Hey Rod, why not start this thread in the Lighter SIde Thread? Some of us don’t necessarily come to the CIDP thread but I think we could all get a laugh at the funny things we do now.

This really isn’t for the men (but you probably shouldn’t do it either) 🙂

* Wearing high heels (especially on grasss!)

fishing on the side off a river bank :p SPLASH!!!!!!

~@ tequila @~

dont bother trying to save face or dignity, you always end up worse off……….. once youve insisted on taking yourself independently to toilet, and then fallen off the toilet, just fess up and ask for help,….. dont try and pull self up on toilet to save face etcc, as youll break the lid off the looooo.!!!!!!!!!:eek:

of course didnt happen to me!!!!!!!!!!! (yeah right!!!!)

While camping..squatting behind a tree, got down but could not get up..never again.

No more forgetting to leave a night light on and fumbling around in the dark looking for the bathroom! (Can’t see in the dark or keep my balance in the dark to save my life!)

Don’t try to pee the regular man’s way if you have no feeling in your hands. Finally give up and do it like a woman.:D I learned the hard way.:eek:

we should probably give up the game of Hopscotch as hard as that would be.:rolleyes:

Never ever ever forget to lock your wheel chair. You will fall down and go Boooooom! Didn’t feel good on the tail bone landing on a hardwood floor.

Norb,

I have to say that there are times when I’ve had to lower and raise myself from the toilet that I wished I was a man. After this … maybe not.

Deb
London

hand lotion + weak hands + big cup of coffee = lots of broken cups and frequent changes of clothing 😮

Tell the bus driver in advance you’re not drunk!!!!!!!!!!! as you try and clamber onto the bus (as you cant drive!!!!!)at 10am but accidently plop backwards onto your butt in the gutter!!!!!

Driver thinks ‘yeh right, just an early morining drunk’!!!!!!!

(and they say only idiots dont learn from their mistakes…………)
yes unfortunately this has also happened…….
you topple head first landing at the drivers feet, trying to board!!!!!

[COLOR=”Red”][/COLOR]DON”T STAND IN A CHAIR TRYING TO REACH FOR SOMETHING OUT OF A CABINET especially if you have WOBBLY LEGS> OHHH! AND DON”T TRY TO STAND ON A LADDER EITHER!
DANGER DANGER DANGER!

Don’t get out of the wheelchair to bathe your baby when there is no one home that can help you get back up into it! I did that!!! Got down on the floor to bathe my son, and then was stuck in the bathroom until my hubby got home. Well, I managed to crawl to the living room but it took me over an hour. My elderly mother in law was staying with me and she couldn’t help me up. She felt so bad 🙁

Wear button shirts. :rolleyes: Polos seem to be my new fashion statement.

[QUOTE=GaryO Houston]Wear button shirts. :rolleyes: Polos seem to be my new fashion statement.[/QUOTE]

Good one, Gary. I don’t have any problem with the front buttons, but those sleeve buttons drive me crazy. 🙂

As an aside, I finally bit the bullet and bought a pair of SAS shoes that will accommodate my AFOs, so I could have a decent pair of shoes to wear with dress slacks. I was wearing oversize running shoes. This is my first pair of SAS shoes and I was shocked at the cost. I could have bought a pair of Cole Haan or Johnston & Murphy shoes for the same price.

[QUOTE=GaryO Houston]Wear button shirts. :rolleyes: Polos seem to be my new fashion statement.[/QUOTE]

You think adult sized buttons are bad? Try buttoning up the itty bitty buttons on my son’s 4T sized shirts! lol My fingers fumble with them so badly sometimes.

Sort of humorous (from a hindsight perspective) — We should be banned from using knives…aside from the obvious reasons…I kept dropping them and now all our knives are missing their tips. Oops!

