I don’t like to whine. Truly I don’t. Don’t believe everything my wife tells you. But right now I think I am entitled to a plaint.
On Friday I went to see my sawbones to address once again a condition I have been distressed about for two-plus years. In essence my walking ability has become hugely compromised. Now, I love to walk, and if I have a pup in tow, so much the better. Of late those perambulations have become truly challenging.
Wendy first noticed a couple of years ago that I was dragging my left foot a bit. Well, it all sort of went downhill from there. In the meantime I have had virtually every test know to medical science; MRI, CT-Scan, Inner ear scan and so forth. I have also taken physiotherapy programs and for a lazy bugger like me that must mean something ain’t right.
Meanwhile my walking continued to deteriorate. Added to which I developed a propensity for falling. Like those old TV ads “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” they are no longer amusing because it’s true. I have bruises on my knees to attest to my reality and frankly it scares the shit out of me. It scares Wendy, too, because what if I go down when she’s not here? I just have to make sure I don’t. Meanwhile simple procedures become challenging. A couple of weeks ago I slipped getting out of the shower. To thwart my fall I grabbed the shower curtain. That didn’t work for shit. The whole thing came down and I whacked the back of my neck on the edge of the tub.
I have since learned to not be blase about any task and that helps considerably.
Anyway, my condition has a name. It is Vascular Parkinsonism. Not the same as Parkinson’s Disease and it is not progressive in the same way, blessedly. It stems from a series of small strokes I have had since 2008.
Will it get better? That remains to be seen. The ailment has a tendency to ‘plateau’ at times in which the symptoms can abate somewhat, though they don’t go away. It won’t kill me and it could be something much worse.
But I don’t like to ‘faw down and go boom’. Can you blame me?
Thanks for your tolerance for this intensely personal blog.
