Alison.. does Chris seem depresed at all? I mean does he cry alot or do you feel he is withdrawn as far as talking to you goes? If not it may just be the difference of his personality..
Does he use a speech computer frequently ? If so, maybe talking to him about your concerns will help..what makes him happy may be different than what makes Dave or for that matter Gary happy.as far as outside interests go...There may be no problem at all..Or it maybe a problem with frustration or depression.. but only he will know the answers..everyone with ALS has a different personality no two people adapt the same way...
But, I find talking about things openly helps..and hopefuly he will be willing to do so with you..
Gary rarely cried and was almost always in an upbeat mood... I pushed him alot for awhile to get out and be more active..but I found out it caused him pain..and especially after I saw the damage to his skin..we began to discuss it..we tried all kinds of modifications to his chair ..but nothing was more comfortable than his rotating airmattress..so then we had to come up with ideas to try to make our bedroom into our livingroom or "gathering " room...
Gary was a computer scientist..so he loves his computer..but some people may not enjoy computers as much..even though it takes him 5 minutes to type a sentence..he still enjoys surfing the net especially in regards to things he liked before ALS.
Alison..you re a very special person and I know you are doing the best you can for Chris..I'm sure he knows it as well..
I agree with you as well ...Dave is quite an inspiration for PALS ...Lisa