I like the Knife thing Deb – so true. Even cutting I have to use all my concentration not to cut my self.
I have some things you should not try –
Jewelery – the clasps drive me crazy. My son has converted most of my necklace’ clasps to magnets but there is still the bracelets and then oh those earings trying to get them in the little bitty holes.
Contacts – can’t feel them. Putting them in is bad…taking them out is worse.
And then there is typing. My fingers can’t do the “P” any more with out looking and for some reason the letter “J” ends up in a lot of my words. I also have to look before I start to make sure my fingers are on the right keys.
And the worse thing of all is Ice. Can’t feel it under my feet. So I guess there won’t be any ice skating in my future. :rolleyes:

Don’t try and trim you own toe nails. Last time I tried I took of part of the little toe. It was really just a nick, but since I’m on blood thinners it looked like I cut off the end of the toe. My wife wanted me to go to the ER. There was no way I was going to explain what happened. After a while the bleeding stop and you could see that it was just a nick. 😀

The funny thing is that Medicare will pay for a Podiatrist to trim you nails if you have neuropathy because of Diabetes, but not if you have CIDP. Go figure :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=jackieharley]
Contacts – can’t feel them. Putting them in is bad…taking them out is worse.
[/QUOTE]

Oh, I feel the contacts pain! I don’t wear them very often but man, is it a nightmare trying to get them out.

Earlier today, my foot found a nail in our laminate wood floor that had managed to get worked out a bit. The finishing nail was sticking out not even half an inch. I felt my foot catch on something but because it didn’t hurt that badly, I didn’t think much of it… until I decided to give the injury a look. The nail had managed to dig into my foot just enough to gouge it and peel back some skin. I knew I had a decrease in sensation in my foot, but for some reason I didn’t equate that to possibly being hurt worse than originally anticipated *shakes her head at herself*

Shave with a Razor. 😮

My face is starting to look a little carved up. If I could grow a beard I would.

I did find a “button holer”. A device that helps you button shirts. If anyone is interested I might could find the web site for the device and pass it along.

It doesn’t work so well with buttoning pants though.

Recently I worked so hard on buttoning my pants (and I was so relieved that I finally got it) that I forgot to zip them. 😀

Gary

[QUOTE=GaryO Houston]

Recently I worked so hard on buttoning my pants (and I was so relieved that I finally got it) that I forgot to zip them. 😀

Gary[/QUOTE]

LOL….I do that sometimes, Gary. My wife calls it “old man’s disease.”

[FONT=Georgia]I need something to help me hold on to my keys, due to all this numbness in my fingers & hands. I’ve repeatedly dropped my keys the last time I almost dropped them down in a crack on my front porch. I have no desire to even attempt crawling under that porch. 😮 Oh & Gary you could do what I did in regards to shaving, just stop & grow you a beard. 😀 [/FONT]

Dropping my drink glass.
Knocking over big glass full of sweet tea.
Bringing ice tea glass up to my mouth and somehow throwing the contents over my shoulder”” Then I drop the glass.

Both my legs and arms are covered in blue green bruises from bumping into walls/furniture and I don’t even feel it.

Terry-there is a plastic coiled stretch bracelet with keyring on end-stays on with several keys attached or beaded necklace(man’s) and slide keys on them(like dog tag kind). I still manage to drop keys once a week-they just fall out of my hand-learming to live with it.

One thing one should not try with cidp-try to put pants on lifting up one leg at a time when you need both legs planted flat on the floor for balance. Shoulder up to a wall first, otherwise you’re going to crash into wall or fall on floor or bed-got the bruises to show for it. Wear a lot of dresses these days:D
Emma

Emma, I do brace myself against the wall when putting on my pants. I’ve found I stand on my pant legs with the other foot sometimes and I get stuck … one leg in, one leg half in and nowhere to go. I bet it would look pretty humorous.

I never thought of a dress though hmmm, would probably have to shave my legs… Maybe a kilt. I may have some Scottish background somewhere.
😀
Gary

Here’s a good one! Dropping a canned soda on a ceramic tile floor and then to sit there trying to catch the spinning soda go out of control speading cola all over the ceiling, walls and floor.
I actually have done that 3 times since May! What a pain to clean up too! When you drop those aluminum cans on a floor like that it’s like setting off a fire hose that has strong currents of water running in them causing the hose to fly everywhere. Since my last soda spill! I have now switched to plastic bottles! 😀

Trying to get your wheelchair to jump up the curb when you are leaving the bar…..:D Not that I ever did that…Don’t know which was harder, jumping the chair or trying to get off the ground….actually it was one of the guys from rehab who did this. We had gone to the bar for a night out of the “prison” we were in and he was acting smart as we were heading back to rehab. His chair flipped when he was trying to jump it and then he couldn’t get back in. Man did we laugh at his antics….

