Month: October 2017

MS and Stress

alarm clock

Stress is a reality everyone endures in their lives and the triggers are numerous. Finances, kids, marriage, relationships, career, politics, love, hate, death and religion are a few that come to mind.

The issues that create stress in our lives are as unique as how MS affects us as individuals. What bothers you or causes pain in your life may bother me a little or not at all, and visa versa. Having said that, I think we can all agree that living with a chronic condition qualifies as a huge stress inducer. The ironic thing is that stress is one of the worst things possible for people with MS. But how can you avoid it?

Starting in 2005, I endured a two year period of intense and constant stress.  Up until then, I had been pretty good with managing stress and not letting it affect me, but what was unique about this siege was there were a handful of fronts I was battling simultaneously, and they were all hot button triggers for me. I could feel the stress consume my mind and body, but failed miserably in combatting it, or at least in taking better care of myself. Shortly after this battle ended, the symptoms appeared, never left, and I was diagnosed.

While I can’t prove clinically or otherwise that this caused my MS, I believe it to be true with all my heart. At minimum, it was a major contributor.

Once the symptoms impacted my daily life to a significant degree, I stopped stressing out about a lot of things. The fact that, unlike many people with MS, I don’t live in chronic pain, am not confined to a wheelchair, and am not struggling to make ends meet because my condition doesn’t permit me to work or perform well at my job, certainly helped. How can anyone not be frazzled by having to endure that? My symptoms are annoying, severely limit what I can do, and have forced me to change a lot in my life, but I don’t live with that kind of fear or torment. My reality gave me a very different perspective about life, and made a lot of things that used to bother me feel trivial and unimportant.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not Mr. Cool, Calm and Collected. A few things remain that I get stressed over, stubborn remnants of my core personality. The one thing I know for sure is that when stress begins to pluck my nerves, my MS takes notice. Stress exacerbates my symptoms, and I can feel it happening. My leg feels flushed, as if what little strength remains is being drained. The limb dangles, flops, and sometimes feels like it doesn’t even exist. I feel like an amputee whose prosthesis is missing, and I have to get from point A to point B without anything for support. When this happens I find a place to sit, close my eyes, and try to focus on my breathing until I can feel by pulse subside and body relax. Normal feeling usually returns shortly thereafter.

Obviously, dealing with PPMS has added to my list of stress triggers, but not in the way you might think. I don’t stress over wondering about how I will feel a year, five years or ten years from now, if I will be confined to a wheelchair, if it will spread to other parts of my body, or if pain will begin to have an intimate relationship with me, because I honestly don’t think about that stuff. Not very often, anyway.

What bothers me is the wondering. What gets my mind going is when I feel something I haven’t experienced before, and wonder if this is the start of what will take me down one of those paths.

I don’t know a lot about RRMS because I never had to deal with it. What I know about that strain is from what the people who do have it tell me, or from what I read. And from what I gather, when a flare is underway, it is as subtle as a sledgehammer. There is no debate or question about what is going on. It is crystal clear and obvious.

My PPMS was never like that. My flares aren’t flares in the typical sense, but are often a subtle loss of function that becomes permanent. For me, it has been a slow and gradual process. The problem is, everyone has more aches and pains as they get older, or develop something that is more age-related than anything else. So if you get a twinge here, or something feels funny there, it’s hard not to wonder whether or not it is MS related.

When I’m on my feet a lot, walk a lot, or do some physical work outside, it isn’t uncommon for me to lose feeling in my toes, have my hip or back ache terribly, or have the leg feel like mush. If that feeling lasts longer than usual, my mind immediately wonders if this is the beginning of something bad. My rational mind is saying, “now Steve, this happens all the time. Take a chill pill and ride it out. You know how this song goes.” However, my emotional side doesn’t want to hear that. It wants to hop on the panic slide.

If you have read this blog, you know that I’m pretty good at compartmentalizing things, and so far I’ve done a good job at not taking the full ride on that panic slide. Maybe that’s because nothing catastrophic has occurred. I’ll lose a small piece of something, mourn it, say oh well, it could be worse, them move on.

