Good Intentions Just Isn't Enough Sometimes

Hi Friends,

