My name is Gil Girard. I am a 64 year old Canadian retired from the Canadian military in 1992 after serving in the Air Force of my country for 34 years. I now live in Edinburg, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley with my wife, Marty. Marty is also a Canadian and has been down here 7 years working as a RN with South Texas Health Systems. We met down here about 6 years ago and got married 41/2 years ago. When I met her she was working in psychiatry and she decided to marry me so she would have her own training aid. Now she is working in Emergency in the Edinburg Regional Hospital.
Till I was 62, I was never sick a day in my life, other than sports injuries and related resultant arthritic problems. The summer I was 62 I seemed to be slurring my words and not enunciating the way I had in the past. Marty said she didn’t notice until I was drinking, then she thought it was taking me less drink to start slurring. Did I tell you, I like to drink? Well I do.
Anyway, we took a holiday to Canada that summer, and it was a topsy-turvy trip. Marty said I was moody and erratic in my behavior. One time that I remember distinctly, was when I was trying to thank the people we were staying with, - because they have been like parents to Marty, - and I started crying like a baby. I couldn’t help myself and embarrassed everyone in the house. I would also watch movies and anything that was sad at all, I’d start to cry. Big macho me, trying to hide my emotions. Upon return to Texas I made an appointment to see my family doctor, Dr De Dios. He ran a battery of tests, even the metals detecting set, - I told Marty she was going to be found out, that she was poisoning me - and the only thing that he found was a B12 deficiency. He gave me a massive dose of B12 and prescribed monthly injections. I also, at that time. had high blood pressure for the first time in my life.
I saw him a month later and I told him that I thought it was getting worse, so he referred me to a local neurosurgeon, Dr Miquel Gutierrez. He ordered an MRI of the spine and the brain, to rule out stroke, and a swallow test, which turned out normal. By this time, I’d made the supreme sacrifice and quit drinking to rule out alcohol related problems. On the next appointment he did a nerve conductivity test and by that time, I had researched on the computer and I thought that the only symptoms that were most like mine was ALS (mood swings, slurred speech, swallowing problems, excessive laughing and crying). As we were driving home, I told Marty of my suspicions and she, with her nursing background, said she was suspicious also but to hope it wasn’t that. Dr Gutierrez, on our next appointment said he thought it was ALS and asked us, knowing we were both Canadians, if we wanted to go back to Canada for follow-up, or wanted to follow-up down here. We opted for down here and that was our first contact with Dr Carlayne Jackson and her wonderful staff and volunteers of the South Texas Chapter of the ALSA.
Dr Jackson repeated most of the tests and confirmed the diagnosis. I had ALS.
We came home and had our initial rendezvous with the ALS Clinic at Reeves Rehabilitation Center in March of 2003. I volunteered for the Celebrex study and started in May taking 800 mg a day. This had the added benefit of having my condition monitored monthly for the first six months, and every two months for the next six months. Every two months I go through a battery of tests that include all the muscle groups of the arms and legs, lung capacity tests, and Doctor visit. Marty loves San Antonio. I told her that’s the kind of guy I am, I would get sick just to let her make visits to San Antonio. Her boss at work has been exceptional in letting her have time off to cater to my condition.
All has not been a bed of roses though. We went through the normal reactions that people go through when adversity strikes. We had company over and I was trying to speak in my disoriented way . People interrupted me and I blew a fuse. I shouted at them that I was trying to speak and that broke up the party. I wanted to run away and just let Marty get on with her life. She wouldn’t hear of it. She said if I left, she would hound me to the ends of the earth and drag me back. That was when we had our major crying session. Another time I was talking to my brother on the phone to tell him of my diagnosis, and I couldn’t talk and ended up crying like a baby. On one of my Celebrex visits, in a room with Frieda Barefield, Dr Jackson’s retired Research Nurse, who is a most compassionate person, I broke down again. But this time it wasn’t all self pity, it was because I saw someone much younger than myself afflicted by ALS. I have had 62 good years and 2, not so good. I took healthy life for granted and now I have a totally new outlook for people afflicted with disabilities.
I still get a little discouraged when people hear me speak and think I’m also mentally challenged, but, -Hey, - I was the same before I became afflicted. ALS is not a disorder that the general public knows enough about. To that end I have made a card that I hand out to people with which I’m going to have an extended conversation.
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