Recently however, I can’t escape the nagging feeling that the progression has been moving a little faster than in the past, and worry that this might become a trend.

Last week, I described my travel adventure, and the one take-away from that trip is that, in all likelihood, I will avoid those kinds of meetings again. The facility was too big and spread out, the distance from my room to all of the meeting and gathering places was significant, and those excursions had to be made several times a day. I also had a much harder time negotiating big crowds. You see, it is really difficult to have a cane in one hand, a drink (or food) in another, and negotiate a sea of arms, legs and bodies belonging to people who are enjoying themselves and aren’t aware someone with terrible balance is nearby, and that bumping into him by accident could cause an embarrassing scene. Why should they? As a result, I stayed in my room more than I had in the past.

So, I’ve decided it might be better to connect with friends by going directly to their home towns, or having them visit me, instead of dealing with the obstacles last week presented. I can manage the airports. It’s the other stuff I can do without.

Here’s another example of why the progression train might be picking up steam. There are a few interior and exterior doors in our house that need repainting, and painting is one of the few things I can still do, and I enjoy doing it. But over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed painting isn’t as simple as it once was. Bending, squatting and twisting to get in a corner, or reaching up to get a high spot, take a lot more planning and effort. The task it is harder to complete, takes longer, and isn’t very enjoyable. That really sucks.

Have you ever woke up at night, not know what time it is, and heard the tick, tick, tick of your alarm clock? You can’t see what time it is, can’t remember if you set the alarm, and wonder when or if the alarm will ring. This describes the way MS causes me stress.

Do the episodes I’ve described mean this is finally it, that I’ve hit the downhill side of my MS curve? I hear the ticking, but I’ve been aware of the ticking the moment I started taking the hard-core meds. What drives me nuts is wondering if all this this means that the alarm to my personal Doomsday Clock is going to ring soon.

I certainly hope it doesn’t.

 

 

 

 

Traveling With MS as My Companion

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I love to travel.

While I have never traveled outside the US, I have visited most of our states, and most of our major cities. I enjoy getting away, seeing other parts of the country, and appreciating how vast and beautiful our land is. When I am on a plane, I love looking out of the window seat at the vast expanse passing underneath on a clear sunny day, or witnessing the spectacle of flying over a city at night, taking in the lit landscape like a young boy gazing at a glorious Christmas tree. As an experienced air traveler, I have learned a lot about what not to do in terms of booking, connection times, how long it might take to get through security, and things of that nature.

Over the last few years the amount of traveling I have done has reduced significantly, not because of my MS, but because the opportunities aren’t as great. The only accommodation I made because of the MS was to arrive at the airport earlier and to give myself more time between connections, because rushing though the airport to make the connecting flight is impossible. Aside from those two changes, my game plan when it came to negotiating the airport, and general attitude regarding air travel, had not changed, until today.

Subconsciously, I knew that when the symptoms slithered into my knee, it was a game changer. After all, I have documented that it is harder to walk, and that my balance is significantly worse in previous posts. I was curious how or if it would change my airport experience in the days leading up to this morning’s excursion from Connecticut to Nashville, Tennessee. In my self proclaimed state of denial and stubbornness to plow ahead and not worry about the consequences, I vowed not to change a thing regarding my airport game plan in advance of this trip. Then, my wife asked this question, although it was really more of a statement: “You’re getting wheelchair assistance this time, aren’t you?”

When I booked the flight months ago, I declined that option, perfectly content to muddle my way through security, and be the first on the plane. But she wouldn’t let it go, so I thought about it and decided, why not? But honestly, I only relented because of the two braces that span my toes to upper thigh, and the hassle they might present going through security. So screw it! If it makes getting through security easier, I could temporarily swallow my pride.

I am so glad I listened to her, for a number of different reasons.

