MS Strength

My buddy Cathy has an online MS store, www.themsshoppe.com, which provides a multitude of cooling items, assistive equipment, books, T-shirts, jewelry, and other novelty items. I love this online store and I’ve bought one of her very popular MS T-shirts myself. I admire Cathy and her tenacity, and I’ve found myself reading her own MS story at Navigating the Journey of MS. Hope you enjoy this shop as much as I do and can utilize the goods that make life with MS a little easier and a bit more fun.

One of my biggest obstacles and annoyances is grocery shopping. I have to admit that when it’s a small order I don’t mind trekking to the A & P for some things, but when I have to do a big run I get very stressed. I don’t enjoy grocery shopping to begin with: all the decisions, navigating the crowded parking lot (I don’t yet have a handicapped parking placard, but it’s getting very tempting..), navigating the crowds in the store, trekking everywhere for items– oh my goodness! Just talking about all of it is making me tired! Worst is the lugging of heavy bags from the cart into the car and then into the house. I HATE it. I’ve tried to accomplish this during bad stretches with a cane in hand. UGH. I can only imagine using one of the store’s scooters with the ridiculously small basket attached to the front. Nobody moves for me now as I lurch through the aisles, often trying to keep my balance and not crash into someone like what would appear be a drunken sailor. LOL. I can only imagine the added annoyance of a scooter. So the discovery of grocery store home delivery systems has been a sanity-saver for larger orders.

I’ve been utilizing Peapod online shopping as of late. It delivers from Stop n’ Shop, which is one of my local stores. The delivery fees are reasonable: $9.95 for a $60+ order and $6.95 for a $100+ order. The website is easy to navigate and weekly specials are listed. I can also create a bare bones list of regular items that I can continually refer back to in order to save time. Other grocery delivery programs abound. Below is a small list of regional chains (the U.S.) and their programs. Some provide online shopping and home delivery while others allow you to pick up your online order from the store. For your own area of the world, consider calling or looking up local and regional stores online and learning about their online shopping / delivery programs. I find myself much more at ease because of this fantastic concept:

Peadpod
Shoprite
AUL Superstore
Schwan’s
Safeway
Homeland Delivery
Giant Food Stores
Acme Food Stores

Those with multiple sclerosis are often affected by cognitive problems– lesions within the brain can alter memory, verbal comprehension, and analytical skills. Two online games work to build mental stamina and accuracy, as well as comprehension for increased brain speed:

1. I was recently contacted by the website initiative MyMSMyWay.com to review its resources: adaptive online help, needs assessments, and the new MyBrainGames application. Having tried out the games, I’ve noted the use of memory-building (remembering a list of items), association-building (making connections with words), dexterity-building (using hand movements to “reach” for things or “jump/duck” to avoid other things), and identity-building (picking out like items) applications.

Players can track scores and watch their progress over time. There are several levels for the games so players can also advance their individual skills. With the website’s adaptive technology, players with visual impairments can also alter settings for the best screen view, something not often considered on regular internet games.

MyMSMyWay.com is a fantastic website that thoroughly examines helpful adaptive technology specifically for MSers. It is also run by people with MS who KNOW first-hand about impairments.

2. Another valuable internet game that can stretch Msers’ mental skills is oddly located on Facebook. This interactive community has many games and one in particular proves to be quite challenging and speed-testing. “Who Has the Biggest Brain” can be accessed through a Facebook account and it tests analytical, calculative, memorizational, and visual processing skills. I found this game more difficult— it involves complex calculations and memorizations— but I enjoyed the pace and found myself going back to increase my score. The downshot with this game is that there are no easy screen alterations for better clarity: the game is intended for the general population.