The Power of Relief

Well, we had quite a scare, Marty and I. About ten days ago he started getting a tingling in his fingers. Within a few days there was an appreciable weakness in his hands. He went to his doctor and was referred to a neurologist. There was a preliminary test and a number of possibilities diagnoses were offered, one being amyotoophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.  Marty described for me the neurologist visit, but he did not tell me at first of the ALS possibility. But I knew by his manner that there was something he was hiding. After a short cross-examination, he finally spilled the beans and admitted that there was some chance that it was ALS. Naturally I instantly became a babbling mess; after all, there was good reason why Marty would conceal such a thing.

After a number of various tests, it was discovered that there was some poison (they called it an “agent”) in Marty’s environment that was causing his problems. I think they came to this conclusion based on the simple fact that when Marty was away from work for four days his condition improved. I don’t know how they can tell what exactly is causing the condition, maybe they can’t. All I know is that Marty and I feel amazingly relieved, perhaps me especially. In fact, when it was officially determined that the cause of Marty’s problem was something relatively benign and not ALS, I once again became a babbling mess. At least this time it was a good babbling mess.