We have various and sundry life experiences and sometimes it can be surprising how your knowledge and experience can help someone in ways that you'd never imagine.
I have a friend who I saw often at our local Eagles Aerie. Some time ago he was sitting at the bar and he was not looking good. He related to me that he had been diagnosed with cancer in his tongue. As time went on I could tell by looking at him that he was not eating well. Back in the 1980s and 1990s I attended a support group for patients with Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS), their families and medical providers. I also attended a lot of seminars on ALS, and one of the most important things I learned was that with the state of medicine at that time, it was determined that keeping ALS patients well fed and hydrated did more to extend the lives of ALS patients than anything medical science could do . And since a significant number of ALS patients could not chew and/or swallow, it often became necessary to install a direct feeding/hydration tube directly into the patient's stomach.
Sensing the problems that my friend would be having eating and drinking because of his tongue cancer, I told him about how I spotted the difficulty my mother had with hydration and later chewing and swallowing because of her ALS, and recommended she have the feeding tube installed. I suggested that he look into having a feeding tube installed and he followed up on it.
I saw my friend today and he was looking tremendously better. He told me that he was eating and drinking well enough that the doctors were going to remove the feeding tube. He thanked me for telling him about my mother having her feeding tube. What are the odds that the two of us would run into each other, one with the disease and the other having a remediation for it?
I have a friend who I saw often at our local Eagles Aerie. Some time ago he was sitting at the bar and he was not looking good. He related to me that he had been diagnosed with cancer in his tongue. As time went on I could tell by looking at him that he was not eating well. Back in the 1980s and 1990s I attended a support group for patients with Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS), their families and medical providers. I also attended a lot of seminars on ALS, and one of the most important things I learned was that with the state of medicine at that time, it was determined that keeping ALS patients well fed and hydrated did more to extend the lives of ALS patients than anything medical science could do . And since a significant number of ALS patients could not chew and/or swallow, it often became necessary to install a direct feeding/hydration tube directly into the patient's stomach.
Sensing the problems that my friend would be having eating and drinking because of his tongue cancer, I told him about how I spotted the difficulty my mother had with hydration and later chewing and swallowing because of her ALS, and recommended she have the feeding tube installed. I suggested that he look into having a feeding tube installed and he followed up on it.
I saw my friend today and he was looking tremendously better. He told me that he was eating and drinking well enough that the doctors were going to remove the feeding tube. He thanked me for telling him about my mother having her feeding tube. What are the odds that the two of us would run into each other, one with the disease and the other having a remediation for it?
