• Anniversaries abound!

    When last we met, we were preparing for a visit from my daughter Holly, Paul and grandchildren Charlie and Kayla.  We had a great visit, spending most of our time on the lake where Charlie enjoys riding the tube and Kayla is an expert fisher person and the DJ for the ‘partyboat’.  Holly and Paul tried out the new paddle boards and we squeezed in a trip to Knoxville for a nice dinner.

    Now for the anniversaries. Last week, Mara and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a visit to a wonderful B & B in the Smoky Mountains and a great dinner at the Foothills Milling Co.   After a busy month we enjoyed the R & R time which included a nice but strenuous hike to Spruce Flats Falls.  The trail was steep and rocky but the beautiful falls made it all worthwhile. As we walked the trail, we remarked that I probably could not have made this trip last year and what a difference the change in medication has  made in my symptoms.

    We finished up the week by taking the boat out to watch the sunset and the ‘blue’ moon rise.  This 180 degree panoramic photo doesn’t do justice to the beautiful sunset but it was a great way to celebrate my birthday!

    July 24th was the two year anniversary of my official Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis and August 6th marked two years of writing this blog. During the year I changed to a Movement Disorder Specialist at Vanderbilt Medical Clinic and I am happy to report that his changing my medication has made a remarkable difference in my symptoms and provided me with improved gait, balance and arm movement.  As noted above, I am walking at a normal pace and was able to hike the Smokie’s, something I could not have done last year.  I realize that PD is a progressive neurological degenerative disease and I haven’t been ‘cured’ but I sure feel much better than last year and I am not going to worry about when things will change but will continue to enjoy the ride while I can!

    Also this past year we attended several conferences including Rallying to the Challenge in Grand Rapids, Partner’s in Parkinson’s in Atlanta where we were members of a panel discussion and again in  Ft Lauderdale to learn about being Fox Trial Finder Ambassadors, and the Southern Symposium in Spartanburg, SC which included the Davis Phinney Foundation Victory Summit. Again we have added many new friends to our global support group as we attended  these meetings and conferences.

    This year we have become  MJFF Trial Finder ambassadors to help promote clinical trial participation, and we are participating in trials ourselves. We are working on a new website that will provide a list of PD resources in Tennessee that we hope to promote to PD patients, care persons and the  medical community.  We continue to promote the need for patient participation in the clinical trial process and will attend the second Rallying to the Challenge meeting in Grand Rapids, MI this fall.

    I hope you will stick with me for another year as I travel this road of living with Parkinson’s Disease.  I will continue to write about PD research, how my PD is affecting me and I still plan to add a page about exercise programs for PD.  I will continue to advocate signing up for Fox Trial Finder and the Fox Insight programs on the blog and in person.   As I said last year, I am aware of what the future “might” bring but I will continue to fight to delay the disease and maintain a positive attitude because I believe we will beat Parkinson’s!  Thanks for your support, positive thoughts, and encouraging words.

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

  • What I Did During My Summer Vacation (so far)!

    It’s been awhile since my last post so will try to catch you up with what’s been happening since June 19th but first and most important I am proud to announce that our granddaughter, Breanna, has been accepted into the University of West Virgina Medical School and will begin classes in August!  Very exciting news!

    As you can see by the photos below, we have had a very busy summer! And it’s not over yet, more to come in the next post.

     


    The 3M mini reunion while at a wonderful Pacific Coast wedding, what a lovely time. (yes that’s me with a new hat!)

    After the wedding, we met up with my son Ryan and his wife Sarahfor a short visit to the wine country which included dinner at the Russian River Brewery and a fantastic wine country tour
    with Jason  of Boutique Wine Tours (that’s him in the middle). Without a doubt the best way to visit some little known wineries, learn about the area, all while being driven in a limo.

