Nunc Coepi

 Good news with no big changes as I see it. My sleep is a little better especially in last few days.   Swallowing and breathing is a little tougher but my coping skills have really improved. And it's only 103 outside today. Maybe my view of Good news is also part of the coping but I'll take it.  Enjoy the cool weather if you have it.

 My niece/editor came to visit from Colorado this weekend and as we said goodbye she warned that I better have a reflection ready for her to review by the time she landed this evening.  She is so lovely but that redhead can be intimidating when necessary. So here we go.  Two weeks ago I started getting ALS muscle twitches under my left eye similar to what  I experience with other muscles but this was the first time near my eye.  I didn't think much of it until I started to experience a vision issue similar to an ocular migraine where gray blotches cloud my vision.  I've had ocular migraines before but they've never lasted more than a minute or two and these were lasting longer and when they stopped I still had some distortion in my vision.  When I told my ALS team about it they said to get to hospital ASAP in case it was a retinal tear.  They diagnosed me with a common condition for people over 60 that should go away on it's own and so I'll go for...

        Click to Signup It's taken awhile to get to this post mostly because this has been a tough month not to be lazy. First, there were no doctor visits with official results to report on and second, I like being lazy. Good news is that any discomfort from my March feeding tube surgery and related infections are finally gone. Great relief.   Bad news is my sleep has been pretty terrible.   Diaphragm, head, and neck muscles are getting a little weaker and so for the last few days I’ve been sleeping in a recliner to keep my head elevated which is more comfortable for me .  Apple Watch gave me high sleep score for two nights in a row.  Hopefully this continues and I see higher energy level for blogging and other activities. An unexpected problem came up with my vision last week which might be a side effect of a drug i was taking to control excessive drool or perhaps it’s related to the ALS muscle twitching I’ve been getting near that left eye...

                                                                                                                  Click to Signup Latest on my condition after a few doctor visits this month. I went to my 4 month ALS medical team follow-up to assess my disease progression and determine what assistance I might need at this time.  The way they determine progression is through a scoring system that is mostly based on my answering their questions on what I am and am not able to do on my own.  I give my subjective answers and then they do their best to assess what number that should be assigned on the score sheet using the Revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R). Questio...

Click to Signup Before I start this reflection, let me just say that I've noticed in my correspondence that I tend to use beautiful, amazing, dear, incredible, and so on a whole lot in describing my friends and so from now on I'll just say "friend" and you are safe to assume that those adjectives apply unless I intentionally lead it with a nasty descriptor. So a friend sent an email after reading my blog and from his response I could see that some of the facts of this journey can still be tough to take in, and tough for me to keep lighthearted at all times and for everyone.   I can even understand that lightheartedness might offend someone who is going through their own struggles and hearing things that may sound like "we all need to just pull ourselves up and get a positive attitude" is not gonna be helpful.  I seriously doubt that I have ever been able to pick myself up from any struggle.  The best I can do is to stop resisting the love and assistance comi...

It's been 6 weeks and three attempts to conquer a recurring infection around the feeding tube incision but once I stopped trying to be a nurse and let Patti take it over, all is good.  No fevers and so it was more about discomfort than any real danger. I went to see my pulmonologist/drinking buddy, Dr. Juan Garcia, last week for my 6 month breathing test and the numbers are getting a bit worse.  Worst part is that I also had to confess to not being good about using my inhaler daily once winter congestion season passed.  That conversation was more uncomfortable than the incision infections.  I now understand how his daughters are such good people after experiencing his look of disappointment for myself.  They all acknowledged having seen it "a few times" in their teen years. So the lessons are to let the nurse be the nurse and always follow directions from your drinking buddy...I mean doctor. Next week, I will go to my 4-6 month checkup with the ALS clinic. ...

On Monday, Stephanie Bahr's daughter let us know that her mom had passed away after a 2 year struggle with cancer.  Her husband, Howard died almost 2 1/2 years ago, also from cancer.  My condolences to their children and grandchildren and all who knew these fine people. Many of those reading this worked with Howard, Stephanie, and their son Tom.   Stephanie was living in California with her daughter's family for most of time since we lost Howard.  She was diagnosed with a brain tumor just a few months after Howard’s passing. What a blessing for her to have her children and grandchildren with her for that time.   After her diagnosis, she joked that Howard was just pushing to get her up there to help straighten up his cloud.  I don’t remember Howard being particularly messy but I’m sure Stephanie was the one who decorated their lovely home.  Aside from lacking the skills for keeping his cloud in order, Howard was a friend that I often relied on to come s...