The first thing you need to know about our airport, Bradley International, is that it is not huge. Early morning, which is when I arrived, is the worst time to be there because of all the business travelers getting out on the first flights of the day. And this morning’s crowd was no exception. In fact, it was probably the busiest I have seen it in years. Lots of people, and lots of long lines.

But when I entered the airport today, I knew something was different. Pulling the rolling suitcase behind me was infinitely harder because I had to zig zag through the mass of people, and with my balance, I don’t zig zag very well anymore. After I gingerly made my way to check my bags and drag them to the X-ray machine, I parked myself on a chair, and gratefully waited for the wheelchair attendant to arrive.

The first thing I noticed after I requested wheelchair assistance was that my boarding pass was marked TSA pre-checked, which allowed me to bypass those long lines. As we weaved our way through the throng, I was happy that I didn’t have to get caught up in that mosh pit of humanity.

Going through security was easier for a couple of reasons. The first was that even though they had to wand me, given my leg was encased in metal, I didn’t have to fret over my wallet, watch, and other items being left unattended, because my wheelchair escort grabbed them for me while the TSA agent was doing their thing. The other reason was that, in my opinion, the TSA rep was, well, nicer. He did his job quickly, and got me out of there faster than the previous times I went through the process without the wheelchair. Maybe it was my imagination, but I felt a lot of empathy.

I didn’t really need the chair to get to my gate after I was through security, but I have to admit it was nice not having to walk that distance. This was further illustrated when I got to O’Hare, and walked to my connecting gate. I wasn’t in a hurry, and I could have waited for the wheelchair to arrive, but I chose not to. The trek took a very long time and I felt something I never experienced in an airport before: vulnerability.

You see, people inside an airport are clueless. They wander around, either looking at their phones, looking for their gates, looking for something to eat, somewhere to sit, or rushing through the crowd like a running back picking a hole to run through, and they are all oblivious to who or what is in front of them, in back of them, or around them. That is not a good feeling for someone with balance issues, so I simply steered to one side of the terminal and stopped or slowed down when someone threatened to invade my orbit, using my cane to secure my space if necessary. It felt like walking through a mine field.

Fortunately, the agent at my connecting gate told me a wheelchair would be waiting for me in Nashville, so I knew I wouldn’t be tempted to hoof it on my own when I arrived. It was a good thing too because while there were nowhere near as many people as there was at O’Hare, the walk was just as long, had more inclines, and the floor was carpeted, which tends to grab my foot more.

By the way, is it me or does it seem that the airport wheelchair attendants tend to be older, or smaller of stature? While I am average concerning height and weight, I am certainly not a lightweight, and felt bad for the two that got me because they had to strain a few times to get me where I needed to do.

Another thing that was different is that getting in and out from the window seat for a bathroom break during the flight was much harder, having to grab and hold onto the head rests on the seats in front of me to stay upright. Maybe I am going to have to get aisle seats from now on. And once I got to the aisle, the journey to the bathroom felt a lot more wobbly than it ever used to, and the aisle felt narrower. My hands were always on the seats on each side of the aisle because if we hit unexpected turbulence, I know I would have fallen across someone’s lap. I never felt that way before.

Getting on and off the bus that served as the shuttle to my hotel was harder, and as we approached the Opryland Resort, the bus driver described it as 57 acres under one roof and instead of thinking that was really cool, it seemed like another obstacle to contend with.

The fact is, it has been a year since my last trip, and everything is harder. When I was at the same meeting in Vegas last year, everything was just as spread out as it is here, and there was as much if not more walking inside the facility. But the difference between this year and last, is that last year I viewed that reality with a “no problem” attitude. This year’s attitude is more like “oh shit!”

I will never get on an escalator again with luggage in tow because I have one hand on the cane, another of the luggage handle and, unfortunately, no third hand to grab onto the escalator rail. Not a smart move for someone with balance issues. Nothing bad happened, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. Why I didn’t look for an elevator is beyond me. That won’t happen again.

