October 20th, 2007

October 20, 2007

An Update on Jim from his wife Melanie!
Jim had his third visit (every 3 months he has a check-up) to OHSU/ALS Clinic on Tuesday, October 16, 2007.

Jim’s doctors monitor three things very closely:

Weight - Because Jim gets all his nourishment through a feeding tube inserted directly into his stomach, monitoring his intake of calories is crucial

Breathing capacity – His FVC or Forced Volume Capacity remains at a constant 83%. This means his diaphragm continues to work properly and Jim is able to breathe on his own.

Muscle strength – Loss of muscle strength or control is an indicator of how the disease is progressing. Jim wears a brace on his left leg to support his left ankle. He has lost some muscles strength in his neck so he is seeing a physical therapist and that is helping. He also has been fitted for a neck brace to add support when he is tired.

All in all his doctors were very pleased with Jim’s current physical condition. Our prayer now is that Jim could stay where he is physically for awhile. He is stable and able to remain independent and he likes that!! You know Jim!

He keeps his spirits up and still tries to play golf once or twice a week. He spends countless hours on his fundraising efforts as chairperson for the State of Oregon ALS division. His website, being developed by his brother in law of his sister, Shawn, Alex, is almost complete. It will make things so much easier as he spends many, many hours on the computer everyday, which is not good but again, you know Jim, when he has a vision he gives 100% effort to it. ALS is very lucky to have someone like him that is so committed and willing to do “whatever it takes” to raise funds for this dreadful, under funded, incurable disease, that Oregon has five times the national average of incidence, very strange!.

Everyone is amazed and astonished at how Jim has handled this situation but I, as his wife for almost 25 years, am not surprised at all, this is how Jim’s always handled adversity; he always looks on the bright side of things and thinks of a way to make things better for other people. That’s just Jim!

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