Nurse Shannon
New member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2008
- Messages
- 3
- Reason
- Loved one DX
- Diagnosis
- 04/2008
- Country
- US
- State
- Ohio
- City
- Wheelersburg
First off, I am new here My dad was diagnosed with ALS in April...this year. Its a longish story, so I am gonna go through it fast.
My dad and husband were carrying my grandmother down the steps in her wheelchair last September, when my dad caught his toe and tripped on the broken brick step, while we were at the beach. He complained of knee pain and by November, he was wearing a knee brace and had some weakness of his right leg. His doc. told him to get some pt. so he did. MRI shows impingment of the nerve root in his cervical or lumbar area...he kept getting worse.
Febuary 2008, he was showing foot drop in the right leg along with atrophy...he was still walking on his own.
March 2008, he fell...twice, flat on his back, on ice, while scraping ice from the car.He started using a cane, but fell at work on the steps. He got taken off work until he could find out what was wrong with him.
April 2008, he went to Cleveland Clinic, got the ALS diagnosis. Moved to a wheeled walker to walk with. He could not move his right foot. Test showed weakness in all four limbs, but mainly the right leg.
May 2008, he moved to a wheelchair and by the end of the month, wasn't able to stand without assistance. His toes on his right foot began feeling like they wanted to move, so over a weekend, my dad began moving his toes.
June 2008, he is unable to stand on his own, by the end of the month, he couldn't even bear weight. BUT, he was able to move his foot and ankle on the right leg and able to pull the leg up to his chest while lying in bed on his side.
Currently, he is in the hospital. His O2 sats were staying in the low 80's. His stomach is pushing his diaphram up into his right lung base for some reason. They don't know why.
They did a LP on him and it came back clear. He's had several MRI's and the EMG, the MRI'show nerve impingment and something abudding the nerve root...but nothing is said about that.
He has NO problems with swallowing or speech. He's just started having labored breathing. He's got the twitching muscles which has spread from his legs to his arms and body.
I just feel like...its too fast. I mean, we are all just trying to come to terms with the diagnosis...but its progressing so freakin' fast, that it really scares me.
I just don't know what to do...
My dad and husband were carrying my grandmother down the steps in her wheelchair last September, when my dad caught his toe and tripped on the broken brick step, while we were at the beach. He complained of knee pain and by November, he was wearing a knee brace and had some weakness of his right leg. His doc. told him to get some pt. so he did. MRI shows impingment of the nerve root in his cervical or lumbar area...he kept getting worse.
Febuary 2008, he was showing foot drop in the right leg along with atrophy...he was still walking on his own.
March 2008, he fell...twice, flat on his back, on ice, while scraping ice from the car.He started using a cane, but fell at work on the steps. He got taken off work until he could find out what was wrong with him.
April 2008, he went to Cleveland Clinic, got the ALS diagnosis. Moved to a wheeled walker to walk with. He could not move his right foot. Test showed weakness in all four limbs, but mainly the right leg.
May 2008, he moved to a wheelchair and by the end of the month, wasn't able to stand without assistance. His toes on his right foot began feeling like they wanted to move, so over a weekend, my dad began moving his toes.
June 2008, he is unable to stand on his own, by the end of the month, he couldn't even bear weight. BUT, he was able to move his foot and ankle on the right leg and able to pull the leg up to his chest while lying in bed on his side.
Currently, he is in the hospital. His O2 sats were staying in the low 80's. His stomach is pushing his diaphram up into his right lung base for some reason. They don't know why.
They did a LP on him and it came back clear. He's had several MRI's and the EMG, the MRI'show nerve impingment and something abudding the nerve root...but nothing is said about that.
He has NO problems with swallowing or speech. He's just started having labored breathing. He's got the twitching muscles which has spread from his legs to his arms and body.
I just feel like...its too fast. I mean, we are all just trying to come to terms with the diagnosis...but its progressing so freakin' fast, that it really scares me.
I just don't know what to do...