Another Bad Arm Day

I'm having a very bad day today, one of those "bad arm days" I get every once in a while. Spasticity is very bad; I'm shaking like a popcorn maker in a movie theater. Weakness is exaggerated; I'm stronger than this, I know I am. I just feel really weak today, especially in my arms and shoulders. Even my fingers feel tired, the act of typing is wearing me down.

The exaggerated weakness is the worst part. I am stronger than this; I know it. I just picked up a 15 pound turkey out of the sink where it was thawing and put it into the lowest shelf on the fridge. It may not seem like much when compared to times past, but the past is gone and this is today. Admittedly it took almost all I had to do it, but I did it. I know there are pALS who would love to be able to do even this, to be where I am. The problem is that I am headed to where they are, not the other way round.

I've had a lot of fasiculations in the last couple of days as well, especially in my shoulders and upper arms. This is the current battle ground; this is where the action is. Oddly enough, though, I was having these random quivers in the one or two muscles still working in my upper legs. This disease never quits, until everything is dead.

This is not an unexpected event. I wonder, in part, if my time on the river, the long drive back from Vancouver, the exertions of travel have something to do with it. There is certainly a correlation between stress, even good stress, and ALS progression. Hard work is bad for me, weird as it may sound. Once again, ALS is the upside down disease.

Notwithstanding all of this, I am up. I am out of bed. I will go to the bathroom, get dressed, start making food for tomorrow's dinner. I've already had some breakfast and a glass of eggnog. My day, shaky as it is, has begun.