as a retired (3/12) occupational therapist (40+yrs) one of my last pt.'s was a man with ALS whose children could not and would not accept his diagnosed.of ALS. he had seen a local neurologist who performed the blood work, MRI's, EMG's and then was given a 2nd opinion at Shands Neurology, Univ. of Fl., Gainesville, Fl., with further and more extensive testing performed. the initial diagnosed was MMN and a course of IVIG ther. was given with no positive results and the subsequent ALS diagnosed followed.
the children will not accept it. this is very stressful for the pt. they are pressuring him to go for more tests as they feel it could be a "100 diff. things". they encourage mayo, johns-hopkins, emory etc and on and on and when the diagnosed comes back the same, will want him to go to europe next.
how can these children be led to believe the true diagnosed of their father and that is IS ALS, accept it, and be supportive of him? why cont. the huge expenses of traveling the country and world and use up all of his funds?
any ideas or suggestions our there?