Friends!

Thank you to all of my friends who have supported me since my diagnosis in May and who continue to show their support and love every day! 

This disease has taught me to never take my life and my friends for granted, and how lucky I am to be married to my wonderful wife Kim and to have my family and such wonderful friends!

My friend Tom B. from DEP and the WVU Alumni Association stopped to see me in the office a few days ago and said some very nice things.  I received a very nice card from Bob and Andrea indicating that they are thinking about us.  My friend Eric O. and I had lunch with Sheri F. at Ho Wah's today.  Eric is leaving Baker this month to join the PA Food Bank and moving to Williamsport.  Tomorrow I am having lunch with my dear friend Mary Ann whom I haven't seen for several months.  Phil T. and I are planning lunch again in a few weeks at Ho Wahs.  My friend Jamie L. from PennDOT reached out to me today to schedule lunch and we're going to meet Nora C.  Today I scheduled lunch with my dear friends Heather R. and Karyn Y. from DEP.  I'm planning a trip to see my friends at DEP and will schedule some additional lunches in the next few weeks. 

My bicep spasms are back today after a slight decrease yesterday following my initial acupuncture treatment yesterday.  I was able to breathe and sleep on my back last night for the first time in months, so that was a definite improvement after only one treatment.  My next appointment is a week from Friday and I hope to keep seeing some definite improvements and hopefully start lessening the intensity of my muscle spasms.

For the most part, yesterday was fairly painless.  I think I had at least 20 needles.  Several did hurt for several minutes or until they were removed.  The one in my right hand between my thumb and forefinger hurt because the muscle spasms in my bicep travel down my arm to that spot so it was being vibrated.  It reminded me of the pain from the EMG I had on 5/8 when I was initially diagnosed with ALS.

The doctor put one in my right hand little finger just behind the fingernail and that one hurt a lot and hurt the whole time until it was removed.  She put one in the outside of my nose and one in my face close by to attempt to open up my right sinuses and they hurt, especially when she wanted me to talk to her and answer questions.

However, the pain overall from being stuck with 20 needles wasn't very severe and I can certainly put up with it if I can gain some continued benefit.

Looks like the weather won't be very good in North Carolina next week - calling for rain and storms most of the time.  Hopefully we will have some decent weather for some outside activities.  I've been looking forward to throwing frisbee with my nephews and niece, and we were hoping to do some tubing and hiking.  Otherwise we'll be playing a lot of indoor games.  My family likes Sequence and Monopoly, and my youngest brother Chuck said he wanted to play Texas Hold 'Em with Kim and me, so I told him to bring a lot of quarters. :)  We'll have lots of good food and good company.  I finished shopping today and have a pork roast in the oven overnight at 200 degrees to make pulled pork for lunches next week, which I will finish tomorrow night.  It's a little more challenging to make meals for 11 thank it is for 2!

The house we're staying in next week doesn't have Internet or a TV, so don't expect many updates until late next week when I will post some pictures and new posts.

Still have a lot of thank you notes to write, so I'll spend some time next week trying to finish those and get them in the mail.

Thanks for caring enough to check in!