It's 5 feet high and risin'
We returned from Florida yesterday with tans brown enough to drive a dermatologist crazy. We left 28C weather and arrived home at midnight to -13C and snow. While we were away, our hometown was hit by a major snow storm. To get into our house, we had to drag our suitcases over a wide, 4 foot high snowbank. I was not happy.
Here's the thing. Two days before we left Miami, I could walk 3 miles 2X a day and my tremor disappeared. I felt completely normal. I still had trouble with word finding but I solve that problem by keeping quiet. I was as close to normal as was possible; that is, until the trek started.....
Miami airport was no problem. Security was a bit of a pain, but then it always is. Don't the authorities know that we wear belts for only one reason - to keep our pants up. But no, you must remove your belt (and your shoes which is another complaint for future discussion). You clear the metal detector, then wait for your computer, your shoulder bag, your shoes and coat to exit the x-ray machine and you are told to hurry because there is a long line of people waiting. So there you are, one hand holding up your trousers, while the other tries to cope with retrieving your stuff. Next you must put on your belt and shoes. In a crowded airport, try to find a chair to sit on to put your stuff together again. However, that is not unique to Miami but it was enough that I felt the tremor starting to reappear. I was stressed people, Stressed. PD does not get along with stress. The tremor settled down once we were on the plane and for the next 3 hours I had no problems.
We landed in Toronto without incident, picked up our baggage and went to customs. We have Nexus cards so we headed to the Nexus machine. It is always a bit stressful trying to get your eyes in the right place so the machine can identify you. I was successful after 4 tries and received my chit showing I could be trusted; however, my wife tried several times until the machine said she was not in the system. What to do? What to do? We were told to go to special services but there were 9 or 10 wheel chair travelers waiting in line. The solution, go the regular route as there were only a few people ahead of us. With the help of one of customs aides, we found the appropriate machine in which to place our Declaration but we put it in upside down. The aide came over and offered to help. She noticed that the Declaration was for both myself and my wife but I had my Nexus chit. That caused a flurry of chatter. Something was wrong.
"Well" she said, "Put the Declaration in the reader slot anyway."
Next stop, the officer who decides whether you go to the left (you are cleared to leave) or the right (something suspicious here).She listened to our story as to why I had a Nexus chit and my wife did not. At the conclusion of our tale, she directed us off to the right. More customs people. People with the power to search, arrest, detain or fine. I had no reason to worry, we never cheat, however...... I felt the tremor returning.
Border security officers are very powerful and you must be polite and not confrontational. We both showed our best sides as we repeated our story. He took our Nexus cards and ran them through the computer. He was in no rush and gave us a gentle, but serious lecture about our mistake. We didn't bother to place the blame on the system or the aide that had "helped" us, but in the meantime, my hand started to jump around. "My God!" I thought, "He will think my hand is active because I am nervous and nervousness equals guilt." I solved that issue by putting my hand in my pocket where it continued its two-step, but less conspicuously. After some muttering about how the aide should not have told us to put the Declaration through when one of us had a Nexus chit, he declared that all was OK, and emphasized we should never do that again because now the system showed me entering Canada twice on the same day and he couldn't do anything about that. We thanked him and went on our way but we had wasted 20 minutes. Nexus is not really as great as it is advertised to be!!
By the time we sat down to eat (we had a 4 hour wait), both my hands had a tremor. Stage 2, I feared, Stage 2. But no, the rest of the trip was uneventful and only the remnants of a tremor in my right hand remained the next day. Today,3 days later, no tremor has reappeared in my left hand, but my right hand is now almost as active as it was pre-Miami. Sad, but predictable. When this snow melts, I am going to walk my ass off. Walking comes natural to me. I learned to do it as an infant and have gotten along very well ever since. Now it is second nature to me. I just stand and then I walk - no refresher course required.
So come on Spring. Get on with melting this snow. What's that? 5cm expected later today. Damn. I have come to hate snow. Waking up to a beautiful snowscape, in my opinion, is like winning a quarter in the Mega Million lottery.
Too much stress! Too much stress.
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