Expect The Unexpected

[beauty4everyone]

As a "newcomer", having read posts regarding ALS, I thought things would work until they didn't. I didn't expect my hands and arms to tremble. I've eaten breakfast so I'm not hungry. No caffeine. It's just an unexpected annoyance. I'll find a way to work with it, but it makes finishing a printed, cross-stitch, needlework piece very difficult :-( well, make that "more challenging"). I'm sorry I waited so long. My fault, but I'll trudge ahead.
*So, "comrades-in-arms", expect the unexpected, and hang in there. Where there's a will, there's a way! Be vigilant and try to do all the things needful and enjoyable each day. Yesterday never returns....... But, who knows what hopeful things tomorrow may hold.
*May you discover something beautiful today to lift your spirit. May blessings abound. B.

 

[Bestfriends14]

B4E,

You have a very lovely soul. While I'm not a PALS, but a CALS, your words inspire me to keep positive.

 

[KarenNWendyn]

Hey there B. You’re spot on.

I continue to be simultaneously fascinated by and devastated by ALS. I just wish I didn’t have to have it!

I continue to be amazed by the built-in redundancy of the human body. For example, one has to lose an awful lot of motor neurons before one experiences a loss of function. And then many different muscles (each with their own set of motor neurons) team up to enact a specific function— e.g. walking.

So you might lose a critical mass of motor neurons to the muscles that keep your foot from dropping, for example, but you can still walk because other muscles still work. You just may not walk as well.

When you lose enough of the neurons controlling the muscles in your upper and lower legs, then you reach that tipping point we talked about in the thread on rate of disease progression, and suddenly you can’t walk. But there were signs of walking getting worse before that, and other things getting more difficult.

One must constantly adapt with this disease. It’s a moving target. Good on you for choosing to focus on what you still have rather than on what you’ve lost.

 

[beauty4everyone]

*Hi, There - That each muscle has its own neurons is helpful to know. That explains why I still have twitching in my affected toes. I consider that a good sign. It seems to me they are still trying to work. Of course, it's bad in the still working muscles, but with ALS, I figure one can't have everything. (DRAT! I wish we could. Mostly, I wish no one ever had or will have it!)
*We have three people with it, including me, in our church. That's astounding! All my life, the only persons I knew of were Lou Gehrig and Stephen Hawking. (Did you know Stephen died on March 14 - Albert Einstein's birthday and PI day? How fitting!)
*When someone asks me how I'm doing, I say, "So far - so good". I try to find something in each day to be thankful for. If one holds on - who knows what tomorrow may bring. Hopefully, it may be the break through we all need. May it be so. Take care. Thanks for chatting.
*May you discover something today to lift your spirit. B. 8)

 

[KimT]

B,

I'm the 4th full-time faculty member at our college to be diagnosed with ALS. I worked in the same building, for years, with two of them. The others had all passed before my diagnosis. I had know about the disease because two friends had family members with it. The area I grew up in (Adirondack valley in upstate NY) is a cluster area for ALS. I had a classmate whose mother AND father both had ALS. Just recently two other people I grew up with were diagnosed.