The solvable unsolvable

  Celeb

We live in a time when the words impossible and unsolvable are no longer part of the scientific community's  lEach day we move closer to trials that will not just minimize the symptoms of disease and injury but eliminate them (Christopher Reeve)

Me

There is no cure for PD.  We witnessed the manufacture of a vaccine just months after covid got the world all excited.     Fast; right!   We have some smart potatoes down here, but now they are dreaming about living on Mars.  C'mon science guys & gals, we have some serious medical issues here on Gaia that need your attention first.

Linda Ronstadt 

I miss singing every day. I can't sing anymore. My voice doesn't work. I have Parkinson's disease, and it sometimes takes my words away from me. 

The difficulty facing people with PD  is that they never quite know 'Can I or can't I do this today?   12 years post-diagnosis  how do I  get by?   Well, there is magic in the words of Dr. Seuss who said; 

                "you're in pretty good shape for the shape you are in."   

I have seen the future. It is murder!

" I never think about the future. It comes soon enough." (Einstein)"

We are of one mind Mr.E.....well,amost,you see I think of my future alot and it t'aint pretty. There are 5 downward stages (there is controversy over the use of a simple template to describe a complex condition)of deterioration. I "sailed"trough stages 1 and 2 but I seem to have stalled in 3 and now, 4 is making forays into my well-being.

One of the symptoms of PD is exhaustion. It has hit me now. I am going to bed, but I leave you with two of my favorite quotes

:

"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr

"The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office." H.L. Mencken

Are you watching the American election?<> More to come anon.

“Being confined to a wheelchair doesn’t bother me as my mind is free to roam the universe, but it felt wonderful to be weightless.”

Stephen Hawking

Don't get me wrong, I am not yet confined to a wheelchair but I can sense it lingering on the horizon.  Still, I have no fear.  I have been using a manual and an electric chair since I broke out of the hospital.  So far it is fun but dangerous.

Yes, dangerous!  These machines are heavy and finicky.   Accidentally touch the joystick and away you go! 

Let's see, using the electric chair I have put a hole in a wall and have broken legs on  2 different tables.

I'm gonna have fun, fun, fun, 'til the doctor takes my wheels away.

Walking is so overrated!

"You are so skinny dad," my daughter exclaimed.

"Wait!  Whaaat!! 

175 pounds is hardly skinny. 

I sucked in my belly and posed before the bathroom mirror, and...

THE MIRROR CRACKED FROM SIDE TO SIDE 

A curse has come upon me," I cried.  (my apologies to Tennyson -The Lady of Shalott)

Before me, surrounded by images of bottles of oils and other stuff conducive to the rigours of good grooming, was my reflection.

In the centre of this body-grooming chaos was a refugee out of time, looking much like the POW's liberated from Japanese prison camps at the conclusion  of WWII, 

  Emaciated, skin hanging like curtains from bony outcrops here and there.

To the doctor I go and discover, nothing, nothing at all.

My blood work and scans suggest I am a healthy human.  Very healthy at 76.

Why then are my legs so weak?  Why are my lower limbs turning inward?  Why can't I walk?  Why am I starting to look like a Hallowe'en character?

Dunno. Must be the PD combined with the side effects from your PD meds.

 OK, but........ 

To be continued  

Note:  in 7weeks, or so, I lost 52 pounds to 123,   I have since rebounded to 148

 I am back!!!!

Stay tuned as I navigate my way through stage 4 and beyond.

Start tomorrow

Stick a fork in me. i'm done!

Since my wife died, PD has launched a full-on attack.  Let's see

1.  I can no longer hand-write and my word processing is heading down the toilet too.

 2.  I suffer from occasional hallucinations.

3.   I walk, talk and eat too slowly

4    I am nervous driving

5.   and who can recall.......aaahhh

                                      Forgeddaboutit. 

 

I grow weary of talking about PD;  just read the last 11 years and if I described a symptom of PD in one of my entries, I probably have that symptom now.      

May the road rise to meet you.  May the wind be always on your back and may the good Lord hold you in the hollow of his hand.

Wpgchap has left the desktop

They tell me.......

That time cures all.  Don't believe it.  Time plays a role, but as a universal cure-all, sorry folks.

There is no exact moment when time relieves you of your memories, good or bad.  

You are stuck with them.  Bad memories often warp into nightmares, but the good ones, those that belay "time heals all".....Well,.....maybe I was wrong.  It all depends.

Come to think of it,  Maybe time does nearly heal all.  It does relegate the bad flashes to the back row, leaving room for the good.

In a cosmic sense, I am a front-row patron of the art.

signed: Your cathartic nomad

Oops, THERE GOES ANOTHER RUBBER TREE PLANT

1.    You are not alone.  Over 100,000 Canadians have PD, 1,000,000 in the USA 

2.    science is close to cure.  Keep believing.  It will happen

3.   "real" science, not quackery

4.    join a group in your town.  Believe me, it helps

5.    join an online group. They are all around the world.  One of the best is in the  UK

6.     participate in forums

7.     keep a positive attitude

8.    exercise and then exercise some more

High apple pie in the sky hopes

First things first:  A reader wrote that she was distraught because, at 38, she had been diagnosed with PD.  That is very young and I understand her distress.  Perhaps I can try to alleviate her concern.

When diagnosed, I didn't really understand how a diagnosis of PD could affect my life.  Thank God for google where I discovered I was not alone.  Many personalities, are/were part of the tribe, most notably, Michael J. Fox, my personal hero, a crazy Canuck whose efforts will eventually lead to a cure.  He was diagnosed at 29 or 30.  Then there is (was, he died in 2016) Muhammad Ali who was diagnosed at 32.  Both of them are leading/lead productive lives.  There are many more....... click here to see a group of famous members of the club.

It has been 11 years since my formal diagnosis (much longer since I knew something was off).  Here is what I have learned:

1.      PD is not a death sentence - PWP ("people with parkinson's") die "with" PD, not "from" PD.

2      Carbidopa / levodopa is the bell ringer drug for PD. If taken regularly, it will calm or eliminate your symptoms

3.    A medicine, such as Mirapex, a dopamine agonist, has some of the same effects as Levodopa and can be taken with c/levodopa

4.   Some specialists prescribe Amantadine, an antiviral drug that may have a positive effect on reducing tremors

5.   Some neuros prescribe all of the above as a daily drug "cocktail"

6.   Mucuna Puriens is a natural source of dopamine, but I would avoid it because there is no way you can determine the concentration of dopamine and too much dopamine can lead to other problems.

7.   Avoid any claim that PD can be cured. It cannot be at this time

8.  About 2.5 hours of exercise, positive thinking with  a healthy diet seem to slow down the speed at which PD progresses

I grow weary. Nap time. More to come.  Keep checking back

un vélo pour les prairies

Where to start?

Au début du cours.....

Well, that would be at first diagnosis or earlier.  PD crept up on me, like one of Manson's "creepy crawlies," robbing me of my joys in life, the latest being the joy of bike-riding, two wheels, male or female.  Can't use either. I am too unsteady, no balance.  PD is watching my disappointment and laughing like hell. He wins again.  

Not so fast, Edwin Markham wrote:

          He drew a circle that shut me out-
          Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
          But love and I had the wit to win:
         We drew a circle and took him In!”

My circle is the pictured tricycle.

Take that PD....BAM!!!!