My Salient Symptoms - as of 2007
Listed below are the symptoms I suffer from
    1) Ability to Express Apropriate Emotions
    2) Depression
    3) Dexterity
    4) Flexibility
    5) Incontinance
    6) Mental Agility
    7) Strength
    8) Tremor
    9) Speech

Some Explanation

I should say at this point that I donot think that any of these symptoms, however bad they have become so far has lead me to activly cdonsider suicide, although, believe me, I can understand people that do
    Ability to Express Apropriate Emotions (0-10; poor - good)
    This ia a weired one - I find it hard to laugh when I'm happy - often I cry - not because I suddenly feel sad but because I simply start crying. This happens to such an extent Lina often has to ask 'are you really crying - or are you ok?'

    Depression ( 0-10; good - poor)
    Here I am not talking about 'I'm really fed up' but total lack of joy, a lack of ability to comunicate with people important to me and a feeling that I cannot cope with the 'things that have to be done' - like renewing the tv license. A feeling that one is 'out of control' and a 'panic' ensues where one can only see the things that make it hard to complete the task in hand

    Dexterity ( 0-10; pooor - good)
    Such things as holding a spoon; tieing ones shoelaces; writing; undoing small screws and putting plugs in sockets become difficult and some times impossible. Always my left hand is better than my right

    Flexibility ( 0-10; poor - good)
    When I am getting dressed in the morning I sit on the bed - How far I can raise my feet off the ground in order to put them through the holes in my pants and likewise the legs on my trousers is a good indicator of how well my day will go. The morning is usually the worst and I sometimes have difficulty walking at all.
    The ability to raise my legs obviously impacts my ability to get up the stairs and mostly these days I can only go upstairs a stair at a time. It must be two years since I was able to ascend the stairs without hauling myself up using the banister rail as I do now.
    As with my dexterity my left side is better than my right meaning sometimes, when I do set off to go upstairs I go: left foot, together; left foot together and so on...

    Incontinance (0-10; good - poor)
    For some years now (5'ish)I have had difficulty expressing the last drops of my urine when I go to the toilet and I have noticed that I have to go, when I do, more urgently. The problem here is, without really planning to, I drink too little water - although I never have been thirsty -witness the day when I was about 21, when I walked about 10 miles; ascended about 1000m in a temp of about 28 degrees and drank 250ml of water!

    Mental Agility ( 0-10 poor - good)
    It is easier to say what I mean by lack of mental agility. Sometimes I get a feeling of being so overwhelmed by the necessity to make descisions that I simply stop talking. It becomes too much effort to say anything.

    Strength ( 0-10 poor - good)
    This is coupled to Flexability - If you have the flexability to raise your legfrom one stair to the next you then have to have enough strength to take your body weight onto the leg that is in front. To a greater or lesser degree this can be translated to how mugh you then 'haul' yourself up the stairs using the banister rail

    Tremor ( 0-10; good - poor)
    Although I do not suffer from 'essential tremor' that my friend and colleague Andy (now retired - as of 1st. April 2008) did I do suffer from my eyes trembleing which makes close work harder
    Speech ( 0-10; poor - good)
    When I am tired I cannot enuciate my words correctly - I do not know how I managed to forget this one - more a reflection of how little talking I do these days - Hi Ho :( but I added this Friday 23 05 2008
    An alternate, more succinct, table can be viewed here

    WEEK SELECTOR Wk1| WK9 | WK17 | Wk33| Wk39| Wk41|
    Wk33| Wk34| Wk35| Wk36| Wk37| Wk38|