Now that I am here, I am sure I will enjoy my time in Nashville, but I know there be a lot of walking and standing, and I suspect that will take more effort than it used to. Then I will have to endure the return trip home. When I reflect on this trip once I am home, I doubt it will squelch my desire to travel again, but perhaps I will have to be more selective regarding where I travel to, or when my flight departs.

The one thing that I do know is that MS has definitely invaded the ease in which I used to travel, and that with time this will become harder. Perhaps a point in time it will come where traveling will become impossible.

And that would be a very sad day.

Balance

Balance

 

If you look up the word balance in the dictionary, you will find a variety of definitions and meanings, but there two in particular that interest me the most.

The first one, which applies to me specifically (and perhaps many of you), concerns physical equilibrium: an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady.

Of all the difficulties MS has presented, this one has been with me like a shadow from the beginning. At first, the shadow was small and barely noticeable. Now it is large and long, like those that  trail you when the sun is low in the sky towards the end of the day. This has also provided the biggest challenge I’ve had to deal with over the last ten years because, slowly but steadily, my balance has become more tenuous.

In what seems like a lifetime ago, I was a member of my college’s modern dance company. My motive for joining this group during my freshman year was to become more flexible and stay in shape for the upcoming baseball season (and to meet girls, I must confess), but I learned to enjoy the movement and creative aspect of the art, and stayed with the group through my senior year. During this period, I learned a lot about body mechanics, and this knowledge has become invaluable as my balance has eroded. One thing it did, although I didn’t realize it at the time, was teach me how to fall and roll without hurting myself. Needless to say, that has become a very useful skill. I also learned the secret to staying upright.

Marcy Plavin, our company’s director, always urged us to “find our center,” primarily because it provided a better form on stage and made our movements crisp and clean. Now, staying grounded in my center is what allows me to avoid crashing to the ground when my delicate balance is disrupted.

In general terms, my “center” is that spot just above the middle of the pubic bone, and I try to always keep my weight focused on that single spot. This isn’t an issue when I’m on flat terrain, because my body isn’t tilting in any specific direction, and my weight naturally settles there. It’s a different story, however, when I’m on terrain that is sloped, slanted, or flat but bumpy.

First of all, if my foot catches something, regardless of the terrain, it’s a recipe for disaster if I’m not aware of where my center is. Should I lurch forward, I can, with the help of my cane, quickly reorient myself and reestablish my center. As a result, my cane, which was once something I used occasionally, is always in my hand outside of the house. Otherwise, gravity will take over in these situations. I also need to be constantly aware of how my body is positioned, and instinctively react the moment my balance is compromised.

What is weird and infuriating, is what sometimes happens when I’m not moving.

If I’m on flat terrain and allow my mind to wander, I can sometimes stagger sideways if I unconsciously lean to my right. I’m sure this looks bizarre to anyone who witnesses it. They’d probably think I was hopelessly drunk or on something. While this rarely occurs, it does happen.

Most of the dangers that await me are outside of my home, and my yard is a prime example.

My house sits on a hill, and the downward slope has become increasingly difficult to navigate. Part of it because my foot drop has become so bad, that my foot is constantly getting stuck in tufts of grass. As a result I’m literally taking one step at a time, like an inch worm, when I’m out there. But I’ve also had occasions where I’m standing still, not moving at all, and still almost keel over. This used to happen only when the downward slope was on my weak side (the right), but I learned to manage this by transferring the cane to that side to have something to hold me up if I felt myself tipping in that direction.

Recently, going up a particularly steep grade has become treacherous. I have to force myself to lean forward when the slope is behind me because if I don’t, I can sometimes tilt backwards. Should this occur, it is the one and only scenario where I can’t recapture my center. This has occurred a few times, particularly around our pool that sits on a mound that has a short but steep pitch. When I’ve felt myself losing my center while standing on that slope, panic instantly sets in for the briefest of moments because I know that if I reach that point of no return, I will tip backwards, I won’t be able to brace my fall or protect myself, and could really wind up getting hurt. Fortunately, that hasn’t happened yet.