Gary-I happen to think guys look cool in kilts> I do have some Scottish in me.:D
Yet another pants story-do not sit on bed to put on pants-I tried, leaned forward, laws of enertia and poor balance conspired against me and of course I pitched forward onto the floor. Ever try to crawl back to the bed with your pants wrapped around your ankles??????
Emma

Don’t lean over a big dresser. We have one about 5 feet wide and about 4.5 feet high or so and I felt light-headed and leaned over the dresser (with my arms over the edge) and next thing I knew, I was falling backwards with the dresser coming right on top of me. Talk about hurting your tail bone but fortunately nothing was broken. Now, it was – how the heck am I gonna get out of here cause I didn’t have the strength to lift the dresser off of me. I finally pulled a drawer out of the night stand that was next to me and brought it around behind me and sort of wedged it under the dresser. I was able to life the dresser up a little bit and shoved the drawer a bit further until I was able to get my legs out – needless to say, had lots of scrapes and bruises, but will not do that again.

How about running on the treadmill.

The numbness in my feet doesn’t give me enough feedback so I can run in a straight line. I keep drifting off to the sides. Maybe I should just go ahead and set up a video camera and go for it. It might be a funny home video moment. 😀

I also don’t tend to walk in a straight line (treadmill or not). I get off balance to one side or the other. I tend to run into the walls when I turn corners.

Gary

HEY GARY,
I remember not to try a treadmill. About four/five years ago I had the money to work with a personal trainer at a gym. My trainer wanted me to try a treadmill and my trembling jerking hands hit a speed button. James was on the machine behind me and SLAM right into a hard muscled body!

LOL!!!

Something tells me the experience wasn’t entirely unpleasant for you.

Accidently???

Liz, you’re a sly one…

Gary

[QUOTE=GaryO Houston]Emma, I do brace myself against the wall when putting on my pants. I’ve found I stand on my pant legs with the other foot sometimes and I get stuck … one leg in, one leg half in and nowhere to go. Gary[/QUOTE]

[I]Okay, Gary … I just about fell off my computer chair! We ladies do wear jeans and other pants, y’know, and, yes, indeed, we do have that same problem from time to time. Very funny! Needed that giggle![/I] 🙂

[QUOTE=Emma]One thing one should not try with cidp-try to put pants on lifting up one leg at a time when you need both legs planted flat on the floor for balance. Shoulder up to a wall first, otherwise you’re going to crash into wall or fall on floor or bed-got the bruises to show for it. Wear a lot of dresses these days:D Emma[/QUOTE]

[I]Omigosh, you and Gary have made my day! Oh, how funny! I’ve always been a klutz ( and darn proud of it ), but I am now #7 on a 1 to 10 scale. Maybe #8? [/I] 😀

How about falling out of the bathtub while showering with shampoo in your hair/eyes and bringing the shower curtain down around you? Just a pile of pain and dignity!!:o
But that wasn’t me either:D
Sue

Since developing these $%*@ tremors, my wife has put the dartboard off limits! With two dogs, we can’t afford the vet bills!:D

Getting on the second story roof of my house to make repairs.

I couldn’t even before getting this stuff! I’ve never liked heights so I don’t? I hire folks to do such ‘things’. Call me chicken? Maybe, Prudent is more likely in my estimation….
My first PT session for the neuropathy? They had me try a treadmill? Lasted about 15 seconds of the waddling duck walk at the lowest speed, followed by a Nuh-Uh. Never again. I believe they felt I was more of a danger to the machine than to myself at the time!

DOES ANYONE OUT THERE GO OUT IN THE ICE?

while on a road trip never say “ahhh ill go at the next stop” especially when driving through the desert with intestinal cramps

whoops did I say that out loud

something we should try is getting parts as extras on a “night of the lving dead” remake. We probably wouldnt get the part for “28 days later” or “I am legend” or any of those new modern fast zombies

Double Dutch jump rope. Not that I have ever been able to do it before :p but I saw it on a show and got dizzy just thinking about it!:D

I have double vision so:
I should never look down while climbing up stairs or riding an escalator, you should never walk in front of me!:D

Ahhhh! I neded to read this today! Great advice and smiles to go with them! I am now feeling a little less depressed and am ending my pitty party early! :p [QUOTE=TJRPT6]Lets start a thread on the lighter and funny side of things.
These diseases are not funny, but, sometimes you have to laugh at yourself.
Laughter is good right?? Please, don’t be offended. We are all in the same boat.

