MS and clumsiness

So on the clumsiness scale today I’m a 7. That means I’m stumbling around but functioning – just about. Half my lunch is on the floor but hey, I still have the other half to enjoy. One of my many life mottos since diagnosis with MS is ‘What falls on the floor stays on the floor’ – at least till my husband gets home. Lets just say I’ll stick to bottled drinks and give the cups a miss for today 🙂

With days like today it’s a good idea to give fiddly intricate tasks a wide berth. I’ll have to reschedule that brain surgery 🙂

So what do I do on days like this? To be honest not a whole lot. I’m suffering from a lack of motivation lately – my get up and go must have got up and went as they say. But that’s a story for another day. Listen, this isn’t all the fault of MS, I have a history of clumsiness and despite the name there’s nothing graceful about me.

The photo attached to this blog is a prime example of what I’m capable of on these days. It shows the outcome of me trying to feed the cat! Remember the motto of what falls on the floor… bless Ed (the cat) he did his best but even he couldn’t eat all that so it stayed on the floor until husband came home!

MS brings daily challenges that have to be figured out and adapted to. It’s not pleasant and every concession made is a little dagger to the heart but still we keep going.

I do however have some suggestions for days like this that should make things a little less painful.

• I live in a ground floor flat – best to avoid stairs.
• I have an extensive collection of velcro fastening shoes.
• A freezer full of microwaveable meals as I don’t think knives are a good idea on these days.
• If you can get to a coffee shop then have lunch there. That way if half your lunch is on the floor you don’t have to pick it up!
• I have risers under the feet of my sofa to increase the height, this makes getting on and off the sofa much easier.
• I have a foot rest so my feet don’t dangle and I don’t slouch when on the sofa. Short legs and sofa risers don’t mix well 🙂
• A supply of fruit and nuts for easy no prep snacks – honestly I prefer crisps and chocolate but I’m really talking in ideals here.

I’m always open to suggestions of time/effort savers so feel free to share your favourite coping strategy for the inevitable down day. You don’t need to have MS to benefit from these.

If you can’t be bothered with any of that then I recommend a TV box set of something you like and staying in bed. Actually ignore all this and just do that!