     
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    ........Date........ Appropriate Emotions Depression Dexterity Flexability Incontanance Mental Agility Strength Tremor Speech ...............................Comment...............................
    Wk33 Fri 14 Nov, 2008 19.54
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    overflow from last entry in wk33
    Today I also went to Dutton Forshaw and got my spare key so that is done. Coming home I also dropped in at Sainsbury's and filled up with petrol. I have also got a really good video from the bbc re Akram Kahn which I will have to send to Sue and finishing this will have to wait until tommorow as it is nearly 22:00...
    Wk33 Sat 15 Nov, 2008 00.42
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    2x2 stair....
    Wk34 Sun 16 Nov, 2008 10.04
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    got up at 08:00; dressed without holding legs; 2x2 stair ascent....
    Sun 16 Nov, 2008 15.02
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    Went to Dunsop Bridge; walked 100m meters with chair; came back home and 1x1 stair ascent to here....
    Sun 16 Nov, 2008 18.21
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    .Poo and squat...
    Mon 17 Nov, 2008 07.46
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    Woke up - SO tired but felt I had had a good sleep and went up 1x1 (just). could not (quite) have dressed without holding my legs but as I slept in my knickers did not have to.
    Tue 18 Nov, 2008 01.38
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    Woke on the stroke of midnight;dressed and upstairs 1x1 without problem and now to bed after working well.
    Tue 18 Nov, 2008 07.38
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    Last night, when I went downstairs, I managed, twice, to dress without holding my legs - now I had to pull my legs into my knickers and ascend the stairs 1x1 just.
    Tue 18 Nov, 2008 18.09
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    Spoke on phone to occupational therapy this am and did so untill my voice went after 45 mins then got through to the community physio team and left for Manchester a bit late - this set the tone for a rather poor day and right hand was rather weak.I managed 1x1 up the stairs just now with my bag but rather poor.
    Wed 19 Nov, 2008
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    poo am....
    Thu 20 Nov, 2008 04.04
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    1x1 stair one hour ago; no squats (tried and failed)....
    Thu 20 Nov, 2008 21.45
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    2x2 ascent - hbo in evening at M'chester.; did blog earier at work
    Sun 23 Nov, 2008
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    2x2 stair this am at 06:30; dressed no hands at 6:15; poo at 11:00....
    Mon 24 Nov, 2008 05:10
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    1x1 when I woke; did not dress - put on the dressing gown; played with lai-yen till 7:00ish....
    Mon 24 Nov, 2008 14.57
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    .just done 27 squats; 2x2 ascent of stairs; talked to david & occupational therapy...
    Fri 28 Nov, 2008 15.46
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    see blog for today for more.. Managed a 1x1 stair ascent ( this morning I would not have got upstairs!; tuesday night I felt ill; wednesday was ok after 05:00 in morning when I felt better.I spent tuesday night in pads since I was not sure I would be able to get to the loo..
    Sun 30 Nov, 2008 19.10
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    1x1 stair ascent all day; poo yesterday..revisited windows media so must be 'mentaly agile' and edited the post for the blog to reflect this..
    Tue 2 Dec, 2008 01.57
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    down to 25°C on my shower themostat up to 38°C;1, hand assisted squat; 1x1 stair ascent....
    Wed 3 Dec, 2008 14.58
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    Slow getting going this AM; just come upstairs 1x1 easily = will do spam then sleep :)cold nights and days at moment 1° :)....
    Fri 5 Dec, 2008 11:00 ish
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    Poo....
    Sat 6 Dec, 2008 18.08
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    got up at 09:00 and did 1 together 1 ascent; by 11:00 dressed without hands and off to Dunsop Bridge where met rati and mark - friends of lina and nice; came home at 17:45 ish and ascended stairs at 2x2 so not bad and voice improved now SPAM :) PS it is cold - ABOUT 2° but clear sky....
    Sat 6 Dec, 2008 23.57
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    went to bed and sleep at 21:00; woke up 30 minutes ago and dressed easily - no hands;ascended stairs after (gogeous) hot soup 2x2....
    wk37 Sun 7 Dec, 2008
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    Wed 10 Dec, 2008 23.56
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    had Poo at 11:00 today :) aqnd lina drove me to mancheser for HBO; had two goes on the vibrating plate and spent the rest of the time, until I slept and woke up 1 hour ago, tired; came up 1x1 easily and now I am going to do a bit of tables having recorded some 'spooks for chap at HBO....
    Wk38
    Sun 14 Dec, 2008 21.44
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    Spent most of this weekend trying to do some work.On Saturday I could not get going at all feeling more tearfull and anxious than usual not helped by Lina/Lai-yen - she shouts at lai-yen and the whole thing degenerates from there. She seems to have NO idea! - or patients!. Today was much better and one hour ago I dressed (no hands) and came up 2x2. I have added the 300 GB disk to this (cjs1-w2ks) server and backed up this and cjs5-xp33b so not too bad. I also spent a deal of time with this page in an attempt to get organised!
    Thu 18 Dec, 2008 00.25
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    Spent this week, so far, in 'the slough of dispond' -seem better now and just came up 1x1 at 23:00 after going to sleep from 19:30 to 22:00 this evening.Had Poo at 18:00 yesterday (Wednesday) - so happy...
    Sat 20 Dec, 2008 01.05
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    Poo yesterday at about 15:00 and quite a good day. Upstairs 2x2 at 23:00 and quite alert - did more 'media'...
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    © Richard Cornford 2004