And this is during the summer, when the ground is warm and dry. I hate to wonder what the winter will be like.

To illustrate how silly this has become, even the act of correcting my posture, particularly if the motion is quick, sharp and I’m not holding onto a cane, or aren’t near a wall I can brace myself against, can cause me to stagger backwards.

The bottom line is that MS has stolen my physical balance, and has made it something I constantly have to battle to achieve a stalemate. It is the reason why negotiating stairs requires my full attention and concentration. It’s also the reason why the simple act of walking and standing has become a competitive sport.

The second meaning, which applies to us all, concerns mental and emotional steadiness: a condition in which the competing elements of our life are in equal or correct proportion.

This type of balance is the most difficult for me. Specifically, where is the line between being smart and taking care of myself, and giving in or giving up? Where is the line between between being cool and rationale about the disease and its future implications, and focusing too much on them and panicking? Is it better to stick your head in the sand and not worry about the what-ifs until you’re forced to, or to always think about them and plan for their eventuality. Do I need to concern myself with the prospect that all the drugs I’m taking could potentially shorten my lifespan, or is it better not to think about that at all, to focus instead on the quality of life, and how things are in this current moment?

I have my own answers to these questions and navigate according to that compass. I think I do a good job of maintaining an even emotional keel, and not get too high or too low. One could argue that I don’t take my condition seriously enough, but that’s how I roll.

What I  struggle with the most is the proper balance between sharing the fears I do occasionally have with my family and loves ones, and keeping them  to myself, which is my typical MO. After all, there isn’t a thing they can do to improve my condition, and sharing too much might unnecessarily worry them more than they already are.

But is that being selfish? Is it better to let them in on the secret that I am sometimes afraid of  where all this might lead? That I’m terrified of potentially living in a body held prisoner by this relentless beast, and of having to become completely dependent on them for everything? The thought that one day I might need help getting dressed, eating, bathing or going to the bathroom is my skeleton in the closet. Honestly, that isn’t living, it’s existing, and I don’t want any part of that. That, and the possibility that my condition will become a financial sinkhole that will destroy our financial security, is a cross I don’t want to bear.

I don’t obsess about these things, but they exist. I don’t dwell on them because doing so would destroy that emotional scale, tilting it heavily in the wrong direction. Maybe that’s why I try to keep them at arm’s length, in a blissful state of denial. I own this and keep it to myself because emotional balance is a very delicate thread. One unfortunate tug could unravel everything.

And that doesn’t help anyone.

 

For those of you who follow the blog, I will be away on a business trip next week and may not be able to submit what up to now have been weekly posts. Expect the next post to appear in two weeks

 

Is it Me?

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It is me, or do people you don’t know very well say “I’m sorry” if they ask what is wrong with (fill in the blank – with me it is my leg) and you tell them you have MS?

Is it me, or do the “I’m sorry” people end the conversation immediately, and try to discreetly move away as quickly as possible?

Is is me, or do you find all that annoying?

Is it me, or are more non disabled people using the handicapped toilets in public restrooms? Boy, does that piss me off (no pun intended). And when did being a large person become a disability?

And speaking of bathrooms, is it me, or does it seem like you are as far away as possible from the nearest bathroom when you need one and are at work or in a public place?

Is it me, or do more non-disabled people park in handicapped parking spaces than before? Either that or I happen to notice it more because when it does happen, the next available spot is a long walk from where I need to go.

Is it me, or do you hate the term “handicapped”?

Is is me, or do you have a greater awareness of other people who have a disability of some kind? I sure hope it isn’t because there are more of us than ever before.

And speaking of awareness, is it me, or are you more aware of your surroundings since you were diagnosed? I have to be, especially when there are a lot of people around, because one mistimed bump or stray cord laying across a floor might create an embarrassing fall.

Is it me, or do you find people going out of their way to open a door for you in a public place?

Is it me, or does that annoy you? Listen, I appreciate the motivation behind the gesture, and there are times, like when my hands are full, that I am happy for the help. But I’m not an invalid, and like to fend for myself most of the time. Is that being overly sensitive?