During my last walk as I stumble down the side walk, sometime closing my eyes as I walk, I was thinking of some things I shouldn’t try doing anymore. Please add your own idea to this and try not to be serious. Here are a few a thoughts that made me chuckle out loud.

**NO more playing pin the tail on the Donkey at B’day parties. Imagine that?

**Don’t even bother trying to hold your beer up as you are going down. this has happened to me recently. Just brace for the fall.

**Aqua therapy is good, but No more boogie boarding in the Ocean, those riptides are a B*^&%.

Ok, when your in the mood. add on to this and keep it going!![/QUOTE]

If you are in a wheelchair and someone offers to help you get off a ferry make sure you tell tell them to pull you off backward, with the big wheels coming first.
One of the crew grabbed my wheelchair to pull me forward with the small wheels coming first and flipped me over backwards. I’m a big person and I found out the wheelchair was strong enough to take it. The handlebars prevented me from hitting my head.

Darts … Yeoowww (poor kitty) … I cant seem to get a good grip with these numb fingers … Psssss (flat tire) … aiming is somewhat difficult … CRASH tinkle tinkle tinkle (broken window) … and I cant seem to find the right trajectory … POP Pssss (stuck dart in neighbor’s pool floatie) …

Kinda reminds me of Young Frankenstein… heh heh heh

[QUOTE=Elmo]With two dogs, we can’t afford the vet bills!:D[/QUOTE]

Ah, but my dogs love it when I cook. For Christmas they got bits of apple and stuffing which I was stirring in preparation for cooking, and turkey while I was slicing it. Today I made pot roast and they were right by my side, waiting for whatever I might drop — they weren’t really happy with the carrots, but didn’t mind the onion and really enjoyed the wine I spilled.

The dogs have their yearly vaccinations and check-up tomorrow — I hate to think of how much weight they’ve gained just because I’m clumsy.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Deb
London

[QUOTE=eightplusfive]Ah, but my dogs love it when I cook. For Christmas they got bits of apple and stuffing which I was stirring in preparation for cooking, and turkey while I was slicing it. Today I made pot roast and they were right by my side, waiting for whatever I might drop — they weren’t really happy with the carrots, but didn’t mind the onion and really enjoyed the wine I spilled.

The dogs have their yearly vaccinations and check-up tomorrow — I hate to think of how much weight they’ve gained just because I’m clumsy.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Deb
London[/QUOTE]

I know you love those pooches dearly, but onion can be toxic to dogs and cause hemolytic anemia. Please avoid onion raw, cooked or in sauces and stews containing onion. Sounds like your dogs didn’t ingest enough to be harmful.
Chocolate is another danger that most of pet owners know about. My cat sneaked into some chocolate a few years ago and ate an amount that caused a temporary bout of uncomfortable illness. It seems these dogs and cats are fond of some foods that can hurt them.
Certain plants also are attractive to cats and can poisonous them. The web has some good inofrmation.
Great hearing from you , Deb, and may all your wishes for the New Year come true!

Don,t stand (or wobble) on the top of your bed and try and clean the ceiling fan. Lucky I had a king size bed.My labradors thought it wasw a game and jumped up to play with me. Jet:o 😉

[QUOTE=KatyK]I know you love those pooches dearly, but onion can be toxic to dogs and cause hemolytic anemia. Please avoid onion raw, cooked or in sauces and stews containing onion. Sounds like your dogs didn’t ingest enough to be harmful.
Chocolate is another danger that most of pet owners know about. My cat sneaked into some chocolate a few years ago and ate an amount that caused a temporary bout of uncomfortable illness. It seems these dogs and cats are fond of some foods that can hurt them.
Certain plants also are attractive to cats and can poisonous them. The web has some good inofrmation.
Great hearing from you , Deb, and may all your wishes for the New Year come true![/QUOTE]

Hi! Not to worry: the only onions they got were a couple of small bits — I was dicing the onions, apples and pecans for the stuffing. But I know what you mean about animals getting into things that’re not good for them. Our previous dog was particularly bad about it. One day while we were at work she got the post, in which was a sample of Twilights chocolates and some brand of shampoo. I can’t imagine what the combination tasted like, but thereafter we kept a basket over the letter drop so that she couldn’t get the post.

