June 24th appointment

Today was a stressful day for my dear mom. She had an appointment at the University of NE Medical Center, the name alone which kinda freaked her out a bit [understandably...that's a HUGE hospital, and we all know how much mom doesn't like hospitals!]. Her appointment today was with a pulmonologist; a lung specialist. Mom has a breathing machine for the nights [a bi-pap], however we've tried for MONTHS to get it to work right, to no avail. It's been so incredibly frustrating, and recently the respiratory place said they couldn't help adjust the machine anymore without a doctor's orders. Annoying. Personally, I think they didn't know what they were doing.

So, off we went to a lung doctor. Mom was pretty nervous, until she finally met him...he was super, super, super nice, which made us all calm down...a ton. We spent 4 hours in his office today, while he did way more than any of us thought he would. He has worked with quite a few ALS patients before, and was genuinely concerned that she isn't able to get more than 3 hours of sleep straight...no one can function on that. He gave us quite a few things to try, and wants mom back in 3 weeks to see if things are helping. Before mom gets a 'food peg' [or stomach tube], we are going to try a few other things first. Is that day coming? Yes. Is it closer than we'd like to believe? Probably yes. However, mom is so uncomfortable, and after today we have hope that things will be possibly more comfortable for her. We'll keep ya posted on what new things we try next!