An unwelcome visitor adds unnecessary stress to our ALS life

I was on schedule Monday morning to get out the door by 11:45 until I had an unwelcome visitor.

I had a noon appointment for something that would be difficult to reschedule, so I got my husband, Todd, out of bed early. I parked his power wheelchair at his counter-height table where he sipped on coffee.

I let our dog, Comet, out onto the back patio, leaving the door open so we could get a nice breeze to cool off the house. Since our back door opens out, we can’t have a traditional screen door; to keep the bugs out, we have a screen that secures in place with Velcro.

We only leave the door open when we’re in the room because twice this summer we had wild animals slip in under the screen — a garter snake slithered in, which I quickly grabbed by the tail and threw outside, and a shrew scampered in, which I shooed out.

As I was prepping Todd’s breakfast, he said, “A squirrel just came in the house.”

Not again, I thought.

“It’s under the plant stand,” Todd said.

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I moved the stand, hoping to again use my shooing skills, but the squirrel darted across the dining room and behind the bookshelf in the living room.

My stress level rose.

I had to hunt down a squirrel, feed my husband, help him toilet, and get him set up on his computer all within the next two hours.

Strategizing our hunt together

Fortunately, we’d built our accessible home next to my parents’ house after Todd was diagnosed with ALS so we’d have help in situations like — well, I never imagined this exact situation.

I called my mom. “Can you come feed Todd breakfast so I can stay on track for my noon appointment? I need to catch a squirrel.”

My mom said she could be with us in 10 minutes. Meanwhile, Todd helped me brainstorm.

“Close all the other doors,” he suggested.

I shut the bathroom and bedroom doors, wedging towels underneath all of the thresholds so the critter was at least confined to the great room.

The hunt was on.

“Get a box or a crate to put over it,” Todd said.

I found a crate with smallish holes.

Do squirrels bite? What if it has rabies? I put on work gloves.

I pulled books off the bookcase and lifted it up. Nothing.

Maybe it was hiding in the corner of the room under built-in shelves where we keep our board games. I used the removable top of our long bookcase as a barrier to confine the squirrel to that back corner (if that’s where it was).

I started pulling the games out, but it wasn’t hiding back there.

Todd suggested I tip over the recliner. Nothing.

Was it under the couch? I bent down and peered under it. Nothing.

I gathered throw pillows and clean laundry off the couch, put them in baskets, and moved them to one of the bedrooms. Fewer hiding places!

My mom arrived and fed Todd his breakfast while I kept searching.

My stress level kept rising. What would we do if I couldn’t find it? And what was I going to do if I did?

“It’s probably under the shelves on the other side of the living room,” Todd suggested.

I used the bookshelf top to block off that corner of the room.

As I pulled out musical instruments and photo albums from under the shelf, I finally spotted the squirrel.

I had to trap it to get it out of the house. It was traumatic for both the squirrel and me, but it couldn’t live with us.

Although Todd couldn’t physically help, he was a good coach and a calming presence. I’m always glad to have him here with me for practical and emotional support.

Later that day, I pulled down the screen, and Todd said he’d look for a sliding screen door. And for the next few days, when people asked how I was doing, I replied, “I’m doing pretty good. I didn’t have a squirrel in my house today.”

With Todd’s ALS progression and the frequent need to clear his lungs, I live in a perpetual state of stress. But a squirrel in the house on top of the disease? That was a whole new level of stress. For a little while afterward, my ALS life actually felt easy.

Note: ALS News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of ALS News Today or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to ALS.