Myasthenia metaphors – A Listing Barn

My postural muscles have been overworked from sitting up or leaning forward and now they’re jello. They offer no support to my bones and my skeleton is hanging loose in the middle of my body.

Not exactly the mental image I have but it was the best I could capture on a recent road trip.

Like a listing barn that you pass in the country. Boards missing, holes punched through where the wind whistles by, everything precariously balanced in mid-air ready to topple at the slightest jiggle. Like a tower of Jenga blocks right at the end of the game.

I move carefully and tenderly, keeping my bones stacked within my jello body. Cautious to not knock against anything, to not overextend my reach, to not turn too quickly in the night. Careful to not do anything that’ll knock over the barn, send the boards (or bones in this case) askew.

After a few days things firm up again. My muscles knit back together, spring back into action, my bones are held in place and I’m human again.