Sigh. I hate to say it, but the truth is, there are never any guarantees. Any ONE of us could get a clean bill of health from a neuro one day, and the VERY next day, drop dead from a stroke. Or a heart attack, or a ruptured aneurysm, (all of which are FAR more likely than a dx of **S.) Does that mean the doctor missed something? Absolutely not! It merely means that when our time is up, it is up, and we MUST make up our minds to live each day, one at a time, to the absolute fullest, because one never knows...I'm not trying to sound somber or gloomy, I'm really not. It boils down to this: are we willing to make a decision to move forward with our lives, or are we going to insist on being imprisoned to fear and dread of a disease that, statistically speaking, we have exceedingly LITTLE chance of EVER getting? It is such bondage to be stuck in that hellish place!Life is all in the way you spin it. Sadly, many of the folks actually dx'ed with **S are having more beautiful, fulfilled lives than some of us will ever give ourselves permission to have. Why? Because they recognize, in the limited time they have remaining, that they must make joy a priority. Shame on US for not relishing and reveling in our perfectly HEALTHY bodies. What sort of joy is there in watching a television program that freaks you out and scares you silly? And what would prompt you to continue watching it, knowing FULL well that it is going to have this result? I remember, when I was a little girl, I'd have nightmares over certain horror movies. At times, I would be wise enough to avoid them, (even as a very young child of four,) but at other times, it was just all too tempting to give in to the morbid curiosity, and I literally wouldn't sleep for months. There is nothing edifying about watching programs and reading message boards that terrify us. If we REALLY let ourselves go "there," there are countless bogey men, lurking in the darkness that we can choose to obsess over. If not **S, then terrorism, the state of the economy, the war, the pandemic flu, heck, even the super-volcano's which threaten to take-out our entire planet. Is it really WORTH the energy, at the expense of your peace of mind? When will enough be enough? When will the line be drawn in the sand; the one that separates eternal worry over mostly NOTHING, to eternal serenity IN SPITE of what may, or may not lie ahead?OK, I didn't mean to launch into a diatribe. I was speaking as much to myself as to anyone who might be listening. I'll step down from my soap-box now. But not before saying, rather loudy and vehemently that YOU ARE FINE, FREDERICK! All is well, my friend. Blessings, Sue
There was a documentary on the television earlier this evening and it was about an als patient telling his story. What shocked me was that he said he had been dx with als in 1999 because he was tripping and stuff, but he said he knows the disease started way earlier because he experienced cramps 4 to 5 years earlier to his dx. This really shocked me. I know this isn't the place to talk about this kind of stories but I really need some advice on this one.So please help I'm freaking out right nowFreddieTheFox