Angels listen to people who go for long walks and they give you all the angles

Went for a couple of long walks in the past few days- uneventful. That is the problem with PD, you can't predict really anything about its tactics. You can only predict its end game; look at the great Ali in his final days. A future I wish to avoid.

I think I have been very patient with the scientists. They should have produced a cure by now! Well, Lords of Science, I am growing increasingly impatient, so get on with it. Cure me (and, of course the other members of the tribe). I don't need no dementia; I already am crazy enough!

Anyway, back to the walk, my time to think. Some thoughts are good; others not so good. Yesterday my thoughts were in the "why did I read that?" mode. I had read a Fox Foundation piece on lewy bodies and lewy body dementia. You can read it on the Fox site, if you have self-flagellation tendencies. I have never worried about lewy body dementia, or any other kind. I understood that about 1 in 4 PWP will suffer some sort of dementia, from mild to severe (Parkinson's Canada says dementia is common in the later stages). Not terrible odds in favour of sanity. My mind was occupied, satisfactorily, by those odds. Then I read "the vast majority of people with parkinson's have lewy bodies in their brains". The article went on to assure the reader that "not everybody with Parkinson's will get LBD". I have decided I am too old to make it to the later stages. I will be one of the 75% of PWP who will not have their brains betray them.

You're worried? I'm not. Let's forget I ever brought up the subject, except to note that Robin Williams was a victim of LBD.

On that "sunny" note, let me leave you with a suggestion. I don't know if it is true but I live my life as if it were true - I firmly believe in it. "Exercise" that is. Exercise can not only slow the progress of PD, but also the development of LBD, if you are one of the unfortunate 25% who have to contend with it.

Walking is the best exercise. but it is boring. I take the same route every walk. Talk about a mindless hour that permits thoughts like... Well...you-know-what.... to creep in!

One way to prevent those little doses of doubt is to make your walk more interesting, more challenging so that you have to think about the mechanics of the walk .....Try nordic walking.

RATS!!!

I had a whole half page on nordic walking, but my fingers have an annoying habit of jumping and hitting letters on the keyboard without my input or assistance, and this time, my fingers somehow wiped out that half page. Probably a good thing. You might have been bored to death. I will try to write about it in a later dispatch. Until then I leave you with the wisdom of Nietzsche:

"All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking."