Beginning, Part II

A little bit about this disease.
Bulbar onset, which Les has, is when the motor neurons in the brain stem are affected first and symptoms start in the face, mouth, throat and tongue - called the bulbar region.  When symptoms also show in the spinal cord affecting the limbs, Les will be considered ALS.  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (or Lou Gehrig's disease) is a disorder of the motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord that control the action of voluntary muscles.  For unknown reasons, in ALS these motor neurons die, and the muscles they control no longer function, gradually becoming paralyzed.  In numbers, about 2 people in 100,000 get ALS.  What a coincidence that our friend Ken who lives down the street also has ALS!

One of the reasons I started a blog is for our far away family and friends.  All of our eight brothers and sisters live away.  I have two brothers in Eastern Washington, a sister in Iowa and a sister in California.  Les has a sister in Minneapolis, a brother in Minnesota, and two brothers in Iowa.  We have cousins, aunts and uncles all over the United States.  We also have friends all over the country!  It is so much easier for me to keep in contact with them this way.  If anyone wants updates, they can read the blog; nobody gets left out of the loop.  Les didn't want to go the CaringBridge route; he felt it was too "final".  He is determined to be the guy that beats the odds and lives for ten more years.

Another reason is that I like to write!  And it will be good for my soul to share our thoughts through this journey.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, and for your prayers.  We definitely feel them!  We both had a good day today.