When Dad Lost Use of His Armsby Scott LaMascus He wrote his jokes with nimble fingertips, keeping them pithy, all the better to surprise. Even the flies think I’m already dead, he quipped. We laughed as his eyes twinkled out from silence, but I couldn’t tell what also lurked behind them, while I chased pests away with useless clown hands. What backbone and fierce humor Dad wielded as the fly circled and he eyed it like a Sphinx. Scott LaMascus is a writer in Oklahoma City whose first chapbook, The Edited Tongue (Bottlecap 2025), provides a medical memoir of his family’s experience with ALS. These lyric and varied poems arc from … Continue reading
Tag Archives: ALS
My Singing Angel
by Jane E. Babin (This was originally published in Cell 2 Soul in 2006) When I entered Massachusetts General Hospital last April to have a feeding tube placed in my stomach, I was very apprehensive. Don’t get me wrong. I had every confidence in the surgeons and staff at this prominent facility. Also, this procedure is done routinely. My cause for concern was my ALS, aka, Lou Gehrig’s disease. At the time, I had not yet had my tracheotomy. Because ALS is a neuromuscular disease that had begun to affect my diaphragm, I was afraid of any sedation that could compromise my already weakened ability to breathe. Try as they … Continue reading
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