A couple of years later a Hungarian friend was house and dog-sitting for us while we were away. He had received a lovely Hungarian sausage from his Mum — foot long, couple of inches wide. He made the mistake of leaving it in his room while he went to work. He returned to find about four tooth-marked inches remaining intact and little puddles of the rest in various places in the house.:eek:

But the trip to the vet went well — the furkids are in good health, for which I’m very grateful. One dog, the elder of the two, had to have back surgery six years ago. She’s a dachshund and for a while it looked like she and I were both going to be wheelchair users, but the surgery put her back on her paws and a combination of IVIg and azathioprine have put me on mine.

Keep smiling,

Deb
London

[QUOTE=Matteyrae]Never ever ever forget to lock your wheel chair. You will fall down and go Boooooom! Didn’t feel good on the tail bone landing on a hardwood floor.[/QUOTE]
I am no longer in a wheelchair, but when I was my granddaddy lost me down a ramp!

skiing may not be good for some of us, also high on the list mixing drinking and dancing. The end result could be baaaad. (Not from experience!!!!!):eek:

Treading icy pavement on crutches isn’t a good idea — been there, done that, got the bruises to prove it.

Eating out at a nice place when you have tremors….. My Mom and my friend took me to dinner on a bad day I had bad tremors and was having trouble eating. My mom had to cut up my food like I was a small child so I was already feeling really self conscious. Then I dropped my food on myself. New to my illness, frustrated, and embarrassed I began to cry. It broke my friend’s heart. He said, “Look I spill food all the time!” He took a big spoon of potatoes and hit my mom right in the face! Without missing a beat my Mom replies, “Really honey it’s no biggie it happens to everyone!” as she launched a saucy piece of steak right back at him. So needless to say at our table a discreet but messy food fight ensued with rolling laughter, stained clothing, and lots of appalled looks from the neighboring table.

don’t try to lean over and pick up dog poos…you might keel over into the pooy mess…happened to me; plus this is a nice excuse to get your significant other to do this smelly job!:confused:

My face hurts so bad from laughing!! Since I work with kids….jumping rope
is out of the question, can’t get off the ground!! Stay far away when playing
kick-ball, with no reflexes anymore I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen
the ball coming and “BAM” right between the eyes!! Don’t answer the phone
when your boss is standing behind you, flew right out of my hand and hit
her in the head (lucky she has a sense of humor). My kids are great though,
they now know when I get on one knee to tie a shoe, they huddle around me
to help me up. They just think I’m old.

Love ya all!!
Ms. Judy:)

Make sure you “can” grab a hold of something before you lift it out of a cabinet. I needed a container of bread crumbs and I dropped it, half of it spilled on the floor. I had to mop my floor twice to get the grit up. At least I had enough left in the container to make my meatloaf.

Walk (wobble)with a glass of ice water. People hear you coming with the rattle. This thread was fun and informative to read. If we can laugh we are healing

Make sure your NUMB feet are placed right when you turn over in bed. I was SURE that I’d wake up this morning with two more toes broken. No bruises show so maybe they’re okay.

Don’t let your best friend pressure you into typing out the manuscript for her book. This has happened to me and I don’t know how to get out of it. 😮 I’ve explained and demonstrated my limitations, but she doen’t understand GBS, has always been an optimist, and thinks it will work out just fine. Now our friendship is starting to show some strain, because I’ve only completed 1 page out of a dozen drafts in the past 3 months, and it took my whole Christmas vacation to do it, and she wasn’t satisfied with it anyway.
Should I send her a few print-outs of some of my posts on the forum, when I haven’t spent hours correcting the spelling? 😮 Maybe just tuck a few of them into my typing work for her to check over…oops, wonder how those got in there!

(Sorry if this post comes across more troublesome than humorous. Actually, it is a funny situation! NO, it isn’t. It’s driving me nuts!)

D.U.
I spoke to a person once shortly after my first bout with gbs who told me of having a neighbor in another state who had it – a really severe case. Well, as I explained a lot of what I learned of the slow healing process to this person the response was “well, maybe I was hard on my neighbor – I thought this person was just lazy”. Just a thought for you to digest. I think we all get this a lot.

