You may or may not have noticed that my blogging has been light lately. I haven't even mentioned the Globes nominations! How can that be? Well, my life has been really full. My partner, Wes, has been diagnosed with Huntington's Disease, also known as Huntington's Chorea. Huntington's is a degenerative neurological disease for which there is no cure and little treatment. It's genetic and typically manifests itself in middle age.
Not that Wes is middle aged, mind you (I have to find the humor. You should have heard my response when the doctor said he wanted to send Wes for a swallow study. The nurses are still scandalized).
All kidding aside, Huntington's is pretty horrific. It causes a great deal of involuntary movement, similar to MS, and cognitive abilities are severely degraded. He has a hard time figuring out simple tasks. He has difficulty swallowing, he chokes often, he falls and hurts himself and breaks things. We're currently trying to get in-home help because he's at the point that he can't be left alone while I'm at work. The heartbreaking part is, it's only going to get worse and there's little doctors can do about it. One, count 'em, one med has been approved for treatment of Huntington's. Wes recently started taking it, so we'll see if it helps.
So, if you're looking for the perfect Christmas/Hanukkah/ Kwanzaa/Solstice/New Year's gift for that person who has everything, consider a donation to the Huntington's Disease Society of America. The money goes to research, and HDSA needs every dime it can get. Huntington's is little known and gets a fraction of the research money that big hitters like The Cancer Society and the Heart Fund take in. Those are worthy causes but so is Huntington's, so please give. Thank you.
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