THE FINALE

After that phone call, giant waves of relief come for days, for weeks. Nancy is jazzed and sends me on those errands that started this story. I keep doing my pushups, stay off the sauce, return to the hood, my step returns and I revitalize Jimmy Dolan, my alias who writes the fictional Mozza Tribune.

Alas, tragedy comes to The Mozza Corner as Osteria chef Kirby Shaw goes into a coma for two months and dies. It is even difficult to type that, still hard to believe, months after he left us. Kirby was a drinker and I am tempted to lift a few in his honor, but I don’t.

Throughout Spring, the Lou Gehrig thoughts, while very seriously diminished by Dr. Wu’s uplifting call, do not vanish completely. After all, Wu was not 100%. So I stay strong, telling myself I am not going down without a fight. Ali-Frazier III, the “Thrilla in Manila” is an inspiration. The way Muhammad and Joe went at each other for 15 rounds still gives me strength.

I go to our garage and start pounding the heavy bag, like the old days. I stop drinking. Those pushup are a staple, usually hitting my goal for 500 a day. Ya know, 50 here, 40 there, 50 there and so on throughout the day.

I can’t run because my left knee is thrashed. People who see my might think “Some thing is wrong with that guy the way he moves.” But, it’s not Lou Gehrig. It’s Mickey Mantle, another Yankee all time great, whose career was plagued by knee injuries and who - along with my Dad and Muhammad Ali - was a hero of mine.

For the record, I’m getting a knee replacement in October. But even with my knee ache, I am walking over four miles a day.

***
So jazzed am I to hear that Lou is a major long shot, that it takes a while, I seriously don’t know how long, to look into this neuropathy that Dr. Wu mentioned. Yeah, I google and the Wikipedia thing is troubling to read as besides it basically being some kind of damage to the nerves, it has so any other possibilities that I don’t get to into it. Yeah, I have some minor weakness in my left hand, but I don’t have ALS.

The most bizarre symptom I have is I can’t tie my shoes very well. I mentioned it but it is getting worse. Nancy has taken to tying my shoes, which is a combination of pathetic and adorable.

Almost every time she ties my shoes she has the same line; “Ever heard of slip ons?”

I do start going to this IVIG ( Intravenous Immunoglobulin) infusion treatment as the Kaiser facility on Vermont and PCH. I take the elevator up to my assigned room and the first thing I see is a large sign that reads “CHEMOTHERAPY”. Not what I wanna see. But this IVIG, which legendary L.A. Times journalist - and friend - Henry Weinstein tells me is good treatment, is what the doctor ordered so. I sit in a chair for nearly five hours. Twice I have done the IVIG and have a few more to go. I’ll bring an Ambien next time.

I have two new doctor appointments in early June, one for my physician Dr. Moon and one for neurologist Dr. Wu. I tell them both I am doing 500 push ups a day and Dr. Wu is particularly impressed. “You can’t have ALS and do 500 push ups.”

But, he still is not certain what I do have. And I do have something. When I tell Nancy that she is mad at me. “Why didn’t you push them? You have something wrong with you and don’t you think you should know what? I don’t understand you sometimes. What do they think you have? What is your problem?.”

I email Wu and Moon through the Kaiser system, pushing rather hard for some answers. Dr. Moon says she will ask Dr. Wu. Finally Dr. Wu calls.

“Like I told you, I don’t think you have ALS but I cannot 100% rule it out. What I do think you have is MMN. That’s Multifocal Motor Neuropathy.”

I look it up after our call. Near the top it says it is a rare disease that only one out of 100,000 have. I quickly do the math and determine 39 other people in LA city have this. Maybe they could hit me up.

But I scroll down and read “What’s the difference between MMN and ALS?” Not what you wanna see. But, the main difference is ALS kills you in brutal crippling fashion within two to five years.

**

We go off to Italy. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but I can’t tell you how grateful I am. In our little hilltop town of Panicale near this lake called Trasimeno, where - and Nancy is tired of me telling this story - the great general from Carthage, Hannibal Barca, wiped out a Roman army in 217 b.c..

Panicale is my paradise, especially when we are alone in the pool with our music playing. We bought two high end floatie cushions and laying on them with Sinatra or Coltrane or Chet Baker playing from our Bose sound system, well, it’s those opening lines from “Cheek to Cheek.”\

Nancy is cooking dinners for people who have bid a lot of money which goes to benefit “Alex’s Lemonade”, a charity to fight children’s cancer. One dinner is for 10 people, the other for eight. They pay $80,000 to $100,000.

Me, like the me in the very beginning of this three-part story, is on errand duty, driving to the bakery, the butcher, the cheese store

Now every morning here we go on a hilly five-kilometer walk. On the last two steepest hills, I walk with my left hand on Nancy’s back, helping her up those hills. I love to do that.

A week ago, out of nowhere my left inner forearm starts twitching. For two days it twitches away before I foolishly decide to Google it. The first thing that pops up, and I’m not exaggerating, is that fool AI’s take which is “ALS does cause muscle fasciculation.” AI must know I’ve been looking that up recently.

But my very first thought is not about Lou but that formally, twitch has five syllables. A twitch is a fasciculations. Who knew? I guess I just knew my boy Twitch by his street name. My second thought was I love Lou Gehrig and that ALS can go to hell.

Earlier today, I was in the the pool with Nancy on our floaty things. It was 98 degrees and the Bose system was playing as we drifted in and out of sleep. Heaven, I’m in heaven.

The song “My One and Only Love” by John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman came on. It opens with a sax solo from Coltrane. A wondrous feeling washed over me.

One of these days or nights, hopefully soon, I hope you take a few minutes and lay or sit down and put that song on. That opening saxophone solo. It might make you sad, but in a beautiful way, and I hope it will make you grateful as well. It definitely did for me.

And if anyone wants to know how I’m doing, I’ll tell you the truth. I’m healthy at the moment.

PART 1. ERRAND DAY https://www.krikorianwrites.com/blog/2026/7/30/ikateyxx65r8f05q9lye0ww8ybw2vr

PART II Of ALL THE GIN JOINTS https://www.krikorianwrites.com/blog/2026/7/31/43r1glwfj89jqc8h351ukm0qpmvv65