Holy mackerel!!

Luther and I drove up to Walmart.

Seemingly uneventful, right?

I had to go with him to the gas station to take the gas cap off and fill up his truck.  

Ate at Culvers which was interesting - late in the day, he's tired, he couldn't pick up his fries.  Seemed worse than ever.  He's kind of spastic, he moves weird.  

Coming out of the restaurant, he couldn't drive.  His truck is a stick.  I don't drive a stick, so I couldn't drive or I would've.

I had to put his hands up on the wheel.  Help him turn the steering wheel.  It was a little weird.  Not scary at first, it was teamwork!  

After a while though it was scary sad.  How the heck does he get to work?  What happens if his hands stop working while he's driving?  He said that he almost had to call me last week to come get him because his hands didn't work.  But he warmed them up, calmed himself down and was able to drive.

He's supposed to fill out this form for Metro Mobility.  He saw his doctor today for other things but the doc needs to approve the Metro Mobility form.  We've had the form for several weeks.  I asked him why we didn't fill it out, I felt bad I forgot about it - bad caretaker :(    

He said he was putting it off.  Once he gives up something, he won't get it back.  

I understand parts of that... as much as I can.  However, in this instance, I said think of the Metro Mobility ride to work like a limo.  It's a ride to and from work - that's it.  He can still drive to Walmart.  Take me out on a date!  This Metro Mobility thing is just getting a ride to work and back.  

I'm going to find the form.  Help him fill it out tonight.   

No more crazy scary rides in the truck.

An interesting excerpt from a Fresh Air interview with Tony Jundt, who has ALS.  The actual radio interview is available in the article..  (PS, if you've never listened to Fresh Air, it's on NPR locally at 8 pm.  Worth a listen)  
click here for the article ---> http://www.npr.org/2010/03/29/125231223/a-historians-long-view-on-living-with-lou-gehrigs
a second article by Tony Jundt --->http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/jan/14/night/?pagination=false   It's worth a read; it's rather stark and scary but illuminating.