Random Thoughts and Updates: Christmas, Meds, and Making History
So Christmas was Christmas. It was nice to be together even though I had to postpone dinner a bit to get my stomach in better shape. I am not really in the mood to write about Christmas. Every one of them we have is good because we are all here, right?
Brian keeps being Brian. The majority of his weakness is in the left lower leg with some in the right lower leg and also the left hand. He uses his cane in the house generally and his cane and "afo's" (leg/foot braces) outside the house. He is retired so I try to make a point of getting us out of the house as I think it helps his mood and mine too. There is progression, but not rapid, hit you in the face progression.
No meds for either of us so far, at least none for Depression, anxiety, etc. We keep an open mind to if there were ever a need for that, but for now we can be concentrate/get things done and enjoy some things too, and anxiety is not a run-away thing. We can both get a handle on it. If that changes, either or both of us would reconsider. I mention this because often times, that thing called "The ALS Community" will advocate getting onto Prozac, etc at your earliest opportunity, and I think that can be a great choice. It's just that those meds come with a dulling of all emotions often times that neither of us are enthusiastic about, so we would only go there if either or both of us needed to do so. No judgement on meds or choices for anyone, so please don't take it that way.
We have a friend here this week, that's great and looking forward to her spending a few nights here. We will spend some evenings out and about and that will be good too.
Something I have pondered a little is, why blog? Is it an exercise in self absorbed ponderings? Who reads this stuff anyway? Does it actually matter if anyone reads it? I thought for awhile and one thing I came to was a History Major's conclusion: All blogs are historical records. In 100 years, many of the words you see now on Blogger or wherever will be around in one form or another as Primary Source Documents of other's experiences with all sorts of things, some big and some small. We are building a huge library, we bloggers of Primary Source Documents potentially, about all manner of things. This will be more prolific by far than the letters of past eras, and I am just going to guess a lot of it WILL be preserved.
Some would say "who cares"? If that is your thought pattern, I am not here to change it. Not in the mood to argue the value of preserving common experience and history.
Fifty or a hundred years from now, to use us as an example if these words kick around on a server somewhere, or the words of anyone writing on the ALS experience people will be able to see what it was like in the time before a cure, before an effective treatment. They will see what happened to us, how we coped, and maybe have a better grasp on how and why all the resources and time and energy were poured into fixing it. Maybe one of those readers will be someone living her life that got the treatment that cured her ALS or kept her fully functional with the condition. Maybe she will sit in amazement at an era where people were told "there is little we can do" the same way I shudder to think of those who died of the Strep I have been cured of on numerous occasions. Maybe she will recall that the treatment was sort of icky or that the diagnosis startled her and was annoying and be on about her life. If we get to peak down this way ever after we die, I hope God lets me peak at that because I will cheer from the next world.
I don't care what you are blogging on, blog if you like to write! Contribute to the historical record of human experience. We matter.
Brian keeps being Brian. The majority of his weakness is in the left lower leg with some in the right lower leg and also the left hand. He uses his cane in the house generally and his cane and "afo's" (leg/foot braces) outside the house. He is retired so I try to make a point of getting us out of the house as I think it helps his mood and mine too. There is progression, but not rapid, hit you in the face progression.
No meds for either of us so far, at least none for Depression, anxiety, etc. We keep an open mind to if there were ever a need for that, but for now we can be concentrate/get things done and enjoy some things too, and anxiety is not a run-away thing. We can both get a handle on it. If that changes, either or both of us would reconsider. I mention this because often times, that thing called "The ALS Community" will advocate getting onto Prozac, etc at your earliest opportunity, and I think that can be a great choice. It's just that those meds come with a dulling of all emotions often times that neither of us are enthusiastic about, so we would only go there if either or both of us needed to do so. No judgement on meds or choices for anyone, so please don't take it that way.
We have a friend here this week, that's great and looking forward to her spending a few nights here. We will spend some evenings out and about and that will be good too.
Something I have pondered a little is, why blog? Is it an exercise in self absorbed ponderings? Who reads this stuff anyway? Does it actually matter if anyone reads it? I thought for awhile and one thing I came to was a History Major's conclusion: All blogs are historical records. In 100 years, many of the words you see now on Blogger or wherever will be around in one form or another as Primary Source Documents of other's experiences with all sorts of things, some big and some small. We are building a huge library, we bloggers of Primary Source Documents potentially, about all manner of things. This will be more prolific by far than the letters of past eras, and I am just going to guess a lot of it WILL be preserved.
Some would say "who cares"? If that is your thought pattern, I am not here to change it. Not in the mood to argue the value of preserving common experience and history.
Fifty or a hundred years from now, to use us as an example if these words kick around on a server somewhere, or the words of anyone writing on the ALS experience people will be able to see what it was like in the time before a cure, before an effective treatment. They will see what happened to us, how we coped, and maybe have a better grasp on how and why all the resources and time and energy were poured into fixing it. Maybe one of those readers will be someone living her life that got the treatment that cured her ALS or kept her fully functional with the condition. Maybe she will sit in amazement at an era where people were told "there is little we can do" the same way I shudder to think of those who died of the Strep I have been cured of on numerous occasions. Maybe she will recall that the treatment was sort of icky or that the diagnosis startled her and was annoying and be on about her life. If we get to peak down this way ever after we die, I hope God lets me peak at that because I will cheer from the next world.
I don't care what you are blogging on, blog if you like to write! Contribute to the historical record of human experience. We matter.
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