A Cure Is What Really Matters

It's frustrating how a day of activity can wear me out so much. I didn't do a lot yesterday; coffee at the mall, a quick run up to Walmart. Yet even that low grade activity left me tired last night, and still tired this morning. I am beginning to feel like my best activity these days is simply staying in bed, sleeping. There is no doubt I can sleep a day away, perhaps even a couple of days.

I am up now, in my PWC, waiting for the wheelchair repair person to do the maintenance on my manual chair. The brakes need work. The tires need replacing as do the casters, those small wheels up front. This is something which has to be done every year, at a cost of around $300 or so. It's always amazed me that my annual wheelchair maintenance costs every bit as much as service on my truck. Then again, I don't replace the wheels on my truck every year.

AISH pays for this maintenance, one of the many services and benefits provided by the Alberta Health Services system. Without this kind of socialized health care support I would be in truly dire straits. On top of this kind of thing, AHS covers my prescriptions, glasses, dental care and a great many other things. Almost all I need is covered. It doesn't mean I get away scot free. There are still plenty of things I need which are not "medical" in nature.

It's not just the wheelchair this morning. Home Care, another funded service, was in this morning and will be in every morning until I die. This week we are going to look at adding evening visits too. This week I have also been fighting some sort of infection, eventually showing up as a bladder infection. So rather than rush to the hospital, or see a doctor unnecessarily, I took the prescription medication provided to me "just in case". In a non-profit system, doctors can treat patients without making them come in for every little thing. I didn't need the doctor; I just needed the medication.

Of course non of this will cure ALS, or even slow it down. I am progressing more rapidly these days than I have in the past. While it is good to have health care, I would rather have a cure. That would be the ultimate positive outcome. I don't see it happening for me, but our health care system helps many people stay alive longer, and one day there will be a cure. That matters.