Joke Is On Me

Hi Friends,

I saw the most amazing insect hovering around  my plant tonight right at dusk but I couldn't get a picture as he was outside and I was inside and it was almost dark..

I thought for sure it was a baby hummingbird, so I called a good friend who has lots of them where she lives.  Well, imagine my surprise to find out this delightful little bug is a Hummingbird Hawk Moth.  It sure had me fooled.

Image from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macroglossum_stellatarum

Usually hummingbirds do hang around the plant on our patio, but I haven't seen any this year.   I was so excited to see this little bird-like thing hovering right over the same plant the hummingbirds use.   That's when my friend told me that fledging hummingbirds are usually the same size as their parents.   DUH - I should known that because that's how it is with other birds too. The little guy I saw sure looked like a baby.   He did appear to be gathering necter and his little wings were certainly beating like a hummingbirds.  His body isn't shaped right tho and I couldn't see enough of his beek to see how long that way.    He was a cute little fellow anyway and it did brighten our day here.

Guess the joke is on me this time.   It sure had me fooled and Don too.

Sorry I've been so lax at visiting and even posting.   I just don't have the "get up and go" that I used to have.   Between Twitter and the things I'm involved with there, plus Mario's blog and my own blog, I just can't keep up.   And the big deal is I can't sit at my desk long enough to do everything I should do.   I can't wait until Wednesday when I'm scheduled for another Radio Frequency Abulation treatment on the sacro joint.  It can't come soon enough.

Until next time,

Mary

Needed Brain Transplant!

Hi Friends,

This  week I take the prize for Dumb, Dumb, Dumb Of The Year Award.   Actually, I think I need a brain transplant.    

Here's the "tall and skinny" of it - readership has really dropped off to almost nothing in my blog.   I know I'm pretty boring, but I didn't think it was THAT bad to lose everyone at once.  A couple of days ago i discovered that when I published something, it was NOT appearing in my  own Dashboard, much less any other dashboards.

After much to do about what to rename my blog, I went into settings, changed the name.  Then, like a dummy, I changed the URL also.   I was only making a minor change  in the URL from "ShufflingAlongWithParkinsonsDisease.blogspot.com/ "  to"ShufflingAlongWithPDandET.blogspot.com/   

Dumb dumb here wasn't thinking that all of you readers had originally followed the blog under the original URL of ShufflingAlongWithParkinsonsDisease.blogspot.com/ and that is the URL your Dashboard or  any other means of reading blogs has  been looking for.  DUH!

I have now corrected the URL back to the original URL, so hopefully this will start to show up once again to all who signed up  to receive it.  I spent two days trying to solve this problem when it finally hit me as to what I had done.

If you hear of any brain transplants happening in your area, let me know and I'll sign up.  ha ha - I am a good candidate  for one.

Mary

Slaying The Dragon

Dear Readers,

Shame on me  for not updating my experience with Dragon since I first talked about using it.   How many months ago was that?   I know, there is no excuse.  

Anyway, I have killed the Dragon.  There are two reasons I have done this:

1.  Since the diagnosis of Essential Tremors over Parkinson's, and because I'm on the proper medication, I don't need to dictate anymore.  Usually I'm capable of typing myself.   Thus the motivation ran out the door!

2.  Dragon and Google do not get along.   This past week I had SIL (son-in-law computer geek) remove Dragon.   I still have the disk so can easily download the program again if need be.  I had so many problems both with Google and Dragon while trying to use Dragon.   Google finally won out!  

I would not totally give Dragon the thumbs down.  i know people that have/are using it and have no problem with it.  For some reason that was not the case on my computer.   I had it about 2 years ago, and stopped using it for the same problem - having problems with other programs.   Things are peaceful now that Dragon has been put to sleep!     I think they need to make some improvements in their program.  Oh well, for now we're just humming along just fine without it.

Stay tuned for the next post - I should have some news to share on the medical front.

Until next time,

Mary

Parkinson's Update For D - Moving Ahead

Dear Readers,

The Climbing Rose Bush (Seven Sisters) above is so gorgeous when blooming, but there is getting to be so much shade in our  backyard from our neighbor's tree that I'm afraid each year it won't survive.  The remainder of the flower bed below the trellis is a poor excuse for flowers.  Again, too much shade for sun loving plants.  Guess we'll have to do something about that next year. Don mentioned pulling everything out and just going with grass seed.  Stay tuned on that one.

We have some good news for Don - He saw his (our) Neurologist this past week.   We asked to have a DaTScan done on Don so he would have some peace of mind knowing for sure if he has Parkinson's or has Essential Tremors like I do. That scan will be done next Tuesday.

He also got a referral to another facility where he'll begin receiving two different types of therapy for Parkinson's patients:  "BIG and LOUD" is the name of the type of therapy.   More on these two programs later.   He'll be meeting with a therapist within a couple of weeks.

A very good friend in another state had seen information in her local newspaper on BIG and LOUD and sent it to us.   We are so thankful that she did because it looks like a very helpful program.  We did not even know that it was  available here.   

