Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
I hope those words aren’t as familiar to you as they are to me. To many people they are simply a collection of unfamiliar medical terms strung together. For me, they mean the loss of a family.
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If you place a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will do everything in its power to escape and survive. Oddly, however, if that same frog is placed in a pot of cool water it will stay there, even if the water’s temperature is slowly raised. As it turns out, the frog can get used to these smaller increments of change.
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I am an advocate for therapy. Ask any of my friends or family and they’ll confirm that. When they come to me, seeking advice or simply talking through their challenges, I often bring up how helpful and even life-changing talking to a therapist can be. Even with acquaintances, I find myself casually starting sentences with “my therapist once told me…”
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Sunday, February 17, 2013 found me sitting in a parking lot in Newburg Oregon. I had just sent a text to my dad – ‘How do I do this?’. It was a vague question with an unknown number of answers. The number of ways one could read that question are limitless, as are the ways one could ask it. How did I ask it; I still don’t know entirely. All I knew at that moment is that everything just changed.
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As a first-generation college graduate, role models were difficult to come by. Most of my life decisions were a series of trial and error.
Figuring it all out on a touch-and-go trial definitely resulted in a fair share of otherwise avoidable missteps along the way, but it eventually accumulated as a collection of experiences. Today, those experiences serve to provide me with the tools to help the next generation of future scientists find their true potential.
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Behind the wheel of the 27-foot U-haul I’d rented, with my sedan following in-tow close behind, I arrived in Yakima, Washington.
After a stressful 10-hour drive – and with my pregnant wife and kids scheduled to arrive at a later date -- I was in charge of managing our accrued belongings and moving into our new place.
I had contacted fellow members of our church in the area that I had not met, and was greeted by their smiling faces when I pulled in around 9:30 on a Wednesday evening. Having possessions that I could not have moved alone made me all the more grateful that they cared to come help. After two hours of unloading, one of them even gave me a bag of toiletries and some frozen burritos as a parting gift.
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We always joked that my dad would be early to his own funeral. If he wasn't 10 minutes early, he was late.
Let's back up. My dad, an 87-year-old retired minister, still drove his car up until a week before he passed. His wife (my mom) and he have been married 60 years. Mom has had Alzheimer's for ten years -- five of which she's been living in a memory care center. He has been faithfully visiting her, even though she can no longer communicate. She has a smile that brightens the day like a 3-month-old baby. They sit together and hold hands.
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Some health concerns, such as diet and exercise, seem to be constant sources for public conversation. Each person can obtain a great deal of information on what food they should eat and what types of exercises they should perform, and most people understand that if you have a six pack and eat plenty of veggies you could be considered a healthy individual.
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A patient in his late 80s with chronic heart failure was presented to the Emergency Department. He had low blood pressure, trouble breathing, and chest pain, and it was decided that he would need intensive monitoring of his vital signs with frequent medication adjustments. He was destined for a room in the ICU.
For whatever reason, however, the admitting cardiologist failed to discuss a ‘code status’ with him before sending him to the ICU.
That small error had tragic consequences.
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Newsflash, ladies: your body gives you a lot of power in sexual decision making.
But, as Spiderman’s Uncle Ben once said (that’s right, I’m quoting a fictional superhero's uncle…), “with great power comes great responsibility.”
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