Fun Sunday

Last Sunday Todd's family joined us for special dinner. Yuki, one of my caregiver, is Japanese, and an great cook. She prepared dinner with Gyoza (Japanese pot stickers), Yakisoba noodle, and chicken teriyaki. Earlier in the week Yuki and I had gone to the store to pick all of the necessary ingredients. Sunday afternoon she made the filling of Gyoza including ground turkey, ground pork, cabbage, fresh ginger and other  seasonings. While this was chilling, she made a teriyaki marinade for the chicken, and prepared vegetables to go with noodles.

We had planned to have boys to help form Gyoza. Standing around the kitchen table (after we made them wash their hands), Yuki showed how much filling and how to shape wrappers. That ability for forming Gyoza seemed to come naturally to Walker. Sam had to work little harder, but really enjoyed making different shapes after Yuki said her children had always done that. Meanwhile Miles was not concerned about appearance, he set up a assembly line figuring speed was more important than appearance.

We made almost 50 and all were eaten that night. Walker wasn't going to quit until they were all gone. Dave was right there with him. They both agreed that you don't usually get to eat as much Gyoza as you want, but the night they  did.



 

Technology is Great

About 25 years ago, when a friend Mary had ALS she had to use an alphabet board and a pointer to spell out words so she could communicate.  Things have really changed.  At our ALS support group yesterday there were three different communication devices that were being used for those who cannot speak.  Additionally, there was a whole batch of us with power wheelchairs that scoot all over the place on our own.  Many of us use bi-pap for breathing assistance.  I use it the most - 24/7.  But many of the others use them at night.  Several of us also have the computers mounted on our chairs while others choose to use an iPad.  The technology today makes it so much easier than when I first found out about ALS with Mary.

Always Something New

This past week has been very busy with different kinds of activities.  I'll start with one and may or may not get to the others. 

Once again technology is my friend.  My left arm is now having difficulty driving my wheelchair.  We got attendant controls on the back but I like to do my own thing.  So Monday we had an appointment with the physical therapist who is a "seating specialist" - bet you didn't even know there was such a thing!  Accompanying me was my entourage, Dave and both caregivers, Cindy and Yuki.  It was Cindy's day off but she had noticed some problems and asked to join us.  The PT poked and prodded and checked my back and neck and made adjustments.  Then the good part came...

The wheelchair representative brought a chair with foot controls for me to try.  It was great fun!  Before we could try it we had to take my bi-pap machine off the back of my chair and figure out some way for it to follow me in the other chair.  The best solution was to rest it on a tall rolling office chair and have Dave follow along behind me.  After a short bit of driving, the PT set up two chairs and asked me to do a figure-eight around them.  I had no problem, unfortunately, Dave and the office chair didn't fare as well.  After that they let me try a higher speed and then he really had some challenges.  I was driving using my left foot and had to go forward, back, and sideways.  This came easy for me thanks to my Bernina sewing machine.  Because the machine has a knee lever for the right knee, they recommend using your left foot for the foot pedal so I was ready to go "south paw" style.

There was one additional complication.  The technology is great but because I'm turning 65 in November I am now on Medicare.  So it will be a whole different process and hopefully it goes smoothly because I want my new toy.