Birthday Greetings To Our Dear Daughter & HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

SIL and daughter

Dear Readers,

Thought I'd take a break from the usual Parkinson's related topics and wish our daughter a 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY   

with love from Mom, Dad, and Mario

 We are very proud of the person she has grown into.   Apparently her father and I did something right through the years.  Being an only child she did NOT get everything she wanted, but she was spoiled in that she did not have to share our attention with a sibling of the human kind  anyway.  (She would tell you she did have to share with the dog and cat!)   I remember many weekend trips to grandma and grandpa's house where I'd hear "Fritz - move over - you are hogging my half of the seat!"  "Mom - Make Fritz move over - he has his paws on me."  It was funny and makes me laugh when I think about it.

She grew up, married a wonderful man (our son-in-law) and they are happy with two cats and two gerbils in their life.   They are all very special to us.

Amos, age 17

Keiko, Age 17

We had a wonderful family Birthday celebration yesterday with our SIL'S brother and wife, SIL's parents, and of course the birthday girl, SIL, and Don and I.  We are fortunate in that our extended families are all small, thus for birthdays and some holidays we can all enjoy them together.

Take a look at that cake!  It was every bit as good as it looks.   It came from a new Guatamalen Bakery that had recently opened in their city.   I think it might become a new family favorite.

What a great day we had.

HAPPY EASTER or PASSOVER EVERYONE

Mary

Senility Versus Drugs

Dear Readers,

Well, I did it again - screwed up on an appointment.  ha ha - I showed up at the dentist's office a week early for a fitting of a new partial plate.   I was just in there last Thursday (5 days ago - yes friends, only 5 days ago).  One of the office girls even opened the door for me because I was using the walker, and it's a chore and a half to struggle with doors that swing out when using a walker.

I went in, thanked her for opening the door for me,  took my coat off, started flipping through a magazine when another office girl came discretely over by me and showed me a print out of upcoming appointments.   Today's date was NOT on that list. ha ha!   April Fool's Joke On Me  to me!  The sad part is they gave me that same printout when I left there last Thursday.  I could swear I remembered seeing "Dentist" on my calendar! for today.,

I mumbled something about "oh, sorry - I know it's the Parkinson's Drugs messing with my brain again."   The gal said "well at least you can blame it on something that makes sense!   (She was patting her 6-months' pregnant belly) and said I blame it on the mommy-to-be factor myself."

For the record, I checked the calendar when I got home and there is NOTHING WRITTEN ON IT FOR TODAY!    Since I can carry on a conversation rather well yet, I'm sure it's the Parkinson's Drug (Sinemet) that I'm taking.   (1/2 table 2 x a day - I'm not even up to a whole tablet twice a day yet).  Now I have to remember to go next week on the correct day.   I'm thinking of the old string around the finger bit -  will this do it?  

Apparently I can't be trusted with a calendar anymore!

What's your vote - Drugs or Senility?

Until next time.

Mary

FInally Catching Up On News

Countryside on the way to Rome, Italy October 2008

Dear Readers,

My apologies for taking so long to update.     My only excuse is that our involvement with Twitter/#nipclub can keep us pretty busy at certain times if a party is planned.

Two weeks ago I had the RFA (Radio  Frequency Abulation) procedure done.  It's taken about 2 weeks to really kick in, but it has helped greatly with the pain in the Sacroiliac.   I still have other pain - arthritis and fibromyalga in different areas - so I'm still on Tramadol for the pain, but I do cut back on it on days that I can. I'm so happy to report that the RFA was successful.  YAY!

Yesterday I was supposed to go to Milwaukee to meet with a Parkinson's specialist.   Wouldn't you know it - SNOW!   (Darn Groundhog needs to be replaced - we're supposed to have spring now).   It started snowing yestgerday  around noon, giving us 5 inches of wet, heavy, slippery snow by last night.   I heard the weather forecast predicting this storm on Saturday so decided to call and cancel the appointment.     Our son-in-law said driving in snow didn't bother him,  but it would have really bothered me.   I would have been sitting on pins and needles the entire trip.   While I'm anxious to meet with the PD specialist, I didn't feel it was worth the risk and hazardous roads to do so.   My appointment is now re-scheduled for April 17th.   I hope it  doesn't snow then, but it could!!   

Now I need to find a ride for the April trip so son-in-law doesn't have to take another day of vacation.  Daughter is like me - she doesn't want to drive in Milwaukee either.  It's a concrete jungle down there with 3 major freeways merging downtown and cars going 80 MPH.   You need to be really sharp in the brain, which Don and I aren't at this age.   If we knew where we were going and knew where the interchanges were, it would not be so bad - but you don't become familiar and comfortable with that when you only travel down there once in every 3-4 years.

Stay tuned.

Hope it's spring where you live!   It's going to  be a long while a-coming around here!

Mary