Reality

SO, we are trying to settle into our new reality.  Having Les home is like when he sometimes would take a week off and I kept working.  That's not TOO out of the normal....except for the fact that it won't ever end...... Ha!  I work a lot from my home office, but it's hard to stay at the computer when Les is rattling around the house.  We are trying to figure out some sort of a schedule.......but that's pretty impossible this time of year.  He keeps having friends pop over for coffee, etc. and I of course don't want to miss out!  For the record, Les has been very good about helping out with whatever I ask him to do.  I haven't been to the grocery store for awhile and can't say I miss that! I have realized that I was pretty stuck on my little routine (gettin old ya know!) and I am having to learn to go with the flow a little more.....

We were offered several nights at a condo in Victoria last week, so we decided we couldn't pass that up.  We took the ferry from Tsawwassen to Vancouver Island.  Those are some nice ferries, eh! (which they should be at the price we paid......)  We had a great view of the harbor pretty close to the Empress Hotel.

We had a very quiet, relaxing long weekend.  It was COLD! but clear and so beautiful.  We did quite a bit of walking and exploring and reading.

Les' voice continues to weaken - well actually his tongue continues to weaken which greatly affects his speech.  Last night he was playing around with some voice apps on the iPad.  We have someone from church who has a connection to a voice box of some sort that we can borrow.  He will try these out before our next appointment with Dr. Weiss.  Les is also having a harder time swallowing, and has more saliva collecting in his mouth.  He is still eating great, but takes him longer to eat. We were both pretty discouraged last week, but this week is better again.  We have been so hopeful that his progression would be slow.  And maybe this is still considered slow, but I guess none of that matters.  What matters is our reality, and we don't like it!  It's hard to stay positive sometimes.  Les is starting a new supplement program called the Deanna Protocal.  He heard about it from Oliver, the ALS support guy who visited awhile back.  Our Dr. Weiss said go for it, with some modifications, so we are.  In a nut shell, the supplements are supposed to protect the nerve endings and slow the damage.  We figured it can't hurt.......

Last weekend we both read a book given to us by my Iowa bestie, Nancy.  The book was written by a young man with melanoma cancer and tracks his journey.  The first few chapters were right-on as to our feelings dealing with a terminal illness.  This man had so much faith and such a strong relationship with Jesus...it was inspiring and yet humbling because we feel we have so much growth to get to that point!

We covet your prayers - we feel them when you are praying.  We are asking for the disease to slow; we are asking that Les stays mobile even if/when he loses his voice; we are asking for joyful attitudes and continued growth in our relationship with our Lord and Savior.