Hello everyone,
My husband and I are both Senior Airmen in the United States Air Force. We have been together for a little over two years and recently celebrated our first year of marriage. We are currently stationed on the lovely island of Oahu, we have no children and own a six month old doberman pinscher named Toorc who is currently training to be a service dog. My husband Joe is 22 and was officially diagnosed with ALS a few days before our anniversary.
I remember when we first started dating in Montana, he had shown me these random muscle twitches; at the time they were only in his left arm, slight and when he had it looked at due to shoulder pain, the doctors chocked it up to tendonitis. After 7 months of dating my husband eventually recieved orders and relocated to Hawaii, we spent another 6 months in a long distance relationship until he proposed to me while on a visit to see him. We found out that same day he was deploying and said heck with it and got married
At that time, I had noticed the twitches were now body-wide and he was complaining that he couldn't do very much weightlifting with his left arm because it felt strained and would grind. But again, he was simply sent to physical therapy for tendonitis.
While my husband was away in the sandbox for 6 months, I was finally relocated to set up our new home in Hawaii. All in all, our 24 months of commitment was spent over 18 months apart. Easy enough thanks to him of course When Joe returned from deployment I realized he was incredibly thin. He was always a gym addict, always fit, healthy and in incredible shape. So this new sight was very alarming to me. He still complained about his shoulder only this time, he also showed me how he couldn't extend the fingers on his left hand out all the way. I pushed for him to be seen again.
The push was enough for his PCM to send him to the Tripler Army Medical Center where they performed various tests, poking and shocking and who knows what else. During these tests, I was not aware of the fact ALS was even a consideration the neruologists had because Joe had joked about it being lyme disease. When my husband was diagnosed I didn't find out until a couple weeks later and only by accident. He didn't want to tell me until it was official because he didn't want to scare me... regardless, from that point on I went with him to every appointment thereafter.
After 2 years of the twitching and muscle loss, my husband now has lost some mobility of his left hand and arm. He has the muscle spasms everywhere which has now started spreading to his abdomen. His shoulders are very bony now and his face is even slimming. He is unable to run and sometimes even walk without stumbling or tripping on the smallest of cracks. if holding things in his left hand, he will drop it within a few seconds due to the trembling. He is going through the process of being medically retired now and can no longer arm up as a Security Forces member.
But despite this cruel twist of fate, we both remain very positive. we still live life the way we always have, happy, alive and madly in love. He is my best friend and my absolute soul mate. I am scared to lose him... but for now, he is here with me. Walking. Talking. Hoping. Alive. And I will love Love LOVE him relentlessly until the day I die.
My husband and I are both Senior Airmen in the United States Air Force. We have been together for a little over two years and recently celebrated our first year of marriage. We are currently stationed on the lovely island of Oahu, we have no children and own a six month old doberman pinscher named Toorc who is currently training to be a service dog. My husband Joe is 22 and was officially diagnosed with ALS a few days before our anniversary.
I remember when we first started dating in Montana, he had shown me these random muscle twitches; at the time they were only in his left arm, slight and when he had it looked at due to shoulder pain, the doctors chocked it up to tendonitis. After 7 months of dating my husband eventually recieved orders and relocated to Hawaii, we spent another 6 months in a long distance relationship until he proposed to me while on a visit to see him. We found out that same day he was deploying and said heck with it and got married
At that time, I had noticed the twitches were now body-wide and he was complaining that he couldn't do very much weightlifting with his left arm because it felt strained and would grind. But again, he was simply sent to physical therapy for tendonitis. While my husband was away in the sandbox for 6 months, I was finally relocated to set up our new home in Hawaii. All in all, our 24 months of commitment was spent over 18 months apart. Easy enough thanks to him of course
When Joe returned from deployment I realized he was incredibly thin. He was always a gym addict, always fit, healthy and in incredible shape. So this new sight was very alarming to me. He still complained about his shoulder only this time, he also showed me how he couldn't extend the fingers on his left hand out all the way. I pushed for him to be seen again.The push was enough for his PCM to send him to the Tripler Army Medical Center where they performed various tests, poking and shocking and who knows what else. During these tests, I was not aware of the fact ALS was even a consideration the neruologists had because Joe had joked about it being lyme disease. When my husband was diagnosed I didn't find out until a couple weeks later and only by accident. He didn't want to tell me until it was official because he didn't want to scare me... regardless, from that point on I went with him to every appointment thereafter.
After 2 years of the twitching and muscle loss, my husband now has lost some mobility of his left hand and arm. He has the muscle spasms everywhere which has now started spreading to his abdomen. His shoulders are very bony now and his face is even slimming. He is unable to run and sometimes even walk without stumbling or tripping on the smallest of cracks. if holding things in his left hand, he will drop it within a few seconds due to the trembling. He is going through the process of being medically retired now and can no longer arm up as a Security Forces member.
But despite this cruel twist of fate, we both remain very positive. we still live life the way we always have, happy, alive and madly in love. He is my best friend and my absolute soul mate. I am scared to lose him... but for now, he is here with me. Walking. Talking. Hoping. Alive. And I will love Love LOVE him relentlessly until the day I die.
