Happy Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, Dave and I are so grateful for the abundance of love, kindness and financial support we have received from all of you. We truly appreciate all the cards, emails, texts, errands, visits, food, and financial donations. It’s difficult to explain in words how much this has touched us and made Dave’s challenges easier to bear. We currently have wonderful caregivers in our home 6 days and 5 nights a week, thanks to so many generous GoFundMe donations. Since none of Dave’s home care is covered by Medicare or insurance, this has allowed him to remain at home as his ALS progresses.

These days, Dave is able to tolerate brief excursions in his wheelchair but is mostly confined to a hospital bed in our family room at home. He relies on external breathing support, receives all his nutrition through a feeding tube and has lost most of his ability to speak. A voice generated communication device enables Dave to express his basic needs and write by using eye gaze, but he becomes easily fatigued. Although he can no longer recount entertaining stories for his friends, he has not lost his sense of humor and continues to be stubborn, opinionated, social and creative. There have been a few times recently where he has gathered all his remaining energy and spent a good few minutes trying to communicate something, just for it to become apparent that he’s making a joke. The fact that he still can appreciate some of life’s funny moments during this period of difficulty is a beautiful thing. As those who have dropped by for a visit or hung out on a Zoom or Facetime know, he still is cognitively sharp and enjoys hearing your stories and life updates.

We are looking forward to spending quiet holidays with our daughters this year and feel blessed by all we have been given in our lives.

Happy Holidays to you all!