The Waiting Game

I went to the MDA/ALS Clinic in Oklahoma City on June 26 for the first time. I was diagnosed in Houston and went to the clinic there in May for my first three month check-up. But the trip is at least eight hours and an overnight stay, so I have chosen to go to Oklahoma City, less than two hours away. Dr. Beson was trained by Dr. Appel in Houston and I was impressed by his warmth and knowledge. He doesn't see any progression since my diagnosis. He was very encouraging about the long-range outlook. Although he didn't say 'I don't know if you really have ALS' or anything like that he gave me a prescription for Mestinon just to see what happens. Right now I am taking half a pill of Mestinon (30mg) three times a day, since an entire pill made me feel very drugged and tired. Since I have been taking it the muscle spasms in my back and the aching in my arms is all but gone. The instead of mild slurring several days a week, it is just here and there, like it was at the beginning of my symptoms. And I have had more energy. I am holding to the hope that I don't have ALS. I don't have spacticity or clonus, no excessive saliva, no emotional lability, only very mild weakness all over my body, and there are many days that I almost sound perfectly normal. But only time will tell and while waiting I have to fight the battle in my mind. I am a planner and this is definitely a situation where planning very far into the future is a futile activity. Ultimately, I know that the Lord is in charge and I continue to claim the verse that says 'with his stripes we are healed'.