Grumpy'sWife
Distinguished member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2014
- Messages
- 153
- Reason
- Lost a loved one
- Diagnosis
- 07/2014
- Country
- US
- State
- Ohio
- City
- Southern
That was the day my world was rocked by news that husband had ALS. Ours is a complicated story so I will try to make it short. For the last 4 years we have traveled the country for our job, working together, playing tourist on the weekend and coming home 10 days at Christmas and if we happened to get through close by Southern Ohio.
In January, 2014 my hubby fell coming into our hearing test unit. He hit his forehead and left shoulder. He had some neck pain, a bloody nose and bruised cheek. He refused to go to the doctor, said he was fine and we went on with our work day. I did call the company and fill out our form for work place accidents. In February he began to complain of arm weakness and shoulder pain, still refusing to go to the doctor. By March he was complaining of leg weakness but still insisting that it was nothing. We had a cruise planned for the first of April but by then he was occasionally using a cane and still complaining of shoulder pain and arm weakness.
I finally put my foot down when he fell at the cruise port in Miami, I wouldn't get on the boat unless he agreed to go to the doctor the minute we got home from the cruise. He agreed.
We got home the 2nd week of April and he saw the family doctor who sent him to a neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon did several MRI's and found that his C6-C7 vertebrae were in need of a repair, this he said, was putting pressure on Grumpy's spinal cord and causing the problem. We then began the fight with workman's comp. What a nightmare!
May began with Grumpy using a walker which turned into June and the by the first of July he was in a wheelchair and I was out of mind with worry and calling our Illinois work comp claims adjuster daily. We had lost our health insurance because I wasn't working and they were in the deny, deny, deny mode. I finally called the neurosurgeon and we agreed to pay for the surgery up front.
On July 28th, Grumpy had the surgery. That afternoon the neurosurgeon was calling for a neurological consult as he was not happy with the results immediately after the surgery. The next afternoon after seeing 5 neurologist's and two EMG's, we got the diagnosis. Since then we have had blood tests to rule out other possibilities, seen another neurologist who specializes in ALS and been given some much info my head is spinning.
Not once did anything other than this spinal cord injury enter my mind. Why? Because I didn't want it too. Because this is my husband, best friend and soul mate. I don't use those words lightly. He came into my life when I was at my lowest. I was divorced with 5 kids under 6, drank too much and cared to little. He made me see that my life wasn't over at 26 but just beginning. I became the person I was supposed to be and more importantly the mother I was supposed to be.There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't tell me I am beautiful even now. We have been married 18 years and worked together for 16 of those.
All I know now is that I will do anything and everything I can to take care of him and give him the quality of life that he deserves but I am afraid and sad and angry.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post, I know it was long. My apologies for that but honestly I needed to get it written out and tell this to someone who just might understand.
In January, 2014 my hubby fell coming into our hearing test unit. He hit his forehead and left shoulder. He had some neck pain, a bloody nose and bruised cheek. He refused to go to the doctor, said he was fine and we went on with our work day. I did call the company and fill out our form for work place accidents. In February he began to complain of arm weakness and shoulder pain, still refusing to go to the doctor. By March he was complaining of leg weakness but still insisting that it was nothing. We had a cruise planned for the first of April but by then he was occasionally using a cane and still complaining of shoulder pain and arm weakness.
I finally put my foot down when he fell at the cruise port in Miami, I wouldn't get on the boat unless he agreed to go to the doctor the minute we got home from the cruise. He agreed.
We got home the 2nd week of April and he saw the family doctor who sent him to a neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon did several MRI's and found that his C6-C7 vertebrae were in need of a repair, this he said, was putting pressure on Grumpy's spinal cord and causing the problem. We then began the fight with workman's comp. What a nightmare!
May began with Grumpy using a walker which turned into June and the by the first of July he was in a wheelchair and I was out of mind with worry and calling our Illinois work comp claims adjuster daily. We had lost our health insurance because I wasn't working and they were in the deny, deny, deny mode. I finally called the neurosurgeon and we agreed to pay for the surgery up front.
On July 28th, Grumpy had the surgery. That afternoon the neurosurgeon was calling for a neurological consult as he was not happy with the results immediately after the surgery. The next afternoon after seeing 5 neurologist's and two EMG's, we got the diagnosis. Since then we have had blood tests to rule out other possibilities, seen another neurologist who specializes in ALS and been given some much info my head is spinning.
Not once did anything other than this spinal cord injury enter my mind. Why? Because I didn't want it too. Because this is my husband, best friend and soul mate. I don't use those words lightly. He came into my life when I was at my lowest. I was divorced with 5 kids under 6, drank too much and cared to little. He made me see that my life wasn't over at 26 but just beginning. I became the person I was supposed to be and more importantly the mother I was supposed to be.There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't tell me I am beautiful even now. We have been married 18 years and worked together for 16 of those.
All I know now is that I will do anything and everything I can to take care of him and give him the quality of life that he deserves but I am afraid and sad and angry.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post, I know it was long. My apologies for that but honestly I needed to get it written out and tell this to someone who just might understand.