Hello, friends,

Coming to this forum feels more and more like a good reunion. My best friend/husband Roger was officially diagnosed with ALS on June 18, 2007, but he was totally prepared for the grim news due to his personal symptomology and investigations. Retired from school teaching for one year, he had been experiencing fasciculations, altered gait, vocal fatigue, and crazy cramping as his professional career was drawing to a close. At this time, he is awaiting the arrival (tomorrow) of a more sophisticated bipap machine to make sleeping a sustained experience. On Friday I will learn if his medical team at Strong Memorial (Rochester, NY) will recommend lithium carbonate for his use. I have been devouring all the reports from this helpful site to be as informed as I can be. We have been married since 1973; we have no children; we thoroughly delight in our time together. I am a retired English teacher with 27 years of classroom experience and education of my own. I was privileged to teach with a team approach at the middle school level with an uplifting group of teacher/friends. I left the job a few years earlier than expected due to spinal problems and fibromyalgia. I am an only child, and my parents are currently in need of assistance due to my father's advancing Alzheimer's disease and my mother's limited vision. Roger's two sisters live out of our immediate area, and their parents are deceased. Interestingly, Roger's dad believed that he had ALS prior to his passing, and his older sister Judy (a nurse) has episodes of fasciculations, cramping and weakness that have us concerned on her behalf.

As I enter this valuable conversation, I wish to express our gratitude for your straightforward information and unique intimacy which helps our daily desire for trustworthy news and insight.

I will share the next phase of our decision-making when I have been in contact with our medical helpers.

You travel with us in the conscious moments of our changing days.