Al Dente

by Dean Kramer
March, 2006

My home at Cripple Creek is on the East Coast in the mid-Atlantic region, more ACC than Big East but not quite either. Wherever you live there is weather. Where I live there are also seasons.

I’ve never thought of my MS as being much affected by the weather on a daily basis. Rain, snow, or shine; my symptoms are pretty much the same. But the bigger weather patterns related to the change of seasons definitely have an influence. With MS I have three seasons: undercooked, overcooked, and twice a year, al dente.

Like many of us with MS, my body's thermostat doesn’t work too well. In winter’s cold my spasticity is very much in evidence. Despite the medication I use for it, my legs are often so stiff as to be unbendable. I walk with a scissors gait. Based on that, winter is the undercooked time of year.

In summer the opposite is true. The effect of heat on my neurologic system leaves me weak and flaccid, unable at times to move much at all. I become limp as linguini left too long in the pot; hence, the season of overcooked.

But there are two glorious times of year, a month or two in spring and again in autumn, when my symptoms seem less evident, my energy increases, and I move with relative ease; the two seasons of al dente.

Yesterday, with the temperature in the sixties the first of the year’s al dente seasons officially began. I was able to help spread soil, fertilizer, seed and straw to repair the lawn. I was able to walk or, in my case scooter, the dog more often and for a longer time. I worked with Twink to repair a path that had become impassable. And later that evening I went out with friends, tired but not too exhausted to participate.

During the al dentes I tend to overdo it. For one thing, I’m so happy to be able to be doing things that I forget to take it easy. For another, those are the times of year when there is a lot to do around any home, especially outdoors (and most of Cripple Creek is outdoors). As a result of overdoing it, I get more injuries during al dente than at other times of year. Though painful, the injuries also add to my feeling alive and participatory. Today I have a big bruise on my chest and some really sore ribs from a fall I took yesterday. I also have a deepish cut on a finger from a repair I was doing that required a knife. But, hey! You can’t get injured sitting at home doing nothing, right? So I limp and stagger around with a certain jock-like swagger during al dente.

Al dente is a good time of year for learning new skills in disability, too. Because the mild temperatures and low humidity make the body a tad more reliable, there isn’t as much worry about becoming stranded or losing strength quickly as there is at other times of year. There are mobility skills I may need in the future. It makes sense to tackle them proactively, before they’re necessary, while there is time to experiment and tweak. If I want to begin to use my manual wheelchair on some of the less groomed paths here, for instance, or see how far my scooter will go up the steep hill into the woods on the ridge, al dente is the time to try.

And, since happiness has its shadow, the active life I lead during al dente also shows me what has been lost. Perhaps I’ll find I can’t work or walk as long as I could last year. Maybe I’ll lack the dexterity to handle a tool as efficiently as I have in previous seasons. Each year brings some frustration and mourning. But because I can be more active during al dente, I have energy for seeking ways around those losses—compensatory methods that enable me to continue doing much of what makes life on Cripple Creek such a pleasure.

This week, March 13th 2006, begins MS Awareness Week. While I’d love to restrict my awareness of MS to one week a year I’d rather it not be this week. With the start of the first of my two al dente seasons, I’m happy to be less aware of MS than I usually am. If spring and fall are as comfortable for you, I wish you a joyous al dente!