Today marks the 9th anniversary of this blog. Which means that July 24th marked the 9th year since I was diagnosed with PD. Those of you who have followed my blog know that usually I write a post on the anniversary of my diagnoses and I started this post a few days before the 24th but I was unable to complete it until today.. Read on to find out why.

My son and family recently moved to the Washington DC area and they invited us to come up and enjoy the Fourth of July. We had a wonderful trip and visit with Ryan and Sarah and Sarah’s sister’s family who had just been assigned to Colorado Springs and were leaving the day after the 4th. We also got to visit with our Grandson Garrett who started his internal medicine residency at Georgetown the week before.

We stayed downtown for the fourth which made it easy to watch the fabulous fireworks display. On the fifth we went to the Kennedy Center to see To Kill a Mockingbird which was wonderful and an item on our bucket list. We retuned on the 7th and on the 10th, I tested positive for Covid!

It started with a sore throat , then a mild fever and a headache and complete fatigue. I felt like I had not taken my medication for days and now I couldn’t hardly move. The next day the sore throat became so severe I thought I had added Strep throat to the COVID but no it was just another symptom of Omicron Covid.

By the 7th day the sore throat was gone, the headaches were just once in awhile and I tested negative. But the fatigue and lack of muscle strength continued and I was often unable to get up from a chair without assistance let alone exercise for the last 4 weeks. In addition to no get up and go I had no desire to write my usual “It’s been x years since my diagnosis” post until today! I tried several times but I would stare at the screen waiting for the words to appear like magic.

Yesterday I was able to attend our 1 hour tennis clinic and today I played 1 1/2 hours of doubles tennis and I feel normal for the first time in 4 weeks. So in addition to starting to exercise again, I have also started trying to catch up with my to do list with this blog being item number one.

Now that I feel like myself again, I have to say I am pleased with my lack of PD progression this year. About a year ago I spent some time plotting my on and off periods during the day using a program that showed my Levodopa level over 24 hours. As a result I determined that I was taking too much Levodopa and I needed to increase he time between doses of Rytary from 4 hours to 5 hours which resulted in needing only 4 doses per day instead of 5! So I have been on that schedule for almost a year with limited impact on my mobility even though I decreased the amount of Levodopa I take by 2 capsules.

So, until COVID, it has been a positive year on the PD front. I am keeping my fingers crossed 🤞 that I can continue to slow my progression this year while maintaining my current medication regimen. I hope that today marks the end of the COVID fatigue and lack of energy issues, i am ready to move on!

And finally, If you haven’t heard about the End Parkinson’s bill introduced last week in Congress, please go to this link and send a letter to your congress person asking for their support. Thanks!!

Today is Parkinson’s Awareness Day!

The new symbol for PD Awareness is The Spark. Developed by a collaboration of organizations in over 80 countries, The Spark will mobilize our community and Spark change!

“This World Parkinson’s Day, we’re calling on those impacted by the disease to stand up, speak out and unite to end Parkinson’s. We can break the stigma around our disease, lead the call to fund medical breakthroughs and together we can put Parkinson’s in the past.”
PD Avengers website 4 -11-2022

Click here to read more about The Spark on the PD Avengers website and view the actions being taken to grow Parkinson’s Awareness.

Also in support of PD Awareness Parkinson’s Life, the newsletter of the European PD Association, is Busting Parkinson’s disease myths with a new infographic to call attention to just four of the misconceptions people have about Parkinson’s Disease.

As pointed out in the book “Ending Parkinson’s”, PD is epidemic and growing faster every year.

There is currently no cure for Parkinson’s Disease. Research must be funded to find a cure.

Parkinson’s can happen at any age – support research to find a cure!

This myth needs to be busted!! Tremor is one of the more visible symptoms of PD but not all of us have tremor. Instead we deal with stiffness, uneven gait, and balance issues and more, plus a multitude of non motor symptoms such as sleep issues, fatigue, pain, constipation, drooling, soft voice and tiny handwriting.

If you haven’t joined PD Avengers, please click here and add your name to the cause. You don’t have to be a PwP to join and your support will help SPARK awareness of Parkinson’ s disease!

It’s Giving Tuesday!

A quick reminder that tomorrow is Giving Tuesday, a great time to make a donation to your favorite charity, no matter what the cause. Several of the PD Foundations will be matching your donation on Tuesday and I’m sure that is also true for other charities. It is a great opportunity to make a difference.

Tag: Parkinson’s Disease

Happy Thanksgiving!
Just a quick post wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving from Seattle. I have much to be thankful for this year including:
- making a change to a Movement Disorder Specialist who recommended a medication change that resulted in a great reduction of my symptoms;
- and that improvement allowed me to increase my exercise time which also helped to reduce rigidity and increase my mobility;
- and the increased mobility gave us a chance to travel to visit family and friends across the country;
- and I got to fish almost every day I was home without having to sit down after 15 minutes to rest!
But most of all I am thankful for the support of my wonderful wife, my family, my friends and all of you who take the time to read my wandering posts. I hope I have provided information of value to PwP’s and others through this blog and the Tennessee Parkinson’s Resources site that we started this year.

Thank you all and Happy Thanksgiving!
November 26, 2015
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

August 8, 2015
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

June 19, 2015