Mom

After Dad passed away, I didn't how life could just keep on moving. But, of course, it did. I went back to California, Jeremy went back to school and Mom kept working. I did see life from a different perspective, and was totally able to relate to my patients' families in a new way. I was still trying to see the positives, which seemed few and far between.

The next summer - 2007. Mom started complaining of muscle twitching in her triceps. It seemed almost like every other time I talked to her it was bothering her. She also elected to have an MRI of her brain because she thought she was having significant memory loss. It showed normal age degeneration - fall 2007.

I got a job at UCLA Medical ICU - fall 2007 - and continued to work at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital. I loved my jobs and friends, but found myself wanting something more. I applied for and was accepted to the acute care nurse practitioner program at UCLA - January of 2008.

At this time it was getting more obvious that there was something really wrong with Mom. Her speech was getting very slow and it was hard for her to find words. She tried going to many different speciality doctors. The conclusive diagnosis was "major depressive disorder". Understandable after her soul mate's death.

But after trying lots of counseling and lots of different antidepressants, we were not satisfied that she was "getting better". My Aunt Lynn told me - summer of 2008 - that she was going to make it her job to find out what was really going on.

Finally, we got a referral to Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ. I still was not convinced they were going to find anything new or exciting. We first went to see a neurologist who specialized in cognitive functioning. After his examination we had another MRI, an EMG, blood tests and a PET scan of the brain. As I reread the medical note, it reveals that all of his suspicions were true.

Mom was diagnosed with frontotemporal degeneration and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). I moved home in November of 2008 to live with her.