Been a busy week or so. Saw Dr. North November 20. Physical progression not terribly fast but noticeable, most especially the swallowing issues. Doctor gently presented the reality of there being cognitive issues to Glen, that it happens in about 10% of cases, etc. [For those of you keeping score.. that means in the entire country there are about 3,000 cases of ALS with FTD] I'm not sure Glen really understood it all, but at least it was coming from the doctor. We increased his Celexa, his liver numbers are good enough to stay on the Rilutek for now, and his other meds remain the same. Doctor North is also trying to find a Kaiser psychiatrist with an interest or background in neurology to add to the team. We will see Dr North again in about 10 weeks.

Same afternoon, we saw Shannon, the respiratory therapist. Trial 3 with the BiPAP. This one seems to be going well but that's what I thought the first time. We'll bring the machine back in the morning. Even if they DID get good data readings this time, we have to order the machine so who knows how long until he actually gets it.

Monday we saw Belen, the speech pathologist. No real changes there, just reminders to eat and drink slowly. She also brought up the feeding tube... an idea Glen is absolutely against. He was strongly opposed even when he was more present mentally, so we'll wait and see but at this point I'm guessing it won't happen.

Spent Thanksgiving at Glen's mom's house. He was wearing a bulky sweater so the weight loss wasn't terribly obvious, and he pretty much sat on the couch quietly. When there's lots of activity swirling around him he tends to become more quiet (unless it involves South Park or Loony Toons... or Disneyland of course.) And I made a point of cutting his food extra small with lots of gravy so swallowing wasn't an issue. I think there are some people out there that think I'm exaggerating about the progression of Glen's symptoms. Wish I was.

Last night we had "2nd Thanksgiving" with Sharon & Kev & Rushi & Rush's brother Akshay. Turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce.. the whole 9 yards. Very yummy, and official holiday leftovers for dinner tonight. Thought it was going to be a little crazy with all 4 dogs in the house (my two and Sharon's two schnauzers) but they were GREAT. They played all day, and even the two puppies (Baron at 20 months and BeBe at 6 months) were surprisingly careful around Glen.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and now.. onward to Christmas!!