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Racing thoughts, runaway thoughts. Whatever you call ’em, I caught ’em. Yup, a case of full-blown, out-of-control, runaway thoughts. I hadn’t had them for years — not since the day I was told I had ALS. And then, like most newly diagnosed patients, I spent weeks and months imagining the…

“Thank God I didn’t have to cough this weekend,” my husband, Todd, said after his parents left. They had been visiting us from Minnesota. A couple months ago, his mom called as I was returning from the grocery store. “Todd can’t breathe. He needs help,” she said. He was doing…

Last week, I had the pleasure of joining the Fox Valley/Lakeshore ALS Virtual Support Group in Wisconsin as their guest speaker. We had fun discussing ways to reduce stress during the ongoing crisis while we live with our ALS. During my presentation, I shared one strategy…

“I keep pulling it out — the old map of my inner path,” Joyce Rupp writes in her poem “Old Maps No Longer Work.” I was introduced to Rupp’s poem on a spiritual retreat five years ago. Her words resonated with me then, five years past my husband…

 “Oh, I used to be disgusted and now I try to be amused.” Those lyrics from the Elvis Costello song “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” are an apt description of the journey that my perspective…

During these past few months, like most folks I know, I’ve been watching movies — lots of movies. And by now, my wish list of titles is pretty well picked over. So, whenever a new release comes out, I jump on it, thinking “OK, Netflix, surprise me!” Well, I got…

When I was a child, my elderly great-aunt Martha joined my family every Christmas Eve to participate in gift opening. I felt bad that she only got one present while my brothers and I received so many. But she seemed happy with the pair of slippers or homemade ornaments my…

“Baby steps.”  That was the advice imparted to Bob Wiley by his psychiatrist, Dr. Leo Marvin, in the movie “What About Bob?“ Wiley, portrayed by Bill Murray, has a perfect storm of maladies including perhaps bacillophobia…

Oh my! We’re still facing challenges brought on by the pandemic and most likely will continue doing so for some time. Right now I’m feeling the loss of being able to sit down with friends to chat and catch up on the little things in our lives. My many ALS…

After our second child was born — back when my husband, Todd, had an undiagnosed weak left arm — we purchased a used minivan. We found the van on Craigslist and drove two hours to purchase it. Six months later, Todd was diagnosed with ALS. We made plans to…