Cell phone

Yesterday I got one of those cell phones with the prepaid minutes that you refresh when needed. I seldom use cell phones and don't even like them. But I figure I should have one on me at all times for safety reasons. That way if I fall down in a serious way, I can roll over, take the thing out of my pocket, look at it through bloody pupils, and dial with bloody fingers. And when we go on a mini road trip this summer, people in our group will be able to reach me more easily. This one is very small and light, unlike the bulky one I carried around when my lovely wife was about to deliver our lovely children. The prepaid minutes thing sounds ideal, and for my purposes it will likely cost less than a monthly plan. But there are gotchas. One is that the minutes expire after a few months if not used. The other is that when you use up only a fraction of a minute, they charge you for a whole minute. But still, it seems good to me.

Last night after dinner my lovely wife skipped going to her ladies' book group because we couldn't find a sitter and she didn't want to put me on kid duty alone all by myself again. In case I fell into a well or something. She is so good and has been sacrificing because of this ALS for a while now.

The reason I am typing this at 4 AM is that I woke up with that pain in my XXXXXX, the one that starts out small, and then becomes like a drill bit gnawing laterally into the side of the XXXXXX. This syndrome predates my ALS, since I recall it happening in 1998. Usually it is preceded by an event. But this time there was no event. And it woke me up at 3:30 AM, which is unusual. Anyway, three ibuprofen and the application of a bunch of that topical anesthetic (phenol?), seems to have done the trick. Oddly though, being vertical helps, and lying down makes it worse.

Left grip is 39 pounds (35, 37, 39), right grip is 87 pounds (87, 84, 86), left leg balance is 7.98 seconds, and inhale volume is 4490 mL.