Is it me, or are you paying a lot more attention to healthcare politics than ever before?

Is it me, or are you more aware of your insurance benefits, and all the rules and regulations regarding getting services approved for payment, than before you were diagnosed? (Confession: this is a cheat question because in my line of work I have to know all this stuff. But I need to fill the page, and thought it was an appropriate question.)

Is it me, or do your parents (if they are still alive, or were alive after you were diagnosed) treat you like a little kid because of your disability?

It is me, or has your diet become a lot more important than it used to?

It is me, or does your body ache more when you get out of bed in the morning than it did when you went to sleep the previous night?

Is it me, or has the amount of medication you’re taking increased exponentially since you were diagnosed?

Is it me, or do you not bother to read all the literature that comes with those drugs? I typically don’t, and never have, because reading it can make you think the stuff you are about to take will cause something a lot worse than what you have. Aren’t lawyers wonderful?

Is it me, or do you not fully understand why some of the stuff you are taking is supposed to work?

Is it me, or do you discover that the stuff you are taking actually does work, but only after you stop taking it?

Is it me, or does it seem that most, if not all, of the options available to ease your symptoms involve pharmaceuticals?

Is it me, or do you appreciate friends and family more since you were diagnosed?

Is it me, or are there a lot of things you used to fret over that are no longer important?

Is it me, or did you begin thinking about your mortality much sooner than you could have imagined?

Is it me, or did going to the bathroom become a much bigger production than you thought possible?

Is it me, or did going down the stairs become potentially life-threatening?

Is is me, or does the same thing apply to taking a shower?

And since we are on the subject of hygiene, is it me, or can you no longer wash the bottom of your feet?

And, is it me, or do you not even think about taking a bath anymore because you won’t be able to get out by yourself? Or because of what the heat of the warm water might do to your symptoms?

Is it me, or is condo-living starting to sound pretty good?

Is it me, or has walking on a snow covered sidewalk, driveway, or parking lot, become like walking on a tight-rope, or in a minefield?

Is it me, or do you only fall when you aren’t paying attention?

Is it me, or do you want to crawl into a hole and disappear when this happens in public?

Is it me, or can you gain weight more easily than you used to?

Is it me, or do steroids make you ravenous?

Is it me, or do you bleed more easily from all the drugs you take?

Is it me, or were you resistant in the beginning to accept help because of the misguided notion that you would be giving up your independence?

Is it me, or has that shit stopped?

Is it me, or do you think that your spouse and kids were somehow cheated because of your disability?

Is it me, or do you feel profoundly guilty that you can’t do as much around the house as you used to, and your spouse/family have to pick up your slack?

Is it me, or are you doing more than you probably should because you try to minimize the slack they have to pick up?

Is it me, or has daily life become a lot more expensive since you were diagnosed?

Is it me, or do hallways seem overcrowded when another person enters your space?

Is it me or do you no longer walk in the middle of a hallway? I’m always off to the right side, hopefully with a handrail or a wall within easy reach.

Is it me, or are airports a lot more intimidating?

Is it me, or does it take you longer than thirty seconds to get into a vehicle?

Is it me, or do you avoid support groups. I think I don’t go to them because I don’t believe I’m that bad off, and seeing others who are would scare the hell out of me. It’s that denial thing I keep talking about. Who knows, maybe I’d be pleasantly surprised.

Is it me, or did you become a expert on all matters related to MS within a very short period of time?

Is it me, or isn’t a lot or this really comical?

Is it me, or doesn’t a lot of this really, REALLY suck?!

 

FYI: One of my readers, whose mother has progressive MS, started a company, in part to  help her mom stay independent and as safe as she possibly could, with help, of course. She sent me a link ( http://www.helpmedicaldevices.com ) to the company. I checked it out. While it lists a lot of stuff that might be better suited for frail seniors, there is also a lot on the site that people with MS-related mobility issues could find helpful, so I thought I would pass it along.

 

 

 

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