I drop things.....occasionally. Now, before I say anything else, I need to tell you my definition of the word occasionally. Based on my personal experience, and for the purpose of this article,"occasionally," is about every thirty to forty-five minutes. The thing is that I REALLY want to hang on to stuff.....I LIKE to hold on to things. But I am beginning to suspect that several years ago my brain and my muscles came to an agreement that it would be fun to play a trick on my fingers. Everything will be going along fine, the fingers growing more and more confident in their ability to grasp things,(and, suddenly, a loud voice is heard, shouting, Okay everybody, that's a wrap!),(( This is bad pun number 1.)). And then suddenly, without any warning, there is drop-age.
Sometimes it is because the brain will send out the correct message but along the route to my hand the original message will be subtly changed, and a non-sensical one will get delivered. This phenomenon is almost exactly like the game I used to play in grade school, called Gossip. All the students would form a single file line, and the teacher would whisper something in the first person's ear. Usually, it was something pretty simple, a short statement along the lines of, "My dog is brown." Everyone would whisper this core message into the ear of the person next to them, and the last child in line would say out loud what the message was when it got to them. Usually, the dog was no longer brown, and more to the point, the dog was no longer even mentioned. "My dog is brown," was now, "Someone will need to weed the garden soon."
Other times the dropage is due not to a correct message that has been changed in its travel through the system...but because the hand muscles receive a prior agreed upon signal from the brain,(usually a subtle wink or nod). This will alert them that since everything has been working well for the fingers for the last several minutes....that it is time once again to not show up for work,(kind of a hands-off approach,....pun number 2). This is becoming a problem and people, (mostly me), are starting to take notice and complain about the lack of brain and muscle support. It is frustrating for me to suddenly lose my grip on something and drop it, so as much as I can, I use an aid whenever available. My walking sticks have wrist straps on them which I always use. If I drop one while using it, which happens more often than I would like, the stick doesn't hit the ground, causing me to bend over to retrieve it, which, more than likely, will result in a new situation. It really gets exhausting just thinking and writing about it, and I'm all worn out and may have to take a rest break before I finish this. But back to the point I wanted to make, which is, that any aid or whatever helps me and makes holding on to objects more accessible is a great thing, and I would not hesitate to use it.
And then there are the legs, or more specifically, the calve muscles. I'm beginning to suspect that they may be getting ready to form a Union. At least, there seems to be SOMETHING going on. During the day they appear to be on their best behavior, you know...when they think management is watching. Nighttime seems to be a little different story, though. There seem to be some secret meetings going on, and all the troublemakers and usual suspects begin to show up. Based on the cramping in my legs that I have been experiencing only at night, the talks, or meetings, going on have been becoming very intense. All the restoration that goes on at night,( read my former blog, titled I Can't Find The Reset Button), continues to get interrupted because of these skirmishes and various other body members are taking notice and beginning to grumble. But so far the legs keep showing up for work every day, and as long as they don't stage a walk-out I should be okay,(a bad pun, I know, but I had set myself up for that one and couldn't resist.)
I am aware that both the speculation that my brain and muscles are deliberately tricking my fingers and the idea that my leg muscles may be entertaining Union negotiations right now are nothing more than conspiracy theories at this point. But I have presented what I believe to be some very conclusive evidence, and I think they are both theories that have legs.(bad pun #4). Many things are a source of frustration for me, but I would have to say that the loss of my ability to maintain a grip is, ( here comes the 5th and final bad pun..... Wait for it....), hands-down the greatest.
No comments:
Post a Comment