Update

We have booked our holiday at long last. Were going to Majorca and have booked an apartment for seven days, starting on the 17th May. There are ten members in a our party, mostly Darren's family. It will be fun fun fun woohoo.

Lithium (Li): It will be 3 months on the 8th May since I began taking Li.

My first blood test didn't detect any Li in my system so upped my dose, bloods taken on the 4/2/08 showed my Li serum level at 0.25. On the 4/4/08 I upped my dose to 750mg blood level 0.29 on 04/16/08. I have today increased my dose to 1000mg.

Ive noticed a couple of things: Back through the years my hands/fingers would weaken more than usual but after a few weeks they would return to there normal state and this is how it has been for 3-4 yrs. Only this time they weakened 1-2 weeks prior to taking Li and haven't regained strength.

The second thing is my right ring finger stopped suddenly lifting up 4 days ago. When I straighten my fingers out that finger pulls down towards my palm and also has a major twitch/spasm.

The third thing is I can now spread my left thumb out a little bit, not done that in a few years.

Until next time take care xxxxxxx

ALS clinic

It seems forever since I last blogged.

I'm doing good but keep having episodes of loss of appetite which of course does nothing to help maintain my weight, I booked an appointment at the ALS clinic to enquire about having a feeding tube...well what a waste of time that was, we felt so rushed and nothing really got said or sorted. The dietitian did prescribe me a liquid called Calogen, Calogen is a fat emulsion, suitable for fortifying your daily diet either on its own or in food. So I'll see how it goes adding this stuff to my diet, if I continue to loose weight a feeding tube it will be.
The new neuro I saw didn't even examine me and was more interested in finding the two pound coins which fell out of his pocked and rolled under the bed. (sigh)

You may of heard about the Lithium trial which recently got published http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0708022105v1.pdf I'm very sceptical over this study just like I am with everything else, obviously the trial needs be performed properly to get true results.
I read some literature on lithium some six yrs ago and wanted to self trial it back then but didn't for some unknown reason. Well my GP recently agreed to prescribe Lithium which I started on Feb 8th, so far so good and I haven't noticed any side affects. I will have bloods monitored regularly because lithium is highly toxic and can damage Thyroid, liver and kidneys so monitoring is IMPORTANT.

There is an online trial for lithium users please see here http://alslithium.atspace.com/italian.html

Until next time take care xxx

My daughters

Here are two photos of my daughters on their motocross bikes which we brought them for Christmas.
First picture is of Charlie, second Bethany.

Christmas Day

We all had a fantastic Christmas day and father Christmas brought everyone what they wanted. Both girls got a motocross bike and all the protective clothing, helmet and suit, which they both love. Bethany jumped 4ft in the air when she saw her motocross bike, its lovely to see the reaction on their faces, a magical moment not to be missed.

Today is Darrens birthday...Happy birthday hun.

Ive added a few pictures and will add more when I upload them, dont laugh!

Merry Christmas

We are all ready for Christmas day, and all extremely excited woohoo. we have my parents for Xmas day dinner and in the evening we will visit various family members. O boxing day we have been invited for dinner at Darren's brothers (Wayne) so that is something to look forward to.

This morning we received the most beautiful table arrangement from my special online friend Libby and family, it looks just wonderful in the centre of our dinning table, I will upload some photos soon.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each and everyone of you.

Until next time, take care xxx

Video of me walking

As you can see to the right of my blog Ive added a video of me walking with the aide of Darren, Charlie recorded the video.

I can not walk without Darren's help or wearing my leg braces (afo's), my feet still turn inwards and over on the side even tho i wear plastic afo's, which is a real problem......any suggestions will be gratefully received.

Until next time, take care xxx

Some photos of our home

Picture 1: Lounge
Picture 2: My chilling chair
Picture 3: Part of the hallway
Picture 4: Part of the dining room
Picture 5/6: My bedroom where I sit at the end of the bed on my scooter with laptop on my lap, chatting wid all my friends.