Showing posts with label disability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disability. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

It’s Not the Disability, It’s the…

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I’ve accepted that I can no longer walk, and I’ve adjusted to the constant fatigue and the failing memory. Kim and I have developed strategies for all sorts of activities of daily living, so that I can be showered, shaved, dressed, etc. Everything this damn disease has thrown at us so far we’ve handled, and pretty well if I do say so myself.
What wears on me, however, is this gradual, pervasive disease progression. Once or twice I’ve been able to temporarily slow it down, but it always comes back. Of course I’d like to reverse the path of this illness and actually get better. But that’s not necessary for me to enjoy a fulfilling and relatively stress-free life. If my condition would just stop deteriorating, I’d be perfectly content to live the rest of my life with my current level of disability, or even some greater level. But that deal is not on the table.
It’s this damn worsening disability, this insidious wasting away that threatens to shake my resolve. Whatever I do, it’s never enough. MS cannot be placated. It demands so much of me, and then it demands more.
You often hear, “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.”
I say, “It’s not the disability, it’s the progression.”
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