And was it ever a big one. I thought I was a fairly smart person. Not smart but I don't do stupid things which I have said all my life is what makes me look smart. But was I stupid about one thing. I had planned on checking out when I could no longer go up and down the stairs with comfort. And I was getting very close to that point with my loss of balance and loss of strength now in all of my limbs. I thought it would be sometime next week based on my somewhat predicable regression. I can still walk with a cane and I can still move everything but my strength is down 85% of my left side and probably 50% on my right side. And if I couldn't get up and down the stairs, all the bedrooms are upstairs. But then Tim Storey was over playing Cribbage with me and in a discussion about my health, he mentioned that I should think about moving a bed downstairs. Duho! of course! Why didn't I think of that? I am really kicking myself for missing that one. But a good idea is a good idea and Tim is coming over tomorrow and John LaBreche another friend is coming over to help move a bed from upstairs to probably the dining room area of my house. Of course there several other things that have to be moved down there but that buys me a few more weeks at least.
Another post coming up in a day or three is another friend coming to visit that I haven't seen since we both worked in the pressroom at The Chicago Tribune. 37 years I believe since we last saw each other. More on that, pictures and text, after the visit.
Russ
Perhaps he was braver; but perhaps it was that his particular religious beliefs and his southern conservatism and the year 2002 did not leave him viable options. My first college term paper (1966) was written on Euthanasia. I believe that we each should have the right to meet death on our own terms. I, like you, have no interest in leaving my children or friends with the heavy burden of end-of-life care. I want them to remember me, now in my 70's, still climbing up Diamond Head, zip-lining in Costa Rica, parasailing over the ocean, kayaking brisk rivers, scuba diving to 100' depths to photograph tiny Pygmy Seahorses in Indonesia or have Manta Rays swim overhead, I want th…
I guess I wasn't aware of your departure planning or timeline. If I had been, I would have suggested that lower-level bedroom move long ago. My first husband, age 56, had ALS also; but a much more rapidly progressing type; diagnosed in October; passed in April. He was like you - accepting of what he could not change, but desiring to be in this World as long as he could, because he loved life. Early on, his bed and other necessities were moved to his living room and positioned in front of a bay window where he could watch his favorite horse wander the field. I was told that at the moment of his passing, that horse went …