Over the last year I have been increasingly tripping over things.
I figured I was clumsy.
Over the last few months, I have been tripping over things I have tried to avoid tripping over.
I thought it was my glasses.
This weekend, I tripped several times, while watching my feet try to clear an obstacle...like the lawnmower cable I simply tripped over. I saw it, I overcompensated for it, and still tripped on it.

My husband was watching me, and flatly said, "I saw that coming".
I said, 'Great, I didn't, what did I miss?"
He said 'You either misjudge the distance you really need to lift your foot or you know the distance, your leg just doesn't do what you want it to."
I didn't misjudge the distance...
my leg just didn't do what I wanted it to do.
I put in the appropriate amount of input to move that foot, it just did not move where it was supposed to go.

It wasn't about pain, it was about a foot not going where it needs to go....it was about mobility, ambulation, balance....about CONTROL.

Today, I went to an orientation for a voc school program I was planning on attending this fall, as I can't do my former profession and I do not want to invest more in graduate school...too old, too sick, and frankly what interests me would take starting totally over, and I would not pay off student loans before I died. And no, baby boomers are not in demand in the workplace, and self employment is not always a dependable income.

I get there to 'register' and get an 'orientation', and they spring a typing test on me....now, up till the last 3 months I could really bang away on the keys...I know that 50wpm is not an issue.

Except that lately, when I hit a key, there is a blank ...or I hit a key and 3 of that letter appear, even 4, even 5...greatttt.

Other than my medical tests....I have never flunked a test, except a few math ones in high school, but that doesn't count, as once you pass the half century mark...high school might as well have been the dark ages.

I have realized that my fingers are not working very well lately, but did not realize that they were THAT impaired. I was shocked. I only missed by 4 errors, and they were very supportive, and given that there was simply no using my pinky and it was all red and bent anyway, not to mention, it simply did not respond to the command center.... they told me I have a year to pass this test...they were very nice. They suggested a typing course to some folks, but for me....after I told them I had neuropathy, the typing class is not going to help...not to mention, if I had known I was taking a typing test, I would not have worn no-line bifocals...I would have just worn my +275s.

Eh, fine I can pass it, thing is...do I really want to do this for a living??? Do I really want to do this now??? Do I want these hassles in my life given what I know about my history and what I do not know about my future.

Then a cute little girl comes in and says she just got this job at this attorney's office....great, I know this guy who hired her and I get the chills....again, dark cloud floats over....am I in the right place at the right time, I ask myself? Do I really need to put out all this money and time, because I want to improve myself???? When I am haaving trouble typpping?

I would rather raise sheep, I think.

My grown daughter calls me with her dilemma about where she is going with her life...man, she has travelled all over the world, is a lovely, a phenomenally gifted athlete, scholar, etc....I explain that I would like my life to be more than just fighting battles with windmills or dragons....sheep are nice, meek, and cuddly...so are llamas. The worst that can happen is I get bit or kicked or spit on. That is minor given some of my employment situations, not to mention some both personal and professional encounters with doctors.

I tell her about my day, and she says....'take ballroom dancing instead...well, maybe not, take a horticulture class....sheep tie you down.'

Maybe it is just a Monday....

My FD said now Sue don't hit me with everything at once,how did she
know so i didn't. You need a jumpstart,me to. Sue

When you have Sjogren's Syndrone and it took you all night to write
that huge list like fever,acke's and pain, hair coiming out,coughing
on the smallest pill,your eyes so dry you can't read the list,acid reflux
ect. ect. and if you don't hit her all at once you forget what your in
there for ,oh gezzzz Sue i think

Today is Tuesday, and I hope you are feeling better. My typing has also gotten worse,and so has my spelling. But I try not to worry too much about that sort of thing,I am very happy I live in a world with "spell check"!

As we age, our bodies naturally go through different cycles.
Sometimes I also trip over things including my own feet. But I used to do that before PN as well. I also bang my hands on things because as I try to grasp them, they are much closer than I thought.

Well, hopefully I will get some more answers in the next 6 weeks...

As far as spell check, I use it all the time...They don't let you on these tests...I made the same error over and over and it was the key that my little finger hits...it was always noted as an omission....that finger really has no control anymore...eh, worse stuff happens. It is a finger...I just wish my proprioception was better all the way around...maybe in a few weeks I will have at least some more questions answered.

The feet, you tell yourself you are clumsy, for a while, for 10 years, I was clumsier and clumsier....when I went to the running shoe store last month ......no, not a store that runs, but a store that sells just really good running shoes, they did a gait analysis, and the guy was cross eyed...time for new orthotics I guess...that is fine. (I don't run anymore, just can't, but, I still wear good running shoes to prevent hyperpronation.)

Tomorrow will be Tuesday...I figure by Wednesday, I will get back in my groove...as far as my schooling....I have time to think it over, and I never make decisions quickly anymore...

not even buying sheep....although I have done a fair amount of counting them.

It's ok to feel down sometimes, as long as we spend more time thinking about all the things we can do and not the things we can't. I was reading about your typing and realized, maybe it isn't my keyboard, maybe it's my fingers. Certain letters don't seem to work well and in the back of my mind I sometimes think it might be my fingers are not connecting properly, yet I want to blame the keyboard!

I think I would prefer to count pygmy goats, is that ok? I love them, used to have several. Much cuter and more responsive than sheep!

I think pygmy goats are fine...I was even thinking about angora ones, except I learned that their wool is only good for 2 years, then you just have a pet goat...just one you can 'count' on.

Between spell-check & Dragon Naturally Speaking 9.0 ($199.00),
there's no excuse for not hiring someone for typing errors.
That is unless you're going to be a court transcriptionist,
or a copy typist (but that's what scanners and copy & paste are for).
DNS even has a program for medical and legal transcription.
Handicapped typist? Sheesh!! Walk in the park!