Losing your ability to drive

I bought myself a nice car. Used. But shiny and new to me. A 2013 Kia Soul. But with the drop foot on my dominate let I soon realized I needed to fit it with a Left Foot Accelerator. You can get hand accelerators as well, but my right hand is also losing dexterity- so that didn’t seem a good fit for me.

This is a video of it. It slides right in and can be taken out for other drivers. It was quite handy and would have worked perfectly in ideal circumstances.

https://videopress.com/v/x4deZqFe?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

So that is what I did. I put that in there without realizing it was quite the process at the to get it registered on my license. Google failed me there. So I had to get my doctor to fill out a form and get the registrars office to fax it to the government.

Only the government wondered- was I fit to drive? So they wanted to send me to a occupational therapist for a functional analysis and have my doctor state all my medical conditions.

I discussed this with my doctor. Whether it was worth it. Whether I thought currently I could drive safely.

The Decision

I have a short time to get that referral and get that done or I lose my license. Here is the thing. I have:

• Drop foot- right side- This the left foot accelerator. That at least I could resolve.
• Losing hand dexterity in my dominate hand, hand weakness, loss of sensation. That hand weakness and loss of dexterity was concerning but not sure it would cause too many problems alone.
• Have a hard time walking short distances, stairs, leg weakness, sometimes numbness on the left side, foot tingling at various intensities. This is becoming a problem. My legs are really weak sometimes. Very weak indeed. And I worry about reaction time. Muscle fatigue. Things like that. On the side that would be driving.
• Insane fatigue- Just my level of actual fatigue is immense these days.
• Concentration problems
• Chronic vertigo so I can’t actually drive long distances- it was meant for short errands and that would be a massive issue for a functional assessment because this is not a thing I control. It gets worse with motion. And episodes come and go aside from that all the time.

Those would affect driving. Other medical issues wouldn’t really. Pain, migraines (in theory since I have had chronic migraine since my 20s and have been expected to work and drive with them since that time- no one cares about that).

I think I would flunk the test. But not only that, I am not sure I should try to pass. I really wanted to drive. But it would have been just for short errands anyway- but it would have been for a piece of independence. And losing that sucks.

Alternatives

But I live in the city now and there is the bus system. I just suck at using that. I just never grew up using it. So I did once or twice. Got turned around once too. I use Google to help me with it and will use it if it doesn’t require a lot of walking to the area I need to get to at the drop off point.

Take a lot of Ubers actually because I do not need to walk anywhere after they drop me off. And walking can be a problem. I have to think about the cheapest time of day. However, I now have no parking fee, no insurance and no gas to pay for. That is a lot of savings right there.

The loss

It is a loss of mobility and freedom. A difficulty in getting to specific places. A loss of independence in some situations. A complication in many situations. However, it may not be long term. Or it may be. I can’t know for sure. I will just have to get used to alternative solutions.

It is a level of disability I didn’t anticipate. And I am concerned about it since there isn’t much I can do other than the exercises I am doing to try and keep muscle tone. It is worrisome.