Self Image

After I wrote the previous post I started thinking about how much our self image affects our outlook. For the last few years Dave had been working out three days a week.  This had really increased his strength and endurance.  Now all that is gone.  I know looking in the mirror every morning while shaving must be hard.  The idea of not finishing something was another stab at his self image.  You can try to be the same person inside while the outside is changing yet acceptance of the illness must be  acknowledged.  I  recently wrote an add looking for a nursing student for the night shift.  I think that was the first time I described myself as a patient.  The feeling was strange.  At support group and clinic it is person with ALS or PALS so patient is not how we tend to think of ourselves.  Our self image, if positive can keep us going.  Yet we need to acknowledge and mourn the changes to know what the next choice might be.