Won't make it Full Time

[Gadget728]

My mis diagnosed "Tick Bite" problem continues to worsen, so I finally went to a neurologist. I have now been told I have ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease and have about a year left if I'm lucky. 

It's not painful, I'll just keep getting weaker until my lungs will stop breathing & I'll die in my sleep. It took a week of camping in my van to absorb and come to terms with this situation. Here are my thoughts - It beats ANY kind of cancer, bad stroke, heart problems ... etc. I don't want a long, drawn out, painful death. It's all good.

 I'm still camping in my van about 4 nights a week and will do so as long as I can. When I can't drive anymore, I'll put my van on the trading post here and somebody will get a really good deal.

The RTR trip was truly a great lifetime experience and if things were different, I'd be living in the desert southwest full timing it today. I want to shout out to all the great people I met at the RTR, you know who you are, I'm hard to forget, lol. I also want to thank everyone here on the forum who gave me advice while I was building my van out. 

Please save the"praying for you" and "prayers sent" for the younger and less fortunate folks who need your prayers, my brother is a preacher, I'm covered. I've had more fun in my life than any number of my friends, and I'm at peace with my situation. 

Keep on building and enjoying this lifestyle, my only regret is not starting sooner.  - Gadget

 

[Ballenxj]

My mis diagnosed "Tick Bite" problem continues to worsen, so I finally went to a neurologist. I have now been told I have ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease and have about a year left if I'm lucky. 

<----snip---->

Keep on building and enjoying this lifestyle, my only regret is not starting sooner.  - Gadget

Keep rolling the dice till the fat lady sings. I have seen Doctors get things wrong more than once.
Meanwhile, keep enjoying yourself. Maybe research alternate remedies?

 

[AbuelaLoca]

Thank you for sharing, Gadget, it reminds me of why I'm doing this myself! God speed!

 

[Gunny]

Enjoy what time you have left, my thoughts are with you.

Gunny

 

[SoulRaven]

If attitude is everything, you are the gold standard. I am sorry that things have turned out like this. I know you will spend what time you have left wisely. Being older, I do see where you are coming from as it seemed like even 30 years ago, I had lived so much more than those twice my age. Milk the time you have left for all it is worth! It could well be longer than a doctor predicts.

So, get busy enjoying the rest of your life. No one knows how long they have left.

 

[Blanch]

Life is a real roller coaster. It is better lived if you enjoy the ride. Keep getting out and camping, the doctors are often wrong!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dennis]

Hate to hear that, Gadget. It seems like always too soon and really hope the Dr's are off on your prognosis or at least the shorter timing. You have a great attitude about it however and hope you have more great experiences with whatever time you have.

 

[highdesertranger]

ride it hard till the end. peace brother. highdesertranger

 

[slynne]

That is tough but good for you for even getting out there 4 days a week. I rarely hope for anyone to be wrong but I hope your doctor is wrong and that you have more time and either are misdiagnosed or that you end up being one of those people who beat the average and are able to maintain their health enough to really live life for longer. I am inspired by your attitude though. Live life while you can! Meet people and do things. Keep on keeping on as long as you can and know that there are folks out there who you don't even know who are rooting for you.

 

[hepcat]

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”


― Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967

Go. Live hard. Have fun. Enjoy yourself.

Roger

 

[waldenbound]

Live in the present moment, it's the only moment there is.

 

[jimindenver]

Do what you can while you can. I have no idea if or when the stenosis in my neck and lower back will finish the job of paralyzing me so I'm giving it my all while I still can.

 

[Queen]

Well, that just sucks. Glad you're planning to be out there enjoying whatever you can for as long as you can.

 

[ArtW]

well, hell, that sucks, man. Live the fullest you can til the end, and we'll be thinking of you

 

[rvpopeye]

Happy trails and hope to cross paths with you someday AND hope your doc is totally wrong.......

 

[DrJean]

Gadget, don't believe everything the doctors say---- I'd be dead several times if I had.
Please consider your intake of minerals... here's a link for where to begin... amazing stuff!

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Your mind is more powerful than most give it credit for. I was supposed to be in a wheel chair by now, had been on crutches for almost two years when they told me in two more i'd need a wheel chair. I would probably had accepted it had not been for the smug way the Dr told me this. It just hit a nerve and the only thing I wanted to do was prove her wrong. It's a fight everyday, but walked the dog two miles this morning and haven't needed crutches in a year so I say keep giving it the good fight. You decide when it's time, not the Dr.

In the last five years I've been diagnosed with Scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, Eosinophilic Fascitiis and Lyme Disease. They were wrong on the first three.

 

[TMG51]

You know, I had been meaning to post this after the RTR but never got around to it. When you gave handmade bracelets to me and my friend Sarah, I have to confess I didn't think I would ever wear mine. But, I have a watch that was given to me ten years ago and I always wore up until the band broke. The cost of a band is as much as the watch so I haven't worn it for a year or so. I reworked your bracelet and tied it into the watch face and have been wearing it like this... Thought you might like to know.

 

[cyndi]

Wishing you the best! Hope to see you out there!

 

[vtwinkicker]

These doctors make their diagnosis based on us living a conventional normal life by societies standards. But lucky for us we spend as much time in nature which has its own healing properties. My neighbor was given 6 months to live over 30 years ago. He bought property in the mountains and built a 10x14 "shed". Largest you can build without a permit. Told me he came here to die. He is still living in it 30 years later. I am blessed to have him as a neighbor.

One never knows do one