sunnysierra
Active member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2015
- Messages
- 60
- Reason
- CALS
- Diagnosis
- 10/2115
- Country
- US
- State
- New Mexico
- City
- Rodeo
Hello everyone,
My husband received a preliminary diagnosis of ALS last Monday. As you know and remember, the initial shock is overwhelming. It comes at me in waves. I recently had surgery to repair my achilles and remove a huge bone spur on my heel and we went to Tucson where I traded in my splint for a pretty pink cast. We were so excited and happy. Then we went to Chris' appointment on the other side of Tucson with a neurologist. Chris had seen a orthopaedic surgeon last month because he's had twitching in his arm along with atrophy, and weakness in his hand so bad he couldn't start the car with his right hand. Pinched nerve we thought. How naive. His neurologist performed an exam and then had Chris do a nerve conduction test and then the neurologist himself performed the EMG. After he was done he let out a sigh and said he needed to be upfront with us......that Chris has a serious problem with his spine and that he believes it is ALS but still needs to do an MRI and blood test. Well, from reading the forum pages, it sounds like the nerve conduction and EMG are the most important tests, so I am not allowing myself to cling to the hope of some diagnosis that is less devastating. As we were curled up together yesterday evening on the couch I could feel twitching in his left leg. Chris said he couldn't feel any twitching in his leg but I could see it. I have spent days crying and my mind reeling with fear about our future, how will we cope, how will we survive financially, what will our future look like. I waited so long for such a great guy to come along. Our tenth anniversary is in Dec. I feel so robbed of the future we planned. I hate ALS.
I apologize if you think I am jumping the gun by posting here. I also apologize for the wordiness. We go back to Tucson next week for the MRI and blood work. Thank you for reading. Kathleen
My husband received a preliminary diagnosis of ALS last Monday. As you know and remember, the initial shock is overwhelming. It comes at me in waves. I recently had surgery to repair my achilles and remove a huge bone spur on my heel and we went to Tucson where I traded in my splint for a pretty pink cast. We were so excited and happy. Then we went to Chris' appointment on the other side of Tucson with a neurologist. Chris had seen a orthopaedic surgeon last month because he's had twitching in his arm along with atrophy, and weakness in his hand so bad he couldn't start the car with his right hand. Pinched nerve we thought. How naive. His neurologist performed an exam and then had Chris do a nerve conduction test and then the neurologist himself performed the EMG. After he was done he let out a sigh and said he needed to be upfront with us......that Chris has a serious problem with his spine and that he believes it is ALS but still needs to do an MRI and blood test. Well, from reading the forum pages, it sounds like the nerve conduction and EMG are the most important tests, so I am not allowing myself to cling to the hope of some diagnosis that is less devastating. As we were curled up together yesterday evening on the couch I could feel twitching in his left leg. Chris said he couldn't feel any twitching in his leg but I could see it. I have spent days crying and my mind reeling with fear about our future, how will we cope, how will we survive financially, what will our future look like. I waited so long for such a great guy to come along. Our tenth anniversary is in Dec. I feel so robbed of the future we planned. I hate ALS.
I apologize if you think I am jumping the gun by posting here. I also apologize for the wordiness. We go back to Tucson next week for the MRI and blood work. Thank you for reading. Kathleen