If you’re going sailing, don’t climb up the masts to set the sails.
And be sure to wear your boat-shoes; better yet, have someone tie you to the mast.

PS: Thanks Alma, for your post and your understanding; God Bless!

by alll your dishes in palstic..I drop them all the time!! And have been known to throw things at people with out meaning too…oops sorry about that!!

Have you eyes checked by a Dr that doesn’t know anything about GBS…..Got new glasses….supposedly to clear the double vision…. it did but now I am nauseated…

After much thought, I just took that unedited, untyped manuscript back to my friend today, with a note of explanation as to why I couldn’t continue to work on it. If completing 1 page almost gave me a breakdown, I know that I’m not up for 100 more pages:rolleyes: , especially since this person has no idea of what they want in the first place. I was always left guessing and slaving away to prepare all sorts of ideas, only to have them discarded.:o

People just don’t understand our limitations, especially the exhaustion and mental confusion caused by stress; and as soon as you start getting around a little again with a rollator, they come along with ‘little’ projects for you to help them with.
First it was, type and print 100 copies, each with 100 pages on my little printer; then it was, well just type out a manuscript of 100 pages in several formats.

I’m not lazy; just NO CAN DO in a realistic way. 😎

[QUOTE=Alma]D.U.
I spoke to a person once shortly after my first bout with gbs who told me of having a neighbor in another state who had it – a really severe case. Well, as I explained a lot of what I learned of the slow healing process to this person the response was “well, maybe I was hard on my neighbor – I thought this person was just lazy”. Just a thought for you to digest. I think we all get this a lot.[/QUOTE]

Other things not advisable for those with CIDP:
1. Becoming a puppeteer
2. Taking up ice-skating

Donna,

Chuckle chuckle, is aspiring to be a puppeteer random or is/was it an ambition of yours?

I can’t quit chuckling over that one! 😀

I think string puppets are CREEPY! 😮 Now Sid and Marty Kroft’s puppets were special and the Sesame Street puppets. They were my favorites! And who can forget Yoda!

Gary

Aren’t we all puppets on strings!! 😮

Also to be avoided if one has GBS/CIDP:
Climbing the forest ranger tower.

As to puppets, I really loved The Muppets, especially ‘Fraggle Rock’.
Gary, long ago I regularly gave hand-puppet shows for a children’s Bible Club.
String puppets that creep me out: the Robaxicet ones, the goats on the ‘The Lonely Goatherd’ on “The Sound of Music”.
No, we’re not all puppets, don’t forget the artists of the world, the musicians, individuals to the end.

I am SO glad I took the time to read this thread! Not only is it hilarious, even for those who aren’t dealing with GBS or CIDP, but it’s endearing. Having a good sense of humor is essential to having a happy life, in my opinion, and your posts were absolutely delightful!

Although it was an unfortunate event that brought me here, I’m really glad I found this community. Great bunch you’ve got here. 🙂

I am thinking tight rope walking would not be a wise career choice!!

Sun bathing!!! 😮

I played golf Saturday. It was a “chamber of commerce” type of a day weather wise. Sunny, 86 degrees F, and a slight breeze coming in off the coast. I didn’t put on sun screen and five hours later my neck arms, ankles and calves were rather toasty.

I love fried foods: potatoes, steak, potatoes, donuts, potatoes, pickles, potatoes, burritos, potatoes, zuchini, potatoes, cheese, potatoes, oreos, potatoes, twinkies, potatoes, pies, potatoes, … oh, sorry I got carried away. :rolleyes:

But fried skin on top of fried nerves is [B][U]not [/U][/B]a good combination.

I got into the bath tub last night (slightly warm water) and it felt like my skin was melting off.

So if you go out into the sun, PUT ON SUN SCREEN! I’m taking some to the Miracle Mile for sure.

Gary

Just can’t get enough of your ‘taties’, eh, Gary O’Irish?

