Thanks

[ALS_son]

I just wanted to extend my thanks and those of my family for your forum. We haven't been active posters, but the information you've provided helped us to help our Dad over the past year and a half. He passed away last night in his bed at home surrounded by his family as he wished. He was 74. Two key decisions in helping him get this far was to use the PEG feeding tube and the bipap. Both were initially difficult, but gave us quality time with him and allowed his death to be peaceful. Information you posted here helped us to convince him to accept those measures and gave us ideas for dealing with the myriad of other issues that ALS brings, so a heartfelt thanks to you one and all.

God bless you.

David

[ccox]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I too, am new here. I often read, but seldom post.
I'm glad the information the good folks here provided allowed you extra time with your father and; made his journey a little more bearable for all of you.
Peace and prayers for your family,
Carla

[Markbreton]

Hi,
I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I just want to echo CCOX's statement. I do a lot of reading here and post very little. I find it helps me alot as I watch my loving wife go down hill with Bulbar ALS. I dread the day when I will loose her, I will have a very difficult time.
Mark

[Beebe]

Dear David, Just wanted you to know our thoughts and prayers are with you. My son-in-law Jack has ALS , my daughter his wife was recently dx with Advanced Breast Cancer she is only 36. We take one day at a time and HOPE !! My Best to you and your family, Beebe

[MtPockets]

David so sorry for your loss. I hope and pray you find peace.

God Bless
Capt AL

[Al]

So sorry for your loss David. Glad we could help with information for you and the family.
AL.

[sharona]

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. Just be comforted in knowing that the minute he closed his eyes he was in Heaven with our heavenly father.No more pain & suffering ,He will always be there in spirit.God Bless
Sharon

[CindyM]

Hello David- I am sorry you lost your Dad. Feel free to visit us anytime during your grieving process. We will help in any way we can. Cindy

[anne]

Hi David....I am sorry to hear about the loss of your beloved dad. Your dad is now free from this terrible disease. God Bless. Anne

[Icanmanz]

David, my heart goes out to you, and your wonderful family. May your sweet Dad rest in peace. Accept my condolences. He will comfort you, and your family in such a way, that it will leave you in total awe. It happened to me. You will have peace in your heart, because you know he is no longer suffering. I am sure your Dad was proud of you. Like your Dad, my son was sorrounded by loved ones when he departed. God bless! Keep us posted, David!

Irma

[Gina]

David i am so sorry for the loss of your Dad.....I am happy however that you got to spend quality time with him and that he died peacefully surrounded by family.......God Bless you and your Familly and you are in our prayers!!!!.........Gina

[ALS_son]

Just checking back in and marveling at you all and your compassion. Again, thanks so much. Your sentiments are truly appreciated.

I thought I'd pass along something interesting. Over the course of this disease, my Dad absolutely hated 2 things more than anything else: the $25,000 power chair and the bedside commode. They both represented his disabilities more than anything else. The power chair was always breaking/not working and it wasn't designed for long-term comfort once he couldn't hold himself straight. The commode was the worst since it meant having to give up his last refuge of dignity, plus the fact that it took so much effort to go back and forth between the bed/chair and commode, that he felt like it was non-stop (at least once an hour). Anyway, about 2 hours after he'd passed away, we called the funeral home to come get him. I went to clear access to him which involved backing his powerchair out of the way. Once it was, I left it knowing it would power itself off in 2 minutes to conserve the battery. After the funeral home folks left, I entered back into the room and noticed that the power chair was in full recline - someone had moved it. So I asked the hospice nurse, who was with the funeral guys and Dad's body, if anyone touched it. She said 'no'. I believed her, plus knowing that the buttons to recline it aren't labelled and it takes a few minutes just to power it up and slowly recline it. So my sister and I approach the chair and realize I had backed it up to the commode, so when it reclined, it had completely crushed the arm and back of the commode, knocking the pieces to the ground! We both looked at each other bug eyed. Now, I'm in the technology field and tend toward a very analytical mind, but for the life of me, I can find no other explanation than to assume Dad got it a final, post-mortem parting shot at his least favorite apparatuses. We've been laughing about it as a family ever since.

David

[Icanmanz]

David, this is amazing! I am like you.....................no doubt in my mind! This is one comment that did not put a tear in my eye!!!LOL! I could just see your Dad! LOL again! Now let me tell you what happened to me when my son passed. My son liked Rock music. When I put his eulogy together, I put down that his music (Rock) was always going to be ringing in my ears. I also told him that I was sorry for the times when I would ask him to turn the volume down a little (hehehe) My son passed, we laid him to rest, 2 days after we laid him to rest I went into town to pick up something that I needed, lo and behold, when the radio came on, Rock music was playing on my car radio!!!! I went, "What?" You see, I like country and oldies, but this Rock station, hmmmmm, I wonder how it got there. I did not change that station again. It played for a very long time, and Granny was going down the road listening to Rock music!!!LOL Later my other son Shannon bought me a nice Dodge caravan, and I went back to country, and oldies. Every once in a while I listen to my other son's kind of music. This is all so amazing> God bless everyone!

Irma

[Paty]

David I Am Very Sorry For Your Loss; But Now Your Dad Is Resting In Peace In A Much Better Place.

May God Bless You And Your Family.