My back has improved every so slightly from the Aqua Physical Therapy I was doing plus the home exercises that I do daily.  I've also joined the CP Center again for independent exercise in their warm pool - 1 day a week.   

Good things are starting to happen around here - so stay tuned.

Mary

Remember When?

Dear Readers,

"We're having a Heat Wave.......We're having a Heat Wave.......A Tropical Heat Wave.........."   

Ah yes, I'm trying real hard to remember a couple of years ago in January when we had so much snow.   It's pretty hard tho when the temperature outside is 93!   Yup - 93 as in friggin HOT!   Oh, and the Dew Point was 74 today.   Our weather man says anything over 60 for Dew Point and you feel it. I've been drinking ice water all day, but that doesn't help much.   Thank goodness for Air Conditioning.

I've been running my errands in the morning and trying to make them "fast" ones

The weather man promises we'll get relief this weekend, after putting up with Tornadoes rumbling through.   In Wisconsin (yes, the Ice Bowl State) whenever we get temperatures like this, it is followed by severe storms, and they are already predicting tornadoes.  We're having a mini storm right now - high winds, buckets of rain, but the temperature hasn't dropped - no tornado tho - this time.

I know - I should quit complaining as many of you put up with this heat (and worse) for 2 or 3 months in the summer - every summer.  And we do have AC.  You do have my sympathy, but this is NOT NORMAL around here and my body says 'NO WAY!"  If I loved this HOT weather, I would have stayed in the south.    

Here's to cooler days ahead friends.  Hope you all remain cool and safe.  Until next time,

Mary

P.S.  Poor Mario doesn't understand why we won't take him outside when the sun is shinning so brightly.  He would probably be okay - for awhile anyway in the shade, but his humans would not be.

Thanks for listening to me grumble!  he he - I'm still HOT tho.

Essential Tremors Versus Parkinson's - Symptoms

Dear Readers,

Hello from Steamy Wisconsin.  The humidity is so thick you could almost cut it with knife (old phrase my mother used to say).  Not a breeze stirring either - downright  miserable outside.  Thank heavens for AC.

I've had a couple of questions regarding Essential Tremors and how it differs from Parkinson's.   They are closely related.   

In researching this in "The Parkinson's Disease  Treatment Book" by Dr. J. Eric Ahlskog at Mayo Clinic and also  webmd.com - Webmd sums it up the best.

 * Essential tremor is almost always worse when the affected part of the body is in motion than when it is at rest. Tremor associated with Parkinson's disease generally decreases or disappears when the person moves the affected part of the body.

 * Essential tremor is faster than the tremor of Parkinson's disease.

·* Small amounts of alcohol can noticeably reduce an essential tremor but usually have no effect on tremor caused by Parkinson's disease.

  * Essential tremor does not improve in response to levodopa, but it may be relieved with other medicines (propranolol, primidone, phenobarbital, or benzodiazepines).  (No kidding - I was on levodopa.)

  * Unlike tremor caused by Parkinson's disease, essential tremor will sometimes occur in family members.

As you can see, the two are very closely related. With ET, however, you don't get the frozen muscle problems that you end up with when having PD. In my case the determining factor after matching symptoms was the DaTSan, which clearly told the doctor my brain was showing ET versus PD.

Ha ha -I should have tried the alcohol test, but didn't.  Think I'll head for the kitchen after publishing this blog and see what happens.

I'm still taking only 1 tablet of the Primidone daily (but am allowed to take 2 daily). I'm doing quite well on this medication. As i have mentioned before, in some patients with ET the condition can turn into PD. There is no way of knowing and it's only a small percentage of people that happens to.

Oh yes, the back issue - I'm currently in Physical Pool Therapy.  It feels great while I'm in the pool, but then 2 hours later it's back to hurting and ice packs.
Hope you are managing to keep you cool this summer.

Mary

It's A Small, Small World!

Dear Readers,

This weekend we attended two graduation parties (tis the season).   On Sunday an amazing thing happened.   

The graduate's mom was introducing me to her own mother, her stepfather, and her mother's friend (we'll call her Lady H) and mentioned that Lady H was from a city (Beloit) that is 150 miles south of us.   Oh a whim, I asked Lady H if she by any chance knew Lady B, who is a very good friend of ours.   Beloit has a population of about 50,000, so you would expect her answer to be "no!"

Well, I nearly feel over when Lady H said Lady B happened to be a very good friend of hers and in fact, she was also a friend of the graduate's grandma.  Talk about a small world!  Who would have ever thought that would happen.

We had a very enjoyable time discussing mutual memories because they were also friends with another dear friend of ours (Lady BL who has passed on).

So many times I have asked someone from another city/town if they knew "so and so," and of course the answer is always no unless that person lives in a very small town where everyone knows everyone!

It's a small, small world after all!

Has that ever happened to you?


Mary

P.S.   This post was going to be about the difference between PD and ET, but I just had to tell this unusual story.