We had Brayden from last Thursday until Tuesday this week so haven't had time to post an update. I flew home last Wednesday and Margaret and I met Scott halfway to Louisville on Thursday to pick him up. Scott drove over for a Blues Hockey game this week Tuesday and took him back. We are all three missing him terribly.

I went back to the neurology clinic at Barnes-Jewish today for a follow up visit with Dr. Lopate. His news was rather disheartening. The two IVIG treatments that I had recently did not achieve the improvement he had hoped for. When I saw him in December, he was leaning toward a diagnosis of motor nerve disease as opposed to a motor neuron disease. Motor nerve disease is autoimmune and is treatable while neuron disease is degenerative. He is very puzzled about my condition, but now thinks it is probably degenerative. He will do four more IVIG treatments in the next few weeks to see if any improvement happens. There isn't any other treatment that he believes will help if the IVIG doesn't. If none of the desired improvement occurs I am going to volunteer for any studies, research, and trial treatments the clinic is doing. Stem cell research shows much promise for conditions like mine and, though it may not be in my lifetime, similar conditions to mine, among many others, are being researched and and trials are being administered in lots of areas. This research gives hope to me and to and to thousands of others.

Meanwhile, I continue to do as much physically as I can. I do my exercises daily and, with love and support from family and friends (especially Rose and Shirley), I maintain as much independence as is possible. The hardest thing I've ever done is NOTHING.

I don't mean for this post to sound hopeless. I promise the next post will be more upbeat and won't just be all about me. Keep praying.