Facing mortality

It's been a long time. Way too long. And it shouldn't be news like this that brings my writing skills out of semi-retirement.

It's quite likely that I have ALS. This stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It is better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. It is a neuromuscular disease, and while treatable, it is not curable.

Here's the kicker: it is nearly always fatal.

From my understanding of it, the motor neurons in the brain, and/or brain stem, and/or spinal cord just stop working. In my case, it's the first two. So far, only my mouth is affected; my speech is a bit slurred, and I tend to bite my cheeks or lip accidentally. Eventually, it will likely move to my limbs. And, eventually, it will probably affect my swallowing and breathing. Cognitive skills aren't impaired, which means you retain all your knowledge, intelligence, and awareness.

Not all is lost. There are drugs that slow it somewhat, new drugs being tested that may slow it quite a bit, and medical research is advancing all the time. Stephen Hawking has had it for 45 years, and he's done pretty well for himself. A cure will be found eventually, and there's no reason why I shouldn't be the poster child who benefits from it.

Meanwhile, I've had this sudden urge (completely reasonable, under the circumstances) to reconnect with old friends. If you know me, and stumble across this blog, please contact me. I'm not posting personal information here for the world to see, but if you know me or my family, I shouldn't be hard to find.

There is a new link on this page, the first link in the list. Please visit it. If you are able to donate, please do. (The red button on the link is for donations. The "Join the team" is to help solicit other donations.)

Again, if our lives have crossed, please get in touch with me. I'd love to hear from you.