Falling

I am a champion faller it is amazing that, given the multiple times that I fall down, I have never broken anything.  I'm not really sure how I do it, but I think it has something to do with just going with the fall and not trying to stop myself .  Plus a lot of times,   I catch  myself with  the   back of my hands instead of with my palms.    I uually fall because I've tripped over something I didn't   see or  because my feet drag.
One of the first times I fell  was  pretty early into my diagnosis.  I was working downtown Chicago across from the Greyhound station.  It used to be a pretty shady    area although now it is   all  gentrified  and   my old building is a condo.  But I digress.  I had work late seeing clients, and was walking to my car.  The parking lot was across the street and under an overpass.  I always tried to stand up straight and walk confidently so as to not look like a potential strike for a mugger. (I had been the victim of an attempted mugging in front of that office building in the past, so it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility. I'll tell you that story some other time .  It's a doozy!).
Crossing the street in front of our building was always a crapshoot.  At nighttime people tend to use that street, which was a major thoroughfare, as a speedway.  I had just reached the curb, when I noticed a lone figure emerging from the shadows of the underpass.  I straightened up and widened my stride to look  confident, but instead dragged my foot and noticed that the pavement was coming closer.  So instead of appearing confident and self-assured, I appeared injured.  I managed to rip my dress and skin my knee and  the   shady character rushed over and said "Are you okay, Miss?"  Never judge a book...
It  was one of my first falls, but there have been many since then.
I can't tell you how many times I have fallen in front of clients which is horrendously embarrassing.  Once I fell in front of a bunch of kids  I was doing a group with.  I tripped over my own feet,  landed  on my back,legs in the air and I was wearing a skirt!  The   kids just sort of stared at me wide-eyed.  Kids are generally more worried about their own safety than   whther or not you are okay.  So they just needed to be reassured that I was fine and would continue to be able to take care of them.
Another time I fell in my back was again on that same street.  This time I had really overdone cleaning up or something and was waling all  hunched over. When I get fatigued, sometimes it is hard for me to straighten up and I walk like an old lady with osteoporosis...
 I was trying to rush   across the street and fell and landed on my back with my feet in the air.  And of course I was wearing a skirt again.  It's really hard for me to get up without something to lean on and there is not much to lean on in the middle of the street.  So I was just trying to crawl out of there so  I wouldn't      get hit by a car.  People are much more kind and willing to help than you would think down there by the Greyhound station.  Several people came running into the street and   helped me get up and walk across the rest of the way.  And  they didn't even comment on my beautiful underwear.
There are so many great falling stories, like the one where I fell down and caught myself with my face on one of those doormats with little concentric circles.  I had concentric circles printed on my face at least a week.
But my all-time favorite is when I fell down in front of my son's day care center.  Within the 2 yards fom my car to the entrance of the day care center,  I    managed to trip,  hit my face on the asphalt and scream out, "Shit" at the top of my lungs.  Eli   yelled "I didn't do it!" The teachers came running out and helped me up.  They asked me if I wanted them to call my husband to come and take care of me.   They  obviously didn't know me very well.  Usually I'm not badly hurt physically apart from scrapes and bruises, but my dignity is always bruised  pretty badly.  And I don't need to call someone to come and take care of me!

I told me neurologist that I was going to write some stories about falling and he said " Please just don't mention my name if you do" but since he moved to Galena and is no longer my neurologist, I have no qualms about dedicated me stories to Dr. Jules Kovaleski.  Thanks Dr. K.