Life's daily challenges

Today marked the first day that I didn't drop the bar of soap in the shower. Whooray! Don't get me wrong, my hands have not improved, but I think that the increase in strength of my hands has allowed me to do a little more. I also believe that dealing with this on a day-to-day basis will naturally cause me to get used to it. Challenges still rear their head when I have to brush my teeth, button buttons, shave, put belts on, socks and shoes etc. I am forcing my mindset to treat every day just as nothing is different, in other words trying to do everything that I normally would do with my hands. The down side is that I am dropping more things, and increasing my frustration because I simply am not able to do some tasks. Fortunately, my wife Pam has been there to help me if I ask.

Thank you again all of you for your support and prayers. My neurologist visit yesterday was disheartening. Although this is considered in his mind to be a 'mild' case of transverse myelitis, and that he says I am 'blessed' to not have this worse, it obviously is still a big issue to me. Either I will get better progressively, or I will just learn to deal with it, thus making it seem that my condition has got better. 'Just get used to it, Jeff' was the phrase that stuck in my mind. I didn't like the fact that he said that there may be permanent damage, and my current status may never improve. Also the fact that the neurologist told me that the lesions in my neck were overlooked by the radiologist initially didn't make me happy. I guess it all depends on what is between my ears and how I handle this latest challenge in my life.

I tell people that my hands feel like I've been writing my lawnmower for two hours in the vibration has hurt my nerve endings in my hands. That's kind of how it feels, or if your arm has fallen asleep, the numbness is similar.

We went to a prayer vigil last night for a five year old that has leukemia and the outcome does not look good for him. The family is very strong but I'm sure there will be many challenges in the road ahead of them. I guess perspectives slap you in the face every day in regards to what we should be thankful for and have gratitude towards.

It could be worse...