Welcome to the team!

As an avid sports fan for most of my life, I really appreciate the beauty of a team that comes together and achieves success as a unit.  As a better than average fantasy sports manager, I enjoy the challenge of picking the right mix of players to achieve total domination of my opponents.  As a PALS, I am coming to appreciate more and more the phenomenal team of people who work so hard to help me live my life to the fullest.

Every great team has a solid foundation they can depend on to perform at crunch time, and my family is my foundation.  Between Gina and the kids, my Mom, my brother and sisters and all the nieces, nephews and cousins, I feel a lot of love and get plenty attention.  My friends - from childhood to high school and college buddies to work colleagues to our church friends - have provided so much assistance, your visits and phone calls, your support of the fund raisers, the groceries and yard work and the railing, but most of all your laughs and smiles.  I also have a special group of friends, the PALS and CALS I've met in person and on line, who share encouragement and frustrations and information and understanding that only comes from having been there and done that.  Thanks for walking this path with me (and pushing my chair when I couldn't take another step).

If my team has an MVP, it might just be my ALSA rep, Dora.  She has helped us secure home health care, SSDI, all the equipment to make life easier and she leads the monthly support group meetings we enjoy so much.  I know she does a great job for all her patients, but I'm sure I'm her favorite!  My ALS Clinic team at Lourdes in Lafayette is excellent, no need to head to Houston or Atlanta.  On these quarterly appointments I see my neurologist, Dr DeAlvare, the pulmonologist, the dietitian, all the therapists - speech, respiratory, physical and occupational - the psychologist and social worker.  My daily routine wouldn't be possible without my team of home health aids who spend their days watching ESPN with me, doing some chores and putting up with me.  Finding the really good ones takes some time, but I only want the best on my team so we'll keep trying until we get the right ones. 

Last week I added two new players to the team; welcome Brenda and Stacy!  Brenda is my in home physical therapist and she is working to help improve balance and strengthen legs and hip muscles through exercises.  Stacy is my in home occupational therapist working with me on range of motion exercises and fine motor skills.  Stacy's got the cool toys like therapy putty, sponge balls and easy grip utensils.  This is one time my competitive spirit and goal setting nature are proving beneficial.  With the help of these new team members, I hope to remain limber and strong for as long as possible while battling the beast and praying for the break through to a cure. 

And to all of you who have signed up as followers or are regular readers of this blog, thanks for the kind comments and words of encouragement and welcome to the team!