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