rcharlton
Moderator emeritus
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2005
- Messages
- 641
- Reason
- PALS
- Diagnosis
- 11/2005
- Country
- CA
- State
- Ontario
- City
- Toronto
Here's a good one...
I was diagnosed with "probable most likely” ALS a few weeks ago...needless to say that this has turned my world upside down...even though I am feeling pretty positive these days and I am not about to let this beat me...
So far it's affected primarily my right side - most noticeably weakness and muscle wasting in my right hand. It also appears that muscles on the right side of my tongue and throat are also affected.
Anyway...I believe there have been a number of ALS cases where the onset of the disease is linked to a traumatic event - such as a serious injury.
So get this...I love water parks...I am 38 - have no kids - but love going to Water Parks - I am usually 2 to 3 times as old as the next person in line for the rides...there is a fantastic water park just outside of Montreal at Mont Saint Sauveur. They have slides that run the whole length of the ski mountain and last up to 20 minutes....amazing...a good friend of mine lives in Montreal...I usually play hooky once each summer to visit my friend and go to the water park...(here’s a comical image – I will sometimes be forced to make business calls when I am at the Water Park – and I have often been stuck on conference calls without the other parties knowing that I am talking to them from a water park in a bathing suit hoping the call will be a short one so that I can get back to the slides “Hurry”)
Last August I went on such a trip....we were lining up for one of the rides involving an inflatable raft...as I was stepping into the raft I slipped and the whole right side of my body slammed into a wood post....I have never had such a bad fall and was surprised that I was not rendered unconscious...everyone else in line let out a communal gasp when it happened...I bruised and may even have cracked a couple ribs...
...I suppose it was shortly after that when I started developing my ALS symptoms...
Anyway...the spot on my head which slammed into the post was just behind my right ear...which apparently is the spot where the principal nerves affected by my ALS have begun degenerating...
Now - I know there is no definitive way to prove one way or another what caused or triggered my ALS...and this is most likely merely a coincidence...but it kind of floors me to think that my ALS may somehow be linked to a sunny afternoon in August when I was playing hooky at a water park and misplaced my footing while getting into an inflatable raft while being surrounded by a bunch of kids all wondering if it was "pasty old man day" at the water park…
I was diagnosed with "probable most likely” ALS a few weeks ago...needless to say that this has turned my world upside down...even though I am feeling pretty positive these days and I am not about to let this beat me...
So far it's affected primarily my right side - most noticeably weakness and muscle wasting in my right hand. It also appears that muscles on the right side of my tongue and throat are also affected.
Anyway...I believe there have been a number of ALS cases where the onset of the disease is linked to a traumatic event - such as a serious injury.
So get this...I love water parks...I am 38 - have no kids - but love going to Water Parks - I am usually 2 to 3 times as old as the next person in line for the rides...there is a fantastic water park just outside of Montreal at Mont Saint Sauveur. They have slides that run the whole length of the ski mountain and last up to 20 minutes....amazing...a good friend of mine lives in Montreal...I usually play hooky once each summer to visit my friend and go to the water park...(here’s a comical image – I will sometimes be forced to make business calls when I am at the Water Park – and I have often been stuck on conference calls without the other parties knowing that I am talking to them from a water park in a bathing suit hoping the call will be a short one so that I can get back to the slides “Hurry”)
Last August I went on such a trip....we were lining up for one of the rides involving an inflatable raft...as I was stepping into the raft I slipped and the whole right side of my body slammed into a wood post....I have never had such a bad fall and was surprised that I was not rendered unconscious...everyone else in line let out a communal gasp when it happened...I bruised and may even have cracked a couple ribs...
...I suppose it was shortly after that when I started developing my ALS symptoms...
Anyway...the spot on my head which slammed into the post was just behind my right ear...which apparently is the spot where the principal nerves affected by my ALS have begun degenerating...
Now - I know there is no definitive way to prove one way or another what caused or triggered my ALS...and this is most likely merely a coincidence...but it kind of floors me to think that my ALS may somehow be linked to a sunny afternoon in August when I was playing hooky at a water park and misplaced my footing while getting into an inflatable raft while being surrounded by a bunch of kids all wondering if it was "pasty old man day" at the water park…