Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis:
A = absence of
myo = muscle
trophic = nourishment
Lateral = side (of spine)
Sclerosis = hardening
OH how my heart hurts when I read these three letters on a case file.
For a disease that is said to strike 6 in 100,000 Canadians, we sure seem to have a high proportion of afflicted in this Paradise of ours. Naturally, because we live in the best spot in all of Canada, we do get retirees from all over and everyone gets some sort of thing that slows them down. Some of us just get Old Age and all it's attendants, but others are felled by such as ALS.
In the last 2 years, I have attended 7 different people in this area of approximately 20,000 residents, and that is just the ones I know. Statistically, we should have a much higher popluation for these kinds of numbers. What is even freakier is that three of those people live within 1/2 mile of each other. In this case I am aware it is coincidental but it is still weird.
I was called into our sister town a few months ago to assist a gentleman who was about to go in and get a feeding tube installed. He still had the power of speech, and spent a lot of our time thanking me and complimenting all our team on their professionalism, compassion and skills. I recall thinking at the time: "Hmm, the last person who complimented me so profusely passed away not long after." These kind of people who see the good in all, and try to be the best they can in all ways in all times, make even their own deaths easier on others. I stand in awe of this.
This gentleman did indeed pass away not long after our meeting.
Now I am in another home, with another family, helping another person who is trying to live his best life under ALS's oppression. He also has an amazing wife who does everything she can to make things flow smoothly. My concern is always that these superwomen wear their bodies out caring for their spouses and do not realise it until after the fact when they too are clients. Still, you cannot ask the Sun not to shine nor command the Wind not to blow. She will do as she wishes until she cannot.
Me, I get to go home at the end of the day to my doggie and my beautiful new condo.
MMMmmmMMM! That could change in a heartbeat, as well I know. I enjoy every minute.
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It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. ~Robert Southey
