• Hanging at the Beach!

    Last Thursday we visited the University of Florida Movement Disorders Center in Gainesville, FL. As I mentioned in the last post, the visit included appointments with Dr. Hess, and Occupational, Physical, and Speech therapists. One of the prerequisites for this visit was I had to be off of my PD medication for at least 12 hours so I arrived pretty stiff and slow. When I checked in I was given an IPad so I could complete a questionnaire that I will need to do every visit. We then met with a tech who went over my general info, asked if I agreed to video taping and collection of my information for their clinical database. He then asked me a series of questions that included testing of my cognitive abilities and he said I was fine so I fooled him :).  These were the first tests of many I had during the day and they will all be repeated on every visit to help them identify any changes between visits.
     
    Next we were met by Dr Hess’s nurse who did the checking of my weight, blood pressure and other vitals and inputting of my current meds.  Then Dr Morita, an associate of Dr Hess, spent at least an hour asking lots of questions and performing tests including the UPDRS (Unified PD Rating Scale) which was given at the start of the interview, then I was allowed to take my medication and was tested again about 30 minutes later.  He was great and spent a lot of time making sure he had my answers correct and answering any questions we had.
     
    After he was done, he met with Dr Hess and then they both returned to discuss the findings, Dr Hess repeated a couple of the tests and thought I was possibly slightly under medicated but felt that since the Mirapex was working and I wasn’t having any major side effects, no change of med was needed at this time.  Since I will continue with my Knoxville Neurologist, we set the next visit for a year from now.
     
    The next meeting was with Lisa Warren, an occupational therapist who also gave me more tests, asked lots of questions and gave us several good ideas for some stretching to maintain flexibility and improve my posture.  We were surprised to find that my arm strength is above average for my age group as I felt I was weaker since the symptoms appeared. We were very happy with Lisa and the help she provided.
     
    Next up was an hour with Shankar Kulkarni a physical therapist who gave me more tests and many great ideas for what PT I should have, again mostly stretching to reduce rigidity and ideas to improve my gait. He had me marching around the PT area swinging my arms and lifting my knees like a guard at Buckingham Place.  He also showed me the proper method to get in and out of bed. Again, just what we had hoped for and very helpful. He said that they have a weekly PD exercise class on Thursday at 5:15 and he recommended I attend for more ideas.
     
    The final meeting was with a group of speech therapists (some were in training) who gathered more history, gave me more tests and recorded my speech (which had been soft all day already).  Again we discussed  several ideas for helping with the soft speech but decided I didn’t need an x-ray swallowing test since I haven’t had any issues in that area yet, but will have one next time.After a full day, we decided we might as well attend the PD exercise class which was conducted by PT students and gave us 45 minutes of exercise and we got some more ideas for exercises we can do it home.
     
    It was a very productive visit and worth the drive down. Meeting with staff who specialize in PD was great. The general outcome was to fight the progressive nature of PD I need to up my exercise (30 minute walk isn’t enough) and stretching.  My current medication is working so no change was recommended and they want to see me again in a year.  I came away with a lot of good ideas from the therapists and have the ability to contact any of them or the Doctors via email with any questions we might have which is nice.Since we happen to be close to our usual beach location in Siesta Key, we are spending a week at the beach where we hope it will be warm and sunny so we can get in a lot of exercise! 🙂

  • Welcome 2014!

    Well we have survived the holidays and here it is 2014! The Christmas tree is down and the house undecorated and it is time to make some resolutions and get the diet back to normal. The week before Christmas I visited my neurologist and he doubled my medication dosage to .5 mg three times a day.  By Christmas day the increase was having a positive effect on my balance and ‘sticky’ feet so the timing was perfect.

    As many of us do, I have resolved to maintain a weekly exercise routine.  I will exercise at least 30 minutes a day 5 days a week as part of the 2014 Mary-thon and I have set a ‘stretch goal’ (remember those?) to up the time to 45 minutes for at least some sessions as the year progresses.  As I have mentioned before, exercise has been shown to be the best thing I can do to slow the progression of Parkinson’s and fight the stiff muscles so it behooves me to step it up.

    I started PT last month and they have designed a plan to improve my core strength and balance.  The staff at Star PT seem to enjoy working me over a couple of times a week but it’s for my benefit (so they say):) I also plan to add yoga or Tai Chi, both of which help with the stiffness and balance, to our exercise routine this year.

    In a couple of weeks we will go to the University of Florida Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration which is a National Parkinson’s Foundation (NPF) Center of Excellence.  They incorporate an integrated multidisciplinary approach so I have appointments with a Neurologist, a Physical Therapist, an Occupational Therapist and a Speech Therapist over the course of the day.

    The Center is headed up by Dr. Michael Okun who is also the medical director for NPF.  He has written an excellent book,”Parkinson’s Treatment: 10 Secrets to a Happier Life” which is one of the first books I read after my diagnosis.  He speaks at length in the book about why this integrated approach is successful.  Since we are in Florida, after our visit to the Center we will spend a few days at the beach before heading home.

    Another resolution I am making is to be a better blogger!  I would like to post on a regular schedule and will work to do that this year.  We will see how that works out!

  • Happy Holidays!!

    Here it is, Christmas Eve, and the house is decorated, the gifts are under the tree, Christmas carols are playing and the grocery shopping is done!  And this morning we had snow flurries here in Eastern TN, nothing sticking to the ground but just enough to get you in the mood and to say we had a White Christmas!

    I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season. It’s a magical time of year and I hope you all enjoy time with family and friends.  I thank you all  for your support and positive thoughts since I started this journey with Parkinson’s.  Thank you and Merry Christmas!

IT IS WHAT IT IS!

Me, a Tennis Hero?

We met Jean Kirshenbaum when we started playing tennis here in Sarasota with a regular group twice a week.  Jean was not as mobile as some of the players but had an excellent serve and strong ground strokes and you could tell how much she enjoyed playing the game.  Jean had suffered a stoke 15 years ago but had worked hard to return to the game she loved, even if she couldn’t play at the same level she was playing at before the stroke. 

Earlier this year Jean began to have problems with her gait, her balance and with freezing in place (sound familiar?) which have prevented her from playing with the group.  But Jean is not giving up, she writes columns for a tennis website, and recently wrote one that discussed her current conditions and what she is doing to try and overcome them.  Part of that column includes her surprise when she found out I took up tennis as part of my plan to overcome PD.  She has plans for both of us as you will see when you read her column here.  I am honored that she mentions me in her column and I look forward to seeing her back on the courts soon.

While we have been busy the past few weeks with visits from grand children, we have continued to play tennis as much as possible and I continue to cycle whenever I can.  Yesterday I discovered a new screen on my FitBit app  that shows my heart rate during exercise.  This screen shot is from today’s cycling session which consisted of a 10 minute warmup and then we continued to add gear while surging back and forth between 80 rpm and 90 rpm.  As you can see our coach has taken the new concept of  high intensity intervals to heart and this work out kept my heart rate in the cardio zone or above for almost the entire time.  What I find most interesting is, despite my thought that I wouldn’t be able to walk out to the car, I did and now, 8 hours later, I feel great and have limited PD symptoms.  There certainly seems be something that works when you exercise at a high level even for a short period of time.  So if you have the opportunity to cycle or box or ????, do it! Exercise is the best prescription we can follow to slow the progression of PD (I know I haven’t said that recently 😆)

 

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

Other Posts

IT IS WHAT IT IS!

Me, a Tennis Hero?

We met Jean Kirshenbaum when we started playing tennis here in Sarasota with a regular group twice a week.  Jean was not as mobile as some of the players but had an excellent serve and strong ground strokes and you could tell how much she enjoyed playing the game.  Jean had suffered a stoke 15 years ago but had worked hard to return to the game she loved, even if she couldn’t play at the same level she was playing at before the stroke. 

Earlier this year Jean began to have problems with her gait, her balance and with freezing in place (sound familiar?) which have prevented her from playing with the group.  But Jean is not giving up, she writes columns for a tennis website, and recently wrote one that discussed her current conditions and what she is doing to try and overcome them.  Part of that column includes her surprise when she found out I took up tennis as part of my plan to overcome PD.  She has plans for both of us as you will see when you read her column here.  I am honored that she mentions me in her column and I look forward to seeing her back on the courts soon.

While we have been busy the past few weeks with visits from grand children, we have continued to play tennis as much as possible and I continue to cycle whenever I can.  Yesterday I discovered a new screen on my FitBit app  that shows my heart rate during exercise.  This screen shot is from today’s cycling session which consisted of a 10 minute warmup and then we continued to add gear while surging back and forth between 80 rpm and 90 rpm.  As you can see our coach has taken the new concept of  high intensity intervals to heart and this work out kept my heart rate in the cardio zone or above for almost the entire time.  What I find most interesting is, despite my thought that I wouldn’t be able to walk out to the car, I did and now, 8 hours later, I feel great and have limited PD symptoms.  There certainly seems be something that works when you exercise at a high level even for a short period of time.  So if you have the opportunity to cycle or box or ????, do it! Exercise is the best prescription we can follow to slow the progression of PD (I know I haven’t said that recently 😆)

 

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

Other Posts

Month: August 2018

  • Me, a Tennis Hero?

    We met Jean Kirshenbaum when we started playing tennis here in Sarasota with a regular group twice a week.  Jean was not as mobile as some of the players but had an excellent serve and strong ground strokes and you could tell how much she enjoyed playing the game.  Jean had suffered a stoke 15 years ago but had worked hard to return to the game she loved, even if she couldn’t play at the same level she was playing at before the stroke. 

    Earlier this year Jean began to have problems with her gait, her balance and with freezing in place (sound familiar?) which have prevented her from playing with the group.  But Jean is not giving up, she writes columns for a tennis website, and recently wrote one that discussed her current conditions and what she is doing to try and overcome them.  Part of that column includes her surprise when she found out I took up tennis as part of my plan to overcome PD.  She has plans for both of us as you will see when you read her column here.  I am honored that she mentions me in her column and I look forward to seeing her back on the courts soon.

    While we have been busy the past few weeks with visits from grand children, we have continued to play tennis as much as possible and I continue to cycle whenever I can.  Yesterday I discovered a new screen on my FitBit app  that shows my heart rate during exercise.  This screen shot is from today’s cycling session which consisted of a 10 minute warmup and then we continued to add gear while surging back and forth between 80 rpm and 90 rpm.  As you can see our coach has taken the new concept of  high intensity intervals to heart and this work out kept my heart rate in the cardio zone or above for almost the entire time.  What I find most interesting is, despite my thought that I wouldn’t be able to walk out to the car, I did and now, 8 hours later, I feel great and have limited PD symptoms.  There certainly seems be something that works when you exercise at a high level even for a short period of time.  So if you have the opportunity to cycle or box or ????, do it! Exercise is the best prescription we can follow to slow the progression of PD (I know I haven’t said that recently 😆)

     

    “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

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