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"Looking forward." Has PN taken that away from me, too?
Neuropathy | Last Active: Jun 30, 2025 | Replies (75)Comment receiving replies
I can relate to your angst. My world is also pre-PN and post. I have become very isolated and am no longer out there. I spend a great deal of time at home with my dog. I now do my own haircuts instead of going to a salon. I belong to two book clubs which I try to attend. I am also more sensitive to weather and to advice people offer about this condition. So I try to avoid those when I need to. Many folk dismiss it as stress. Physical therapy has gotten me a little more out and about--I aim for three times a week as it is helpful. You are right, Ray--retirement is not always easy. You write extensively on these daily travails that our PN group faces and it is much appreciated
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Good morning, arcuri24 (@arcuri24)
Like your, all the events of my life can be best explained as pre- or post-PN. In my case, too, events can be related as either pre- or post-sepsis. Until I had my sepsis attack a year ago last April, I'd been doing a pretty good job of forestalling the isolation that too often comes with having a chronic disease. Sepsis changed all that. Sepsis made my balance worse. Along with worsening balance, I allowed myself to become more and more isolated. It was only a month or two ago that I began to take notice of how, whenever I'd call my two voicemails (I'm one of the remaining 11 people on earth who still has a landline 🙂 ), I'd hear "You have no messages." Whoa! What gives? What have I done to myself? What have I allowed to happen? Since then I've been making a concerted effort to keep up with my friends, if not always able to see them, at least having rich, unhurried phone chats.
People at Connect now regard me as a broken record (or, to keep it 2025, a malfunctioning Spotify) because I so often quote choreographer Twyla Tharp's book "Keep It Moving," but something you said recalled something Tharp says:
"As we get older and our bodies enjoy less natural freedom of movement, we tend to take up less space both physically and metaphorically. Here's the end point of this tendency: our backs arch forward, no longer straight and long. Our steps shorten from a stride to a shuffle. Our vision narrows, slowly erasing the periphery, leaving only what's in front of our nose. No wonder we prefer remaining at home, our life lived in fewer and fewer rooms."
That's exactly what had been happening to me –– or what I'd been doing to myself: living my life in fewer and fewer rooms. I'm trying now to fight back. It's not easy, but I'm trying.
Here's wishing to a wonderful day today!
Ray (@ray666)