Tin Man & Jello Legs

Emily loves watching Sesame Street clips on YouTube. One of her favorites is one she calls "Walk Walk." Elmo, Grover, and Zoe have a new walk worthy of a song. Destiny's Child has just the song, of course. "I've got a new way to walk... walk, walk..."

I'm reminded of this silly video when MS changes the way I walk. Every morning I walk like the Tin Man from Oz. I move in rigid motions trying to get my stiff legs to cooperate. Once I stretch out a bit, it's much better. The one benefit is that this usually gets me out of late night trips down the stairs to let the dog out!

Through most of the day my legs are fine. The only time the Tin Man Walk returns is after I've been in one position for too long (e.g., driving). My new walk turns to something I call Jello Legs in the evening, though. They're exhausted and struggle to hold me up. Unfortunately this is the wobbly walk Emily sees often and I've noticed more than once that she slows down for me and even has her own funny walk she does when I do mine. Copycat.

I've read enough about MS to know that I should be trying to conserve my energy. I should take breaks during the day so I'm not hit by the fatigue bus by 4 p.m. I keep meaning to try yoga in the morning to alleviate the Tin Man stuff, but between feeding the fish, making Em's breakfast, letting the dog out and taking a 10-minute shower I tend to forget. It's on my to do list (the one that tends to spill over into tomorrow and then the next day and the next...) It's just a few lines above "Take a break." Maybe I need a sticker chart. I earn a sticker for each 5-10 minute break. 5 stickers = A glass of wine.

Behavioral modification has never tasted so good!