amber and bruce
Member
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2010
- Messages
- 28
- Reason
- Lost a loved one
- Diagnosis
- 08/2010
- Country
- US
- State
- TN
- City
- Henderson
My husband is 32 years old. He had a significant car accident in April that fractured a vertebrae in his back. After that we started noticing significant decrease in ability to use arms and hands, difficulty swallowing, slurred/nasaly speech, and falling all the time we attributed all this to the back injury. As it progressively has gotten worse we went to see the neuro surgeon that checks on his back and he ordered a MRI of his spine and an EMG. The MRI of spine is normal, but the EMG showed significant changes-enough that the neurologist that administered the test told my husband something was really bad wrong and he needed him to come back with his wife the next day. We returned the following day, the neurologist performed an exam and then told us that he believes he has ALS and the symptoms probably started a year ago they were just slow and subtle. For some reason they have now sped up. He has even lost about 35 pounds in 4 months. The neuro doc drew blood work and has ordered a brain MRI for next week to rule out anything else it could be. He gave a life expectancy of 2 years but also stated that he didn't have a crystal ball that told him when he might die from this. Should we trust this doctor-that I hope wouldn't have mentioned this at all if he wasn't pretty sure that is what he has-and/or go to a specialist? If we go to the ALS specialist the closest one is 2 hours away from us, can we go there occasionally but see the neurologist here more frequently? How long is the usual progression that you all have seen? Any recommendations appreciated. We have a 5 year old son and 2 year old daughter that have no idea what is going on but may not freak out too bad cause I am a nurse and they visit me at work and see things. we also didn't understand why the symptoms have gotten so much worse since the accident, the neurologist thinks its just a coincidence-any idea? thanks