Another thing we shouldn’t do if we have GBS-CIDP is think we are like Mr. Steed, with his walking-cane. (The Avengers)

And one might as well say good-bye to that old wish of being a wing-walker during the town-fair days. 😉

Wing walker??? 😮

I LOVED the Avengers. Wasn’t Mr. Steed’s partner Mrs. Peal or something like that? I might have to get me a bowler and a cane. 😉

I am trying to convince my wife that that a return to flyfishing is on the horizon. I told her that I would wear a life peserver and take my cell phone. That way if I should lose my footing and fall in the river I could call her up and have her come pick me up……about 5 miles down river!:D

Gary, I meant that we shouldn’t think we are Mr. Steed, even though we may look like it with our walking-cane (a bowler???, good idea, very classy!).
(As I recall, he was pretty tricky on the defense and offense).
As for kicking really, really high like Mrs. Peal, those days have come to an end, and I can’t even blame GBS-CIDP. :rolleyes:

A wing-walker: somebody (obviously a durn fool :p ) who walks on the wings of a low-flying airplane as a stunt during the local fair-days.
(Remember that episode on “The Waltons”?)

MallardDrake, good luck with the fishing; just be sure not to throw yourself into the river, like we all nearly did when we made that very first cast. I’m wanting to go fishing again too, but am a little scared of slipping off the embankment into the swirling undertow of the dam.
That, and my wrists aren’t as flexible with the casting, so I may be a danger to myself or others, or trees.

be sure to keep your cell phone dry or you be down the river without a paddle or a phone

D.U., I think I could do the wing walking thing if I could sit down the whole time. What do you think? Want to give it a try?

[CENTER][IMG]http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/DeaconJim711/wing_walking_2_150x180.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]

MallardDrake, I’m with you on the fly fishing gig. I’m just afraid that I might hook my ear or a little bit lower first. It would be fun to be out in the water again. May be we could conbine fly fishing and “tubing” as long as we could figure out a way to protect the tubes.

[CENTER][IMG]http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/DeaconJim711/TBH_Tubing_On_White_River-390×256.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]

Jim C., if there’s anybody here who could still be a wing-walker, it would have to be you. 😉
No thanks, I don’t want to give it a try. Even in a chair, I’d probably have heart-failure.
[B]Only in my dreams[/B], and if I fall off there, I suddenly develop wings and fly up, up, up…

The river’s been calling me, and I’m going to get a fishing license when the new season begins. If I have to rest every few minutes in my rollator, I’m walking those miles, and I’m going fishing!!! And if the other anglers don’t like the way my line is casting out, they can just move off well to the sides. :p
I might take my bike helmet, so’s I don’t snag my hair.

Bike helmet sounds like a good idea….probably look better than my wife’s shower cap…ya think?:)

You guys are a hoot! Keep us smiling – – -:)

[SIZE=”5″][/SIZE][B]Surfing Hawaii’s North shore…but it looks like so much fun![/B]

[CENTER][IMG]http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/DeaconJim711/big-wave-surfing41.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]

Jim, I can’t make out what is inside the red circle; kindly elaborate. :confused:
But in any case, that’s a great example of one more thing I’m not planning to do with CIDP, no matter how much ‘fun’ it looks. 😉

[SIZE=”5″]It’s two surfers “paddling” on their boards not realizing what is behind them…[B][I][U]wipe out!!!![/U][/I][/B][/SIZE]

[CENTER][IMG]http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/DeaconJim711/bigwaveupclsoe.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]

Well I can see that CIDP doesn’t seem to have affected your vision, Jim.
However, something must have affected the vision of those 2 surfers, don’t you think?

Which reminds me, another thing I don’t think I should do is seek employment as a seed-counter at a manufacturing company or greenhouse. I don’t know if my occasional CIDP double-vision would end up with the seed-packs being filled to half the amount, or twice the amount.

I had to cross tap dancing off my list ~ although on one of my ‘one-crutch days’ I tripped on a piece of sewing thread and the subsequent recovery sent me a-stomping and a-jiving around the room for about 15 seconds and came pretty darn close to the [U]reel[/U] thing! I can also do a pretty good one-leg stomp followed by a hugemungous dual upper thigh muscles lock up. Takes care of all my aerobic and adrenaline needs for at least a week. Some days I laugh until [U]all[/U] my cheeks hurt. You can’t make this stuff up.

BigTree, you take the prize for your description of the ‘Dance of the GBSers.”
Tripped on a piece of sewing thread, eh?
Thinking back to onset, I recall ‘reacting’ to the foot-pain of stepping on a dust bunny.

