Feeling down?

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

I thought I would talk about the emotional part of being ill. I have really

been battling with severe depression for over a year. There is very little

that can make me feel good about chiari/syringomyelia, however, today I

woke up feeling very grateful that I have this and so far nothing else to

attack my body.

Some of you may remember that my sister went for a very long time without

a diagnosis and has finally been told that she has ALS (Lou Gerhings) She

has gradually lost her ability to talk and now has so much paralysis in her

neck/throat area that she is unable to swallow anything. She now has a

feeding tube.

She is here with me and is planning on staying for another 2 weeks. Her

grown children have disposed of almost everything she owned (with her

permission) and she will be staying with a son and family in Michigan. A 10

hour drive from here.

So anyway, she takes care of her own medications and her feedings..I am

amazed at the way she is dealing with all of this. She is on a VERY LOW

dosage of anti-depressant. 20mg of Amatriptylin daily.

ALS usually ends in death 3-5 years after DG....and it is a terrible

death....In her case, she will simply be unable to breathe anymore. She has

made a living will so they will not help her breathe at the last. The

person stays very aware of all the changes their bodies are going through.

Their thinking stays as sharp as ever.

I now know how very lucky I am to have chiari/syringomyelia.

My sis and I went shopping yesterday. We bought some of those little Oh

Geez I don't know what they are called.....You can write on them and then

lift to erase...

Anyway..when she opened it she wrote on it " I love You " and she just beamed.

She will soon be getting a computer to do her talking but it could not do

much better than that!!!!! :-}

Sorry this is so long.

Boy! When I get started...........

anyway, I guess what I wanted to say is....I do know how much worse things

could be....so I hope I can deal with my illness as well as my sister is

dealing with hers.

Hugs,

Judy Marie