome. And thanks for your comment. It’s funny because I just used that analogy for something someone else did recently. You hit the nail on the head.

[leking1]

I love your poem, because I can identify with every line. I am sorry that you are falling so much. I have spent the past year doing the same thing. Many trips to the ER..I think 4, maybe 5 head injuries, stitches or staples, banged up knee, wore ankle to thigh brace for 8 weeks, wrapping for 3-4 more weeks. Broken right shoulder just before Christmas, all theOrtho Drs, seemed to disappear! Finally got an appt. in early February, and he repeated the x-rays done by the ER in December. Yep, still broken, Ultrasound shows broken bone is out of place, and several small pieces are " floating". We repeated this for several weeks, and the broken bone finally went into the right place in mid April. About a week or so later, another fall resulted in 7 staples just above my hairline, and 2 broken fingers on my right hand. Thank goodness for bangs! Healed well, except for the little finger. It healed out and crooked, so I am ready for tea, all the time! Don't give up, the best is yet to come...on May 21, I bent over to pick up my cat, Midnight. In my head, I KNOW not to bend over, my body keeps on going..and it did, kitty and all! I brushed myself and the cat off, carried him inside ( he had escaped my house) fed him, and went to do some errands. I can still drive short distances, to the grocery store, post office, etc. About 20 minutes into my trip, my left foot felt funny...I looked down ( I was wearing flip-flops, as usual) and it was swollen to about 3 times it's usual size, bruised, dark blue and purple, and my toes were almost black! I finished getting my groceries and went on home. Got them inside, sort of put away, packed my foot in ice packs,

and elevated it. Sometime in the night, it was Saturday, I think, I left a message for a friend that I might need a ride to the ER in the morning. Yes, I had broken a bone in my foot. They put a temporary cast on the foot that went all the way to my knee . I called My Ortho Dr. on Monday and they took me in the same day. More X rays and then the boot...much more comfortable than the cast thing that had rubbed blisters in several places. I think it is 15 weeks now, and I am STILL wearing the boot. Dr. says the bone is not healing well. I have had enough of the boot, it is hard plastic, foam, and keeps me off balance, badly. I just finished 16 sessions of PT to work on balance and strength. I have to say that it helped! I have not fallen since I started PT in early June!

I hope that you can find something to help lessen the number of your falls, or at least the severity of them. After 40+ years of living with MS, it still surprises me. My thoughts and best wishes are with you. Linda

[Sandydemop in reply to leking1]

Hi James, I appreciated your poem and identify with much of it. Sometimes I have dreams I am walking or running. Other times i have dreams I am made of wood.

[Jesmcd2 CommunityAmbassador in reply to Sandydemop]

😐 Sandydemop 😦🤗💕🌠

[positiveness in reply to Sandydemop]

Sandy, those dreams of you running must be wonderful. The other dreams not so much. I’m glad you appreciated the poem and I thank you. It was so weird how it happened, because I was watching the two dogs and all of a sudden I had all these words going through my mind. I figured I better write that down or else I will forget and go on as though it never happened. So I wrote it down and so many people are amazed about the poem. The first word I see most the time is WOW! I feel as though I did something right with it.

[jimeka in reply to leking1]

🤗💐🍫🐾💜🙏

[positiveness in reply to leking1]

Linda, thank you greatly for your story. There were a couple of points in there that made me laugh. Definitely not of you getting hurt though. 40+ years of living with MS is incredible. Here I thought 18 years was bad enough. Thank you so much for sharing your story.

[palomino27]

When I fall it's a call to 911. I'm 6'6" with severe spasticity. It takes multiple strong people to get me up.The priest at my church used to refer to me as a tin man cause the spasticity gets so bad.

[positiveness in reply to palomino27]

Greetings! I can definitely see why you would be referred to as the tin man. Spasticity is brutal. All We want to do is bend something, But we can’t. It’s absolutely berserk.

[BlanketTime1]

i'm glad you had your wife to help you. i hope your knees improve soon. it's scary when we fall and our bodies just won't cooperate.🤗

[positiveness in reply to BlanketTime1]

I totally agree with you 110%. Thank you so much for hoping my knees cooperate and I will continue doing my exercises and praying. 😊

[Mollyabigail]

I am sorry you fell. That sucks. I hope your bruises are better today. A book title grabbed my attention a few years ago. It's called "Fluffing the Concrete." It is not a book on falling, but it 'is' an entertaining read. I thought of it 3 weeks ago when I fell on concrete steps outside my church. Some rather unchurched words came out of my mouth. No way to fluff the concrete, but at least no broken bones. Thanks for the poem, positiveness. Hope you feel better. God bless!!

[positiveness in reply to Mollyabigail]

Oh thank you and God bless. I do feel better, thank God. That does sound like an interesting book.