Columns

Sometimes little things push me over the edge. One morning last week, I was already cranky because I had burnt the oatmeal. The smell followed me, lingering in my hair as I drove the kids to school. After I dropped them off, I stopped by a store on the way…

“‘Cause I got a peaceful, easy feelin’, And I know you won’t let me down, ‘Cause I’m already standin’ On the ground.” Those lyrics by Jack Tempchin, sung by the Eagles on their…

“Have you ever participated in clinical trials?” That’s a common question among ALS patients. What’s my standard answer? “It’s complicated. I’m participating in several studies, but even though I’d like to, I haven’t been in any clinical trials. I’m excluded because I’ve had ALS for too many years.” ‘What? Tell…

“I’m glad I got the chance to miss you,” I told my husband, Todd, when I got home after a day trip skiing with our children last week. Since Todd has ALS and I am his caregiver, we rarely spend time apart. Now that he is paralyzed, we don’t…

Last week, I stepped onto my soapbox (mine has special safety handrails) and voiced my opinion about an issue that’s been bugging me for several years. It’s a problem I share with about 7.5 million other people who have trouble using their voices and cannot get voice-activated devices to…

I was overcome with grief after my husband, Todd, was diagnosed with ALS. He was just 39. Our daughter was 4 years old, and our son was 9 months old. I grieved the loss of our dreams of adventures that we would have — family vacations to national parks…

“There’s an old joke, um … two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of ’em says, ‘Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.’ The other one says, ‘Yeah, I know — and such small portions.’ Well, that’s essentially how I feel about…

I’m happy to announce I’ve finally resolved a love-hate relationship — with my AFOs. It took persistence, but I can now step into my white, molded plastic ankle-foot orthoses and walk pain-free. That’s important to me because I want to keep walking for as long as possible, and my…

It’s been an intense couple weeks of winter weather on Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. After a mild January with many sunny days, the first two weeks of February made up for it with over 40 inches of snowfall, along with below-zero to single-digit temperatures. I had been getting out…

“Ride a painted pony, Let the spinnin’ wheel spin.” Recently, I had a flashback to those lyrics by David Clayton-Thomas and recorded by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears. They speak to me on many levels.  The…