DU ~ The piece of sewing thread was so large it was huge! I haven’t encountered the waskley dust bunny yet but I know they’re out there, waiting and watching for an opportunity. I am so focused on getting from point A to point B I’ve developed super sensitive vision for the obvious, but dust bunnies lurk in hidden places and attack when least expected.

Four Words That Scare Me: Soft voice from behind… “Let me help you.” I know I going down!

Tip: Keep Everyone in front of you where you can see them. Otherwise they may mistake a little bobble and recovery as an emergency and instinctively launch into a complicated series of maneuvers they think will somehow be helpful. I view these as ‘attacks’ and find safe haven until they calm down and I can do it my way.

Exception: I almost always allow children to help. I might be contributing to the next-gen attacker/helper but it usually works out well and I thank them for asking first.

Well said, BigTree! 😀

Another thing we should not do if we have GBS-CIDP is look guilty.
We need to watch out for the store-staff who think we might be thieves. We have this tendency to touch walls, shelves and counters from time to time as we walk along, just to check our balance or make our stength last. Often, there suddenly appears a ‘shoplifter-detective’ watching us furtively and worriedly, 😎 wondering if we’re legit or just pretending to have a hard time walking. Are we stealing stuff? Is that why our rollator has a seat? So we can shoplift and hide our stash?

Also be on the lookout for concerned staff at the bank. If you have to make it from Point A (a chair–where they are changing your account because the post office has lost your latest government forms with all of your personal info) to Point B (all the way to the other end of the room–just to finish off your ATM card), you might end up touching the counter at intervals just where all of their pen-stands are located. It really does look suspicious, you know. After all, maybe you’re just inventing the need to change your account because you’re really interested in stealing all of their pens.
But in order to allay suspicion, 😉 when you’ve finally reached the other end of the room, I find it helps to say “May I please borrow a pen?”

And by all means, do not look guilty if you are walking behind a judge at the store, and you’re doggone tired and you’re feet are dragging, and you’re staggering and stumbling along. They will notice that, and their eyes will pierce you to your innermost being, stripping away the layers of your demoralization. And then, instead of asking politely if you are ok, all they will do is watch you lift your cane from the shopping cart, and stare coldly at your cane-tip, until its broken and worn edges convince them that they shouldn’t call security.
This happened to me just recently–a brief encounter with Judge Dredd (not his real name). :p

Remember those slip and slides? Don’t need to buy one anymore!

Getting into body-building with GBS-CIDP could also be an ambiguous venture.
On the one hand, we don’t have to do a thing to make our veins pop out for a showing; on the other hand, we aren’t going to pass the physical.

Today, I believe I broke the world record for the longest step. Unfortunately there was no one was the to see it. I was two-crutching it to the front door and my attention was diverted for a milli-second, lost my balance and during the recovery made one Hugemongous Giant Step to nearest thing to grab on to and made it! Upon further analysis, I calculated what I did was impossible. I can’t jump or ‘leap’ so that’s out. Even if I did the ‘splits’ it still exceeded my physiology. So, I figured it was possibly a form of levitation or a CIDP-induced genetic mutation that extends the muscles in my legs to previously unheard of proportions or one off those incidents similar to a person lifting an automobile to save someone. Amazing.

Getting Christmas decorations out of the attic. I missed my step somehow and missed the rafter (foot went right through the sheet rock. Good thing the kids were home and could help me pull my foot out. 😮

My knee was huge the next morning.

The old ‘leg through the ceiling’ is good for a laugh and works every time. Hope you didn’t hurt anything important and heal up soon.
And to all a Merry Christmas.

Hey Gary,
I also tried to get my decorations out of the manhole in the garage today. I climbed onto a box then pulled myself up onto a kitchen cupboard (it getting installed next week). Still couldnt reach so thought Id better get down before falling and then got my top hooked onto a hook on the wall.
No one was home to help and after 10 min of trying I freed myself.
Merry Christmas to everyone.

Gary,
I did the same thing about five years ago. The most humiliating thing was that my wife couldn’t stop laughing for a good ten minutes. Besides the sheet-rock, the only thing that was damaged was my pride. There is a big patch in the garage celling just before you come into the kitchen. You can’t really see it. However I have no trouble seeing every time I’m out in the garage. Is it a CIDP thing or an age thing or a combination of both?