ALS Update: I aspirate and I drop things

I will be updating my decline every month or so, towards the end of the month (here, my timing is prompted by a doctor's appointment the day after tomorrow).  I have the results of a test to discuss, something formerly rare but currently commonplace to discuss, and a couple of new things.  To get the usual concerns out of the way:  I have no new falls to report, I am still taking care of my basic needs, I still eat a large amount of food, and I am maintaining my raw strength, as far as I can tell, though my coordination is declining.

First off, I took a swallow test with a barium solution.  They found that I am getting some of what I swallow in my lungs.  It varied with the consistency of the mix (thinner is worse), volume (more is worse), and chin position (lower is worse).  The main risk is getting pneumonia.  I have been offered a gastric tube, but don't plan on getting one yet.  However, I am planning on taking other measures.  I have a medications that needs to be taken in a cup of water twice a day, so I gave that some thought.  I have a few cups that allow me to restrict the flow of the liquids into my mouth, and I'm using them to keep a limited flow (reducing the volume), with the added benefit I can keep my chin up while drinking.  I have a few cups like this everywhere I tend to drink.  They also detected degeneration in my C6-C7 spinal disk, but I'm not in pain and I'll be happy to live long enough that it becomes a problem.

I've been dropping things occasionally for years, a couple of time a year.  It might have been a plate of food or a book.  Now, I drop things a few times a day.  I take six pills in the evening, and more often than not I'll drop one of them while getting them out of the bottle.  I drop forks, game tokens, anything light and small.  I haven't been dropping heavier items, except once a glass mixing bowl full of brownie batter, shattering a lasagna pan under it (that was a bad morning), so I'm pretty sure this is coordination and not strength.

I drool heavily.  My neurologist in Illinois has prescribed a suppressant (atropine, a common ingredient in eye drops), where I am supposed to put one drop under my tongue. If I put two drops in, that will slow down my saliva to the point I can keep it in my mouth most of the time.  I use it when in class or on game days. I also wear a mask when cooking or baking, which send the drool down my neck nstead of dripping off my chin.

I have a pair of sandals with no heel strap, designed for beaches, waterparks, etc.  I like to wear them at home when I'm not planning on going out much.  Lately, this past week-end especially, I'm noticing that the lack of a heel strap means my foot will not always come down squarely on the heel, particularly when I'm walking a little sideways.  This has caused me to stumble (but not fall) a couple of times.  I might to get a pair with heel straps.

That's all I have for now.  Feel free to ask questions to get more details, if you want.
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Dr. Feser defines "woke" out of existence, part 1

In a not-so-recent post on his blog, Dr. Feser attempted to define the term "woke".  Unsurprisingly, he made several mischaracterizations, of which I will address a few.

We can begin in the very first sentence:  A common talking point among the woke is the claim that “woke” is just a term of abuse that has no clear meaning.  The correction would be:  “Woke” is just a term of abuse among right-wing commentators that has no clear meaning, but refers to any policies/facts/lesson plans about minorities that they don't like.  Feser proves the latter to be true in his attempt to defend the former.

I will use "woke" in quotes when talking about how right-wingers use the term, and remove the quotes when using the term as I would, which would be something like:  recognition that there are many ways, some not obvious, that oppression can manifest itself.  

It would be unfair to not include his definition:  "Wokeness" is a paranoid delusional hyper-egalitarian mindset that tends to see oppression and injustice where they do not exist or greatly to exaggerate them where they do exist. By this definition, no straight, while, cis, etc., male (such as me) can be "woke" because, regardless of how much we agree that society is fundamentally racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc., it favors me.  Feser would consider me pronoid instead, meaning I can't be "woke".  It's  a measure of Feser's privilege that he seems to think everyone who shares some common characteristics with him must agree with him.

Next, he gives  several examples of "wokeness", all of which are laughable. 

• Characterizing as racist “microaggressions” behaviors that in fact are either perfectly innocuous or at worst just ordinary rudeness; -- people exhibit much more "ordinary rudeness" to those they consider (perhaps subconsciously) of a lower social status, and in particular toward black people.  It's both day-to-day rudeness and racism working in tandem.
• condemning some economic outcome as a racist “inequity” despite there being no empirical evidence whatsoever that it is due to racism; -- to offer one example, racism dictates and has dictated where we live, with all the differences that creates in the ability to generate wealth through home ownership, environmental pollution, educational quality, availability of good food, etc.  where we live affects every facet of our life, hence, racism does by this facet alone.
• condemning as “transphobic” recognition of the commonsense and scientific fact that sex is binary; -- any time Feser can't justify a position, he calls it "common sense" as he does here, when the scientific fact is that there are multiple ways to specify sex, and any combination can be present in any individual; however, Feser seems confused by multi-factored analysis (as can be seen in his linear notion of causation, e.g., his hand-stick-stone argument for a first cause, when causes are more like lattices).
• condemning as “racist” the view that public policy should be color-blind and that racial discrimination is wrong whatever the race of the persons being discriminated against; -- Feser seems unaware that this claim is used by people who want to engage in de facto racism while maintaining de jure equality.
• condemning as “antigay” the view that it is not appropriate for grade schools to address matters of sexuality in the classroom without parental consent; -- matters of heterosexuality are discussed all the time in grade school classrooms, and Feser would eagerly join any protest if all depictions of heterosexual couples were banned, but he chooses not to be honest about others expecting equal treatment.

Feser does not adress address the scholarship behind these concepts.  By failing to do so, he renders his attacks on the people who know the scholaship irrelevant, and those who acknowledge the scholarly consensus are neither delusional nor paranoid.  Feser's definition of "wokeness" has no greater correspondence to reality than the definition of a jackalope; his definition of "wokeness" has no existence.

Feser nevertheless goes on to slur "wokeness" for a couple of paragraphs.  He touts two books, one his, one by two other conservatives, none of whom are trained in the study of sociology.  I guess when conservative lawyers pass for experts on evolution or climate change, this is right in line with the trust conservatives place in ignorance of the topic at hand.

I think this is a good stopping point.  In part 2, we'll see how Feser accuses the "woke" of several habits of poor thought, but succumbs to everyone one of them, a case of the pot accusing the table of being soot-stained.
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