Paty
Cals To Late Husband Jorge
Baja California, Mexico

[CindyM]

Hello David. I am sorry for you loss. I like the parting shot your Dad left, though. Makes me want to plan one of my own for when my time comes. :-D Cindy

[ALS_son]

Hello David. I am sorry for you loss. I like the parting shot your Dad left, though. Makes me want to plan one of my own for when my time comes. :-D Cindy

Love your sense of humor Cindy. My Dad always sang the song "Keep on the sunny side of life". Even during his all too brief battle with this disease, he sang it daily until he couldn't sing anymore. How anyone could keep his humor and smile through all this is almost beyond me, but he did. He never complained or snapped at anyone. He just made the best of each day. Here's an article on him that ran in the Baltimore Sun today in case anyone cares to read it.

Baltimore Sun (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bal-md.ob.bowerman15jan15,0,3204685.story?tr ack=rss)

Strangely enough, we've encountered so many people in the past year who have relatives who have died of ALS. At least 4 of my Dad's peers in the auto repair industry that my Dad knew over the years died of ALS. Makes me wonder about environmental/chemical causes.

Not to weird anyone out, but having read through a number of near death experiences as one of the ways I prepared myself for my Dad's end, that and lots of prayer, I had decided that if I was there (one of the things I specifically prayed for) that I would talk to Dad afterward believing that his spirit would be there for a bit observing before the draw of Heaven would pull him to the Lord. So I was able to tell him I loved him and that we'd make sure to take care of Mom always, that kind of thing. The hospice nurse came in later and said most of them did the same thing for patients. Their experiences led them to conclude that their patients could hear and experience things just after their deaths for a bit. The power chair thing kind of convinced me that Dad had hung around long enough to have heard me :) I'm confident he'll be able to tell me one way or another when my turn comes.

David

[Kathryn]

David,
I am so sorry for your loss.

It has been awhile since I have been on the forum. I check in every once in a while. The forum was so helpful to me after Mother was diagnosed with ALS. Here's my story, David: My mother died last January 30th. Her last week was spent in the hospital and she told dad, my sister, and I goodbye after we all prayed the rosary together the night of January 29th. She died the next morning at 8:40am. She was 82 years old.
My sister, brother-in-law and dad stayed in Texas taking care of things after the funeral for three weeks.
During that time, a lady from a neighboring town came to check on my father to see how he was doing with the hearing aid she had fitted him with. I had never met her before, but she was a real sweetheart, a jovial type individual. She started to tell us of another time when she had come to check on dad and his hearing aid. (This was on the second day of Mother's time in the hospital.) She said she rang the doorbell at the front door and there was no answer. So she walked down the sidewalk and peered into their dining room window. (Cindy and I had gone outside together to talk about this because when she originally told a bit of the story inside there was no response from my sister and brother-in-law and my 85 year old dad just was not following it, so I had said "I believe" and eventually we went outside.)
So, we peered into the long window together and my dad happened to be standing in the kitchen and he waved at us. Cindy said,"when I peered into the window there was a woman standing in that exact same spot as your dad is now and she waved me to come inside, so I went around to the garage door and again rang the doorbell. This time your dad answered and I said where was the lady that waved at me? Your dad said he didn't know. There was no one there, but him." So, I said to Cindy, "who did the lady look like?" And she said,"your mother. But she was not in her wheelchair, she was standing." I said, "how did you know it was her?" Cindy said, "I had seen her before, but she was always in her wheelchair." I said, "what did she have on?" (My Mother was always impeccably dressed.) She said, "she was wearing a white dress to the knees."

My mother died five days later.

God bless everyone on this forum,

Kathy

[freddiesnetty]

I hope that my husbands guitars will play one more time...........I too cried and laughed at the same time....I know that the commode too would be crushed.....He HATES that with a passion....I hope to hear his guitars though...........God how he could play.....He says the best guitars are in heaven......Thanks again for the laughter...In this living hell, you got to laugh at some of the strangest things..........My prayers go out to you and your family....
God Bless

[CindyM]

Kathy- I am filled with goosbumps. You hear so many of these kinds of stories there must be something to them.

[ALS_son]

Kathryn, Cindy and Freddiesnetty,

I hear you! My Dad loved cars. He worked on them his whole life as a mechanic and owned this '34 Dodge since he was 18.

http://content001.myfamily.com/Handler.ashx/cos=64/cosarray=MFLIVE/foe=1025/guidstring=2f6f840e-b6ee-4bf7-8fa0-86015cd7e2e0/x=400/y=400/zoom=proportional

With ALS, one of the first things to go was his powerful mechanic hands that really was one of his trademark traits. The night he died, his hsopice priest (not knowing he died yet) had a very vivvid dream of Dad smiling and leaning on this beautiful antique car, then he hopped in and drove down the road. He could barely tell my Mom that story at the funeral cause he said it was so real.

In talking with my Mom last night, she conveyed how an entire week before her mother died years ago, she'd be sitting with her at the hospital and her mother would just start talking to her mother who'd died years earlier as if she was right there, then she'd stop and turn to my Mom and glance around and say "oh, I'm still here, I'd thought I was home". My Mom would ask her what home she was talking about and she'd just grin and say, "You know, that permanent home."

I suspect that near the end, the spirit sometimes can drift between the two worlds. My mother-in-law spoke to her Mom's spirit face to face as she died. She was asleep in another room and was awakened by her Mom's spirit who told her "So long, it was time to go now. They told me I needed to leave now." My mother-in-law got up and went into the room and saw that she had died.

So I'm convinced of Heaven and that those loved ones who've gone ahead meet you.

Thanks so much for all your well-wishes and condolences all.

David

[CindyM]

Nice car! I bet your Dad enjoyed tking care of it.