Tuesdays with Morris by Mitch Alborn

Mitch and Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie depicts two men one in his thirties named Mitch, and the other much older named Morrie. Mitch was a student of Morrie’s in the late 1970’s and a friendship grew from there. Mitch is a sports writer, but the paper he worked for is on strike. Morrie has ALS and can no longer teach or do the things he loved and was able to do just months before. The two become estranged after Mitch graduates. After seeing a television episode with Morrie being interviewed, Mitch finds out his old professor is sick and regrets not keeping touch. This prompts him to pay Morrie a visit where the two fall right back into the role of Mitch the student and Morrie the Professor.

ALS: Incidence, Pathophysiology, and Prognosis

ALS is a disease of the nervous system. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis can be directly translated to mean muscle wasting. Only 10% of cases can be traced to familial causes, the other 90% of cases are completely random. Only six to eight of every 100,000 people are diagnosed with ALS, making it a rare disease. ALS is a degenerative disease that affects the motor neurons of the in the cerebral cortex and the motor neurons in the brain stem and spinal cord. The loss of these neurons is progressive and asymmetrical, there is no remission, and the muscle weakness will get to the respiratory system and affect breathing ability eventually (Gould & Dyer, 2011).

As of right now, there are no diagnostic tests to confirm the disease. Instead, doctors use many tests to eliminate other possible diseases and diagnosis. There is however a new test being evaluated that looks at biomarkers in the cerebral spinal fluid. Currently there is no treatment for ALS. Caring for someone with ALS requi...

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...gs when it comes to living out the rest of your life. Mitch learns that Morrie wants to share his thoughts and feelings on his death and he wants to do so in discussion form just like he taught his classes when he was a professor. Believing that love and family was going to be with you until the end and that caring plays a role the end of life setting is a major lesson to late away from this book.

References

Albom, M. (1997). Tuesdays with morrie an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson. New York, NY: Broadway Books.

Berman, A., & Snyder, S. J. (2012). Kozier & erb’s fundamental's of nursing concepts, process, and practice. (9th ed., p. 1552). Boston: Pearson Education INC.

Gould, B. E., & Dyer, R. M. (2011). Pathophysiology for the health professions . (4th ed., p. 520). St. Louis, Missouri: Saunders, and imprint of Elsevier INC.