It did not bother me much at all and I was already on the medicinal regimen that would be prescribed to me for a stroke so we did nothing for the time being. That was in January of 2014.
Now fast forward to about March and I am in the hospital again with chest pains. My doc comes in to see about me and he is alarmed about the speech problems I am having. He gets me into speech therapy and I go off and on for nearly a year seeing a wonderful lady at least twice a week for speech and swallow therapy.
In the mean time I am loosing more and more speech ability and start seeing a neurologist. The first one was a waste of good oxygen. Judging from her I could have been a doctor. Any way I finally got in to see a good neuro guy and he confirmed what I had felt for some time and that was this is something more serious than a stroke.
More tests and referrals and on January 27, 2015 I was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, or better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Typical life expectancy is 3 to 5 years after onset of symptoms. I have roughly 2 to 4 years.
The good side to this is ALS is considered a service connected disease and I am now 100% VA disabled. Thanks to a very knowledgeable and compassionate person at the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Mr. Clyde Reed, I was able to get that disability in about three weeks time.
I now spend as much time as I can and as I feel up to it, doing the things that I love to do and what I missed out doing before for whatever reason.
If there is a silver lining to all of this, it is this; I am now more appreciative of the things that I can do and the people in my life.
If only we all were this way.
Until next time......................
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