What a punch in the stomach. Here I am, a healthy 38 year old man that has “butterfingers” and sometimes, especially when tired, slurring in my speech. I chalk the dropsies up to carpal tunnel syndrome, and the slurring is just me being tired. I know what it’s like to be tired; I used to be a firefighter after all, so that sounded like a good excuse. Test after test on my wrist eliminated a lot of possibilities, needle test after needle test brought them closer to a diagnosis, and me to dread them, but the muscle biopsies were the final straw. My orthopedic doctor referred me to a neurologist, stating that the biopsies showed a definite neuromuscular “defect”. Then he said something to me which would prove to be one of the stupidest things I have been told. Note, I said one of, because there are currently three at the top of the list…and I am sure more will come. More on that later. He tells me to go home and type in “neuromuscular diseases” in my favorite search engine. I do. ALS is the farthest thing from my mind, but the most popular hit on the search screen. I stared at the screen for hours…I couldn’t have that, although several of the symptoms matched.  I went to the neurologist who was afraid to diagnose me, yet prescribed Rilutek anyway, and sent me to the University of Florida so the “experts” could run a gamut of tests and provide a diagnosis.  Being the computer savvy person I am I did a search on Rilutek and found it is only prescribed for patients with ALS.  Although a staunch Seminole fan I agreed to go to Gator country and have the tests.  They confirmed my worst fears…I had ALS.  It was here that I heard the second stupidest thing I ever heard in response to a question about muscle twitching.  The doctor told me to ignore them, like that would help.  He then confirmed that it was the stupidest thing he had ever said.  I went home from there not knowing how I got home but spent the next two days crying and getting angry about my diagnosis.  After that I told my loved ones and called the EAP counselor at work where I heard the third stupidest thing I had ever heard.  When I told her I had ALS and would die from this disease, she replied that she could get hit by a bus tomorrow, like that is the same thing. I wanted to drive the bus that she was going to get hit by.