Sally, something you said triggered a memory. My Dad had MS, diagnosed (I think) in 1957 after at least a couple years of mystery and random symptoms. He was 39. I can remember that we lived very, very frugally with the spectre of his potential disability hanging over us. Mom would say, "We never know if tomorrow will be the day your father will wake up and not be able to get out of bed."

Only now do I understand how it must have felt for him, and for my Mom.

It never happened, by the way. He retired at 62, and died at 79 of COPD. He used a cane, but was still getting up and down stairs under his own steam a few days before he died.

Sal, you've been a very strong woman all these years...I am not near the 70s yet, but I also worry about these things.
iMO dr. k provided a service to those who didn't want to live life in bed. I don't understand how Stephen Hawking has lived as he has all of these years...especially watching my FIL deteriorate, and him wishing it was over.

I sit sometimes in awe wondering what keeps us going when we reach that level of disability. Time magazine is going to feature an article on how we die by Joe Klein. He discusses his father's passing and all of the issues involved with the quality of life vs. Fighting to lengthen it. Sounds like something to read & ponder...

Sal, I’m not that far behind you, now that I am in my mid sixties. I figure that I’ve had this disease for soooooo long (since I was in my teens), that I should count myself lucky to still be able to get around as well as I do. As Doris Day would say, “whatever will be will be”, the glass is half full, and yadda, yadda, yadda.

Another old fart to another.........I'm only 2/3(?) years behind you......and wonder how that happened??? It seems like once a month or so I think it may be time to consider an assisted living place since I live alone, like you Sally. Seems as though my ms has advanced quite a bit these past five years so that I can no longer move my legs. Spending all the time in my "chair" is really a challenge, especially knowing there's nobody coming home later in the day.

I've not been able to use my bed for a couple years, so sleep in my lift recliner. Of course I have to "waterproof" the thing first with "piddle pads", another story, other pads, blanket, etc. Thank goodness the thing can go up and down since my legs become really sore staying in one position. It definitely would be easier with someone here to help most of the time.

Some days moving doesn't sound like such a bad idea, especially on "10" pain days, but in reality, I don't want to leave my home. Being a Christian, I'm praying for the rapture to happen soon so I won't have to face that decision. This disease sucks no matter what our age!

Judy, I am also praying for the rapture. I cannot afford a GOOD assisted living place, one with good food which is so important to me, as I am on the Swank diet as my only MS therapy. I think my neurological status is not radically changed in the years since dx, but since then I have two more diagnoses, Porphyria and Polycythemia Vera. The Porph is making me have a very bad time with the smoke in New Mexico at this time.
Sally, I am around your age. I am still walking, although my numb feet also caused me to break a knee when I fell down stairs at another house. I have not considered Dr. K, but I would dearly like the Lord to take me to a better place where my husband is. That's the worst part of being old, being a widow. The very worst part.

Your courage Judy, makes me want to throw rocks at myself. Wouldn't having some home care, be cheaper and better for you than moving? I will be considering that in my future...not quite there yet, but sooner than later. Medicare pays for some of that, don't they?

Thank you for being here with me Judy, I love you..

Sally concerning Medicare paying for either assisted living or nursing home, I really got an earfull and teary eyes full when learned about it. Medicare does not pay for nursing home care unless you are in "rehab" (expected to leave) or on hospice (six months being the norm). It is MUCH more complex than this, and hard to find information. The social worker told me untruths when Irv was dying, at the hospital, saying Medicare did not cover Hospice at all (but he died before transfer to the place where I was to pay thousands a month and also be required to live there and help 24/7.) I never could get long term care because I had an MS dx, even when Boeing sent out people to urge us to buy it...they would not take me, and Irv refused to take it if they wouldn't take me...they were embarrassed about urging me to take it when it turned out they wouldn't.

Even if you get long term nursing home through Medicaid, because you have spent most of your money, you have to fight for it, sometimes for years, according to a man here.
He was planning to divorce his wife so she could qualify for Medicaid nursing home.
Most people here in nursing home (a bad one which smells of urine and chlorine and has unhealthy food) pay $6000 a month, private pay. If they are indigent and have no relatives, I guess they have to try to qualify for Medicaid.
Forgive me if I'm missing something. I was in shock finding out these things, I may not be 100% correct.
I didn't qualify for hospitalization after I broke my knee and had a cast to my hip and could not bend my leg. I was told to go to a motel and order pizza (exact words of doctor). Obviously I couldn't sit on a toilet without help or a raiser. They sent me to an
independent living place for only $4500 a month, which I could afford for a short time, but the staff would not help me get on the toilet and said I'd falsified my ability while I was in the hospital those few days. Even the few days in hospital were because they didn't have a proper cast for my leg the night I came in. I cried all the time about this situation, and they got a psychiatrist to come see me, with 3 wooden faced "interns". When the psychiatrist found out I had MS, he looked interested for a moment, maybe thinking I could qualify for nursing home on that, but he quickly moved on. Within a month I qualified for nursing home Medicare because I had a TIA in the sadistic surgeon's office (the one who told me to go to a motel and eat pizza). They sent me to the best cardiac care hospital in Seattle, which "of course" put me in a nursing home on leaving.

Sounds worse than it was, in a way, because I kept my faith, had some nice companions in all the facilities, and was able to go home in three months, with enough money left to travel 1400 miles to home. It was a nasty situation and I'm sure you've all been there in one way or another. It's par for the course. We do not live in Paradise.

Well that all just sucks Murial..

I'm sure it's different for diff States and may still be something to look into.