Ministering to PALS and CALS (part II)

There are ALS patients who choose to be on a ventilator to help them breathe. Being on a ventilator could extend patients’ lives past the average of 3-5 years. However, doing so could be costly and a possible burden on families. One lady had been on a ventilator for twelve years and another man for fourteen. They had the best attitudes and led good lives despite the negative aspects.

     Some people I follow on Twitter, Facebook, and blogs use special communication devices. One lady still has her voice and uses voice-activated software to speak to the computer and type words. Many people with ALS (PALS) can no longer use their hands because they are paralyzed. Using both hands, one man pecked the keyboard with his middle fingers, and several PALS used computers to track their eye movements and write.

     I have also joined the ALS Forum in which I post two chapters of this book each week. I wanted to be able to help people now. This is what I thought I should do. The threads I post on go under the Past Caregivers (CALS) section. CALS (caregivers of PALS)  look under this section for support and often have a lot of questions because of the PAL they are taking care of. I get excited when a CAL replies a nice comment to my thread. It is nice to “see” I may be helping someone now instead of waiting till the book was published!