What are you willing to bet on a long shot? What are you willing to risk when the reward is great but unlikely?

long shot

1 : a venture involving great risk but promising a great reward if successful, also : a venture unlikely to succeed

2 : an entry (as in a horse race) given little chance of winning

3 : a bet in which the chances of winning are slight but the possible winnings great

A medical diagnosis where all doctors involved make the same diagnosis seems like the opposite of a long shot. I have visited dozens of doctors with a range of differing specialties and the end result is the same.

ALS.

What if this is not ALS?

The process of a differential diagnosis is a process of inclusion and exclusion, but it’s not perfect science. Sometimes doctors make a wrong diagnosis. About 10-percent of all those diagnosed with ALS have something else instead.

So, if not ALS, what?

It could be some other motor neuron disease but I was tested for all of those, including the genetic varieties.

Move along. Nothing to see here.

What else?

Long shots. There are many diseases which have similar symptoms and characteristics as ALS. Here’s one.

Glycogen storage disease… an autosomal recessive metabolic disorder

Say what?

[It]damages muscle and nerve cells throughout the body.

It’s also known as Pompe Disease and some symptoms look exactly like ALS. What causes it?

an accumulation of glycogen in the lysosome due to deficiency of the lysosomal acid alpha-glucosidase enzyme

Say what?

See? A long shot.

For me, the risk of the test to determine Pompe Disease is high. The reward is low. That’s not a long shot. It’s the opposite. Those with late onset Pompe Disease usually are in their teenage years or 20s and 30s.

The treatment is less effective for those my age.

High risk. Low reward.