Tread Lightly

 

When you have multiple sclerosis, walking can be a daunting challenge…pick up your bad foot…keep your balance…make sure your feet don’t scissor…step on a crack–break your mother’s back.

You get the picture.

It is compete concentration for man’s basic mode of transportation.

 

But as an MSer, you must now add to the equation–the surface upon which you tread.  Because many of the decorative floors people on HGTV “ooh & ahh” over…wreak fear in the eyes of you & me.

 

 

For example, this past weekend, my family & I enjoyed a restaurant we had never visited before.

 

Before even entering the place, I had to trek over cobblestones…to wood planking…to thick carpeting.

My short walk was the “Trifecta of Trepidation!”

From the uneven footing of the cobblestones, to the uneven & adhesive properties of the planking, to the feeling of walking in a mucky mud of the thick carpet—by the time I got inside, we had to switch from the lunch menu to the dinner menu!

 

 

Here are some other surfaces that play footsie with my walking ability…

 

 

 

Downward Slopes  Nothing like a slight downhill surface to someone (MSer) who shuffles in a slight downhill posture!

Throw a rollator into the mix and we go like a Soap Box Derby racer!

I would rather step off the curb than tenderly step down the accessible slope.

 

 

 

Shiny Hospital Floors  Schools, museums, lobbies, grocery stores.  Any polished, hard floor that catches my feet and causes them to squeak like LeBron James on a basketball court.

Your floor may be clean enough to eat off of, but I don’t care to do a face plant and give it a try!

 

 

 

I don’t even know how to explain this surface!

It’s a sidewalk with concrete nipples.  Am I walking on Lego’s here?

Neil Armstrong was less scared to step on the moon than I am to cross this walkway!

 

 

 

 

Grass  It’s tough to walk through grass when you have foot drop.  I always seem to catch half a bushel blades of grass where the sole of my shoes meets the toe.

The good thing about walking on grass is that when you fall, it is a soft landing. 

The bad thing about falling in grass is that my neighbor has five dogs!

 

 

 

Broken cement/asphalt, plush carpeting, gravel and sand…gimme the surface and I’ll cringe with every footfall.

Have I forgotten a surface that leaves you on shaky ground?  Put your best foot forward and let me know of your not-so-favorite place to hoof-it.  (How’s that for a lousy paragraph of lame cliche’s!)

 

Wherever you walk, just remember to be cognitive of what you are about to step into—-ESPECIALLY if you are at my neighbor’s house!