Thursday, November 20, 2025 – Day 464

Thursday, November 20, 2025

Good morning, everyone.

Yesterday was a busy day.

I had a massage scheduled for 9:00 a.m. to help work out some serious problem spots in my body. I’ve been dealing with limited range of motion in my shoulders—picking things up, pushing myself out of a chair, even sleeping on my side has been painful.

Our ALS Clinic care coordinator, Peggy, found a mobile massage therapist out of Woodstock. It’s a one-person operation run by a woman named Ashley, and she normally works out of her massage van. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get into the van because of my mobility limitations, so she came inside our home instead, rolling in with an oversized suitcase of equipment.

Everything went smoothly. Ashley has a soft, calm, welcoming personality and asked a lot of questions before starting. She paid close attention to my feeding tube when I needed to lay on my stomach, adding extra towels to cushion the discomfort. It still felt irritating lying on the tube where it enters my stomach, so that’s something I need to work on.

It was a 60-minute massage, starting with my backside. The moment she warmed up her hands and dug in with those experienced fingers—it was pure heaven. With 12 years of massage experience, her strength was obvious. She never went too hard; she knew exactly how much pressure to use to bring out the right sighs and groans.

Flipping me over took a team effort. Cindy helped get me onto my side and then onto my back. That was the toughest part of the whole session. Ashley probably could’ve done it herself, but she was being cautious and didn’t want to hurt me.

By the end, I felt wonderful. I was slightly worried about getting off the table—my noodle legs had me concerned they’d give out—but everything held up. Before Ashley left, we scheduled more appointments. She’s in high demand, so I wanted to make sure I could get on her calendar to keep loosening up these stubborn areas.

It was close to 10:30 when she left, so I decided to get my lunch formula feeding done while I was still on the main floor. That takes about 30 minutes. Just as I was finishing up, in walked my brother Tim, ready to install a grab bar in the downstairs bathroom. He’d read my blog last week about my less-than-ideal entrance and exit from the bathroom, and he wanted to fix it.

Like all home projects, this one required multiple trips to the hardware store for different grab bars and various pieces of hardware. Isn’t that always the case for “do it yourself projects”? What seemed like a quick job turned into a few hours. Tim wanted to make sure he hit the studs so the bar could support me properly. I wanted that too, so I was grateful he was doing it right. When he finished—complete with touching up the wall paint—we talked about the kids and other things.

When he didn’t seem to be leaving, I finally asked if he needed to get home to get things done. Turns out he was waiting for Cindy to return from errands. I told him I was fine being alone. He pushed back a little, but eventually he took the hint and headed out. I played it safe and read until Cindy came home.

Later in the evening, I was on the couch watching TV when my hyper-bladder signal went off. I jumped up, grabbed the rollator, and hustled to the bathroom to avoid any leakage. The bathroom doorway is too narrow for the rollator, so it gets parked just outside. As I entered, I reached for the newly installed grab bar—but somehow I lost my balance. Suddenly I was headed for the floor and landed with a loud thump inside the bathroom.

So there I was, sprawled out on the floor. I called for Cindy, though it wasn’t really necessary—my landing could be heard throughout the house. And just like that, my 92-day streak without a fall was over. As I laid there, my urgent need to pee disappeared…that was a relief so no mop up needed.

Cindy got the gait belt on me and we slowly, carefully worked to get me up. It takes time to do it safely so neither of us gets hurt. Thankfully, I wasn’t injured—just my pride. I’ve been so careful walking around the house… this fall came out of nowhere.

Thanks for trying to keep me safe, Tim. I’ll work my way back to another 92-day run without a fall. Today is Day One.

Have a great Thursday. Love you guys! ❤️