    Next was a visit from Mara’s brother John and Kathy,who couldn’t wait to go tubing! We also traveled up to the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park for some sightseeing

    Then Ryan, Sarah, Julian and Trysten arrived for the Fourth of July.  Tubing, fishing, fireworks and watching the World Cup and the Tour de France! Good times.

    And we just enjoyed a short visit with Don and Mary Ann (one of the 3M’s) this week.  They stopped by after Don participated in a tennis tournament in Asheville, NC.

    Despite our busy schedule, I found time to join the Michael J Fox Foundation wearables study being conducted as part of  Fox Insight. The program is open  to PwP with an Android phone.  They have provided me with a Pebble Smartwatch at no cost which is linked to my phone via the Fox Insight app.  Currently they are tracking my activity and tremor via the watch.  The data is transmitted to my phone via Bluetooth and uploaded with no identifying data for analysis.  The app shows you the activity and tremor in graph form and also provides a medicine reminder, a way to report when you took your medication and to report how you are feeling. The only commitment is to wear the watch for at least 6 weeks.  Click here for more information and to sign up.

    And, as always, remember to sign up for Fox Trial Finder and Fox Insight  – despite my haranguing with every post, only 2300 people have signed up so far for Fox Insight.  No travel is required, it’s all web based and remember they need subjects without PD too, so get your family and friends involved.

     

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

     

  • On the Road Again!

    Yes,we are on the road again.  We are working our way to San Francisco to attend a wedding which will also be another 3M reunion.  I say working our way because we left home at 8:45 AM for a 10:50 flight to Houston for our connection to arrive in San Francisco around 5pm.  But the Houston flight was delayed and we would miss our connection. Sam, a very helpful United employee, was able to get us on a US Air flight to Philadelphia leaving at 3pm and connecting to a San Francisco flight arriving at 9pm.

     
    So, with plenty of time to kill, we took a walk around the airport and on the way back to our gate I see that the Philadelphia flight was delayed and we would again miss our connection! So back to Sam at the United desk where they were able to get us on a 3:55pm US Air flight to Charlotte for a connection arriving in San Francisco at 8:30.
     
    With more time to kill, we decided to get some lunch and on the way back to the gate we see the Charlotte flight is delayed 30 minutes! This meant,if we left at the new scheduled time, we will have 20 minutes to change terminals. A small challenge for me and Dr. Parkinson but all that walking we have been doing paid off and we are in the air, bouncing our way to San Francisco.
     

    Once we get there,we will have a  new challenge,finding the little house we are renting in Bolinas, north of San Francisco,in the dark!

    Well it is the next day and we are sitting in the little house we rented looking out at the ocean as you can see in the picture.  We finally arrived here around midnight and this morning we took a nice walk down to town for some breakfast and a walk on the beach.  Good times, good times.

     
    After the wedding and 3M reunion we are going to Sonoma for a couple of days where we will meet up with son Ryan and his wife Sarah for some wine and beer tasting and probably some fine dining. More good times.
     

    This week I finally completed the long promised list of blogs and bloggers I follow. Click on the tab at the top of the page and check it out. Next I hope to work on the post about exercise.  Last week the results of a longitudinal study were released showing the benefits of exercise for Parkinson’s patients.  Here is a portion of the press release:

    SAN DIEGO – Regular exercise and increasing physical activity is associated with a slower decline in quality of life in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, according to a study released today at the 19th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders. This study evaluated 2,940 patients from 20 sites affiliated with the National Parkinson Foundation Quality Improvement Initiative. The cohort was assessed using the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39), and patients were measured at baseline, 1 year, and 2 year follow up appointments. Those who were classified as non-exercisers at baseline and began to exercise after their initial visit had significantly less worsening of PDQ-39 than non-exercisers. Ultimately, the study found that increasing physical activity greater than 2.5 hours of exercise per week is associated with a slower decline in total PDQ-39 scores.

    Michael Okun, Professor of Neurology at the University of Florida Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration states, “This study makes clear that everyone with Parkinson’s should be exercising. This longitudinal study of patients selected without exclusions shows that patients suffer from delaying starting their exercise program. It doesn’t seem to matter what they do, they benefit from just getting up and out and from moving.” Okun adds, “This study adds to mounting evidence that exercise is good and sooner is better than later.”

    I can certainly attest to the benefits of exercise and we are trying to average at least 5 hours a week so maybe I’ll get double the benefit! Hopefully that post won’t take as long as the blog list! In the meantime, check out some of the blogs on my list while you are waiting for my next post and don’t forget to sign up for Fox Trial Finder and the Fox Insight trial. Remember, they need control subjects too, not just Parkinson’s patients so sign up!

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

IT IS WHAT IT IS!

Happy New Year!

OK maybe a belated wish but a sincere one none the less, for indeed it is a New Year and for most (if not all) of us, the only double digit (2020) year we will see. So I hope your holidays were joyous and that your new year has started out right!

Here’s what’s happened in our world since my last post:

We finished the holiday season attending various events with friends including riding the Sarasota trolley to view Christmas lights, catching a Christmas concert by the ‘living’ Christmas tree at a local church, attending a Mo-Town Christmas celebration, catching a play at the Florida Studio Theater, and hosting brunch for a few friends on Christmas day. And then, we bought a new car and finished the year by watching the last sunset over the gulf for 2019 on New Years Eve. Whew!!

I started the new year out with a visit to my neurologist where I was awarded a gold star for the best patient of the day! Well at least as of 10am that morning anyway. He was happy with my lack of progression, my continued efforts to exercise daily and he was OK with my efforts to finally get my Parkinson’s drugs working with minimal off time. He even suggested cancelling my next appointment and going to once every 6 months. So, for us PwPs it was a great visit, he didn’t change or add medications, was happy with my finger tapping, getting out of the chair and walking and I got a pat on the back and a “keep doing what you are doing” . Perfect!!

We have continued to keep up with tennis most everyday and I am cycling 3 days a week now that our cycling coach is also conducting two classes a week at a second location. According to my FitBit I am averaging about 6-7 hours of exercise per week with 3 hours high intensity (cycling) and 3 – 4 hours of doubles tennis at a medium level.

Speaking of cycling, I have been working on a website about the Pedaling for Parkinson’s classes in the Sarasota area and the benefits of exercise for PwP’s. Click here to view the site SRQ Pedals to Fight PD. We will also use the website for class members and cycling coaches who want to download recorded audio of some of our rides to listen to when they are unable to attend class, traveling, etc.

If you haven’t read Simon Stott’s year end review of 2019 on his Science of Parkinson’s Blog, I highly recommend you take a look at it. Sometimes we feel like nothing new is happening in PD research but you will find that a lot of exciting research is going on. You can read it here and you can read his post on what’s on the horizon for 2020 here.

I recently signed up for PD School 2020 by Dr Laurie Mischley and had planned to write about it in this post, but this post is long enough and I think it deserves a post of it’s own. Yes that means I might have two posts in one week!! Stay tuned and see if it happens.

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

Other Posts

IT IS WHAT IT IS!

Happy New Year!

OK maybe a belated wish but a sincere one none the less, for indeed it is a New Year and for most (if not all) of us, the only double digit (2020) year we will see. So I hope your holidays were joyous and that your new year has started out right!

Here’s what’s happened in our world since my last post:

We finished the holiday season attending various events with friends including riding the Sarasota trolley to view Christmas lights, catching a Christmas concert by the ‘living’ Christmas tree at a local church, attending a Mo-Town Christmas celebration, catching a play at the Florida Studio Theater, and hosting brunch for a few friends on Christmas day. And then, we bought a new car and finished the year by watching the last sunset over the gulf for 2019 on New Years Eve. Whew!!

I started the new year out with a visit to my neurologist where I was awarded a gold star for the best patient of the day! Well at least as of 10am that morning anyway. He was happy with my lack of progression, my continued efforts to exercise daily and he was OK with my efforts to finally get my Parkinson’s drugs working with minimal off time. He even suggested cancelling my next appointment and going to once every 6 months. So, for us PwPs it was a great visit, he didn’t change or add medications, was happy with my finger tapping, getting out of the chair and walking and I got a pat on the back and a “keep doing what you are doing” . Perfect!!

We have continued to keep up with tennis most everyday and I am cycling 3 days a week now that our cycling coach is also conducting two classes a week at a second location. According to my FitBit I am averaging about 6-7 hours of exercise per week with 3 hours high intensity (cycling) and 3 – 4 hours of doubles tennis at a medium level.

Speaking of cycling, I have been working on a website about the Pedaling for Parkinson’s classes in the Sarasota area and the benefits of exercise for PwP’s. Click here to view the site SRQ Pedals to Fight PD. We will also use the website for class members and cycling coaches who want to download recorded audio of some of our rides to listen to when they are unable to attend class, traveling, etc.

If you haven’t read Simon Stott’s year end review of 2019 on his Science of Parkinson’s Blog, I highly recommend you take a look at it. Sometimes we feel like nothing new is happening in PD research but you will find that a lot of exciting research is going on. You can read it here and you can read his post on what’s on the horizon for 2020 here.

I recently signed up for PD School 2020 by Dr Laurie Mischley and had planned to write about it in this post, but this post is long enough and I think it deserves a post of it’s own. Yes that means I might have two posts in one week!! Stay tuned and see if it happens.

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

Other Posts

Year: 2020

  • Happy New Year!

    Happy New Year!

    OK maybe a belated wish but a sincere one none the less, for indeed it is a New Year and for most (if not all) of us, the only double digit (2020) year we will see. So I hope your holidays were joyous and that your new year has started out right!

    Here’s what’s happened in our world since my last post:

    We finished the holiday season attending various events with friends including riding the Sarasota trolley to view Christmas lights, catching a Christmas concert by the ‘living’ Christmas tree at a local church, attending a Mo-Town Christmas celebration, catching a play at the Florida Studio Theater, and hosting brunch for a few friends on Christmas day. And then, we bought a new car and finished the year by watching the last sunset over the gulf for 2019 on New Years Eve. Whew!!

    I started the new year out with a visit to my neurologist where I was awarded a gold star for the best patient of the day! Well at least as of 10am that morning anyway. He was happy with my lack of progression, my continued efforts to exercise daily and he was OK with my efforts to finally get my Parkinson’s drugs working with minimal off time. He even suggested cancelling my next appointment and going to once every 6 months. So, for us PwPs it was a great visit, he didn’t change or add medications, was happy with my finger tapping, getting out of the chair and walking and I got a pat on the back and a “keep doing what you are doing” . Perfect!!

    We have continued to keep up with tennis most everyday and I am cycling 3 days a week now that our cycling coach is also conducting two classes a week at a second location. According to my FitBit I am averaging about 6-7 hours of exercise per week with 3 hours high intensity (cycling) and 3 – 4 hours of doubles tennis at a medium level.

    Speaking of cycling, I have been working on a website about the Pedaling for Parkinson’s classes in the Sarasota area and the benefits of exercise for PwP’s. Click here to view the site SRQ Pedals to Fight PD. We will also use the website for class members and cycling coaches who want to download recorded audio of some of our rides to listen to when they are unable to attend class, traveling, etc.

    If you haven’t read Simon Stott’s year end review of 2019 on his Science of Parkinson’s Blog, I highly recommend you take a look at it. Sometimes we feel like nothing new is happening in PD research but you will find that a lot of exciting research is going on. You can read it here and you can read his post on what’s on the horizon for 2020 here.

    I recently signed up for PD School 2020 by Dr Laurie Mischley and had planned to write about it in this post, but this post is long enough and I think it deserves a post of it’s own. Yes that means I might have two posts in one week!! Stay tuned and see if it happens.

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

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