{"id":314,"date":"2025-01-13T13:40:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T13:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/01\/13\/falling-only-slightly-apart\/"},"modified":"2025-01-13T13:40:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T13:40:53","slug":"falling-only-slightly-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/01\/13\/falling-only-slightly-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"Falling Only Slightly Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multiple Sclerosis hits the ground<\/h4>\n
\n
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Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall<\/p>\n

Humpty Dumpty had a big fall<\/p>\n

All the King\u2019s horses and all the King\u2019s men<\/p>\n

Couldn\u2019t put Humpty Dumpty together again.<\/p>\n

(or something like this- nursery rhyme from my childhood)<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s just great for him\u2026<\/p>\n

What the hell was he doing sitting on a wall anyway? <\/p>\n

At least that\u2019s what I thought when I was kid- probably less the \u201chell\u201d part depending on my age at the time.<\/p>\n

Now I don\u2019t really care, especially since Humpty Dumpty is essentially an egg.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

See, I have an egg aversion. <\/p>\n

Unless eggs are scrambled and covered with so much cheese, you don\u2019t know they are eggs or put in a quiche and smothered with so much cheese they are totally unrecognizable or cracked and mixed into the batter of something delicious when baked, I don\u2019t like them.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

I have had to learn to live with them a bit as Bella, Peter\u2019s dog, gets a hard-boiled egg for breakfast each morning. I squirm and whine every time I see her eat it.<\/p>\n

\n
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But Humpty Dumpty has gotten me thinking lately. Was he just clumsy? Perhaps he had multiple sclerosis<\/strong>? That would explain both his lack of judgement AND his illness induced lack of balance.<\/p>\n

Like Humpty Dumpty I have had a few falls in the last few years for which I try to give excuses.<\/p>\n

There was the \u201cnot paying attention, walking through a corn maze with Peter\u201d fall. Damn corn stalk.<\/p>\n

There was the \u201cnot paying attention walking on the beach with Peter when I tripped on a huge boulder partially covered by sand\u201d fall.<\/p>\n

There was the \u201cso happy I actually climbed a mountain with Peter that I stopped paying attention walking down the mountain and slipped on a leaf covered trail\u201d fall.<\/p>\n

{That one was with Bella too. And Peter blamed my worn sneakers as not really being great climbing down a mountain gear.)<\/p>\n

There was the \u201cso excited to introduce Peter to old friends I slipped on the sidewalk\u201d fall.<\/p>\n

Now that I think about it, Peter has been with me during many of my falls- should I be concerned he\u2019s adding a little nudge here and there?<\/p>\n

No, that\u2019s not very likely. What IS likely is that the universe likes to embarrass me and make me look as unalluring as possible.<\/p>\n

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There was the \u201cenjoying the scenery so much while walking in the woods with Bella that I tripped\u201d fall.<\/p>\n

And there was the \u201cbeing angry at something while walking Bella that I tried to make an angry cell phone call\u201d fall.<\/p>\n

Bella is great when she\u2019s with me during these incidents. She strays only as far away as necessary to find a stick and gift it to me. Her remedy for getting back up is to play fetch. She swears it cures all.<\/p>\n

(Interestingly, I have never had \u201ca getting tripped over her leash when she crosses and uncrosses my path\u201d fall but I\u2019m sure it\u2019s a fall just waiting to happen.)<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

There was the \u201copening concerning looking mail while walking back from the mailroom\u201d fall.<\/p>\n

There was the \u201cso happy to be done with laundry that I was skipping while carrying a heavy laundry basket\u201d fall.<\/p>\n

\n
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There was the \u201cembarrassed to be late to another author\u2019s book talk so I wasn\u2019t paying attention\u201d fall but that one I blame on the library hosting the talk. There was a bit of raised cement that was not flush with the parking lot. <\/p>\n

For like two seconds I considered legal action, but<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I wasn\u2019t hurt<\/li>\n
  2. I\u2019m not \u201csue happy\u201d and<\/li>\n
  3. It seemed like a lot of work<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Plus, I LOVE libraries.<\/p>\n

    Finally, there was the \u201ctotally overwhelmed and sad about to scatter my sister\u2019s ashes in a park\u201d fall where I fell off a slightly raised boardwalk. <\/p>\n

    Peter was there for that one too and for context, it was only a small amount of my sister\u2019s ashes in a tiny urn that we thought should be scattered in her happy place. I can\u2019t tell you where that happy place was because I\u2019m not sure it was totally legal to scatter anything there.<\/p>\n

    Since I am not an egg, by some miracle I haven\u2019t cracked anything during these vertically challenged incidents. I\u2019ve gotten bruised though. I have bruised my body and bruised my ego, but haven\u2019t suffered an actual break, yet.<\/p>\n

    \n
    \"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

    All these incidents were in the last five to six years, and it seems like a lot.<\/p>\n

    Is it?<\/p>\n

    When do you know you are falling too much? <\/p>\n

    Should I just chalk them up to clumsiness?<\/p>\n

    I once worked with a lovely woman who liked to call me “Grace.”<\/p>\n

    Or is it MS<\/strong> and if so, what should I do about it?<\/p>\n

    My first neurologist told me MS <\/strong>wasn\u2019t the reason why I was so clumsy. Though she also told me that not qualifying for secondary health insurance with the part-time work she was recommending was NOT a reason to file for disability, so what did she know? <\/p>\n

    I guess I will know for sure when I fall during the observational walk down my second neurologist\u2019s long hallway, hopefully not for a while. <\/p>\n

    I do have balance exercises a trainer taught me. They are easy enough to do every time I do my weak knee physical therapy exercises, which is almost never.<\/p>\n

    \n
    \"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

    I have wondered if it is just a matter of not paying enough attention. My multi-tasking skills were the first thing to go when I was working full time while living both unknowingly and knowingly with MS<\/strong>. I have always been a good walker and never had to think about it too much. Is that what this is about?<\/p>\n

    Maybe I should watch where I am going more and not open the mail or skip carrying laundry while rushing to get somewhere?<\/p>\n

    Maybe I should stand still while making proper introductions or keep an eye on my path when coming down a mountain?<\/p>\n

    I guess it is worth a try, with the goal of stalling the need for walking aids as much as possible.<\/p>\n

    Alas, it is a New Year, and a lot of the stress of 2024 will hopefully stay in 2024. I can work on paying more attention when I walk and keeping up with my balance exercises AND my knee exercises.<\/p>\n

    And like somebody should have told Humpty Dumpty, stay away from sitting on high walls.<\/p>\n

    And, more importantly, stay away from eggs\u2026<\/p>\n

    \n
    \"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

    Source: yvonnedesousa.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Multiple Sclerosis hits the ground Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a big fall All the King\u2019s horses and all the King\u2019s men Couldn\u2019t put Humpty Dumpty together again. (or something like this- nursery rhyme from my childhood) Well, that\u2019s just great for him\u2026 What the hell was he doing sitting on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11,15,9,8,13,14,12,10],"class_list":["post-314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-multiple-sclerosis-research","tag-brain-repair","tag-marburg-type-ms","tag-ms","tag-multiple-sclerosis","tag-myelin","tag-neuroregeneration","tag-oligodendrocyte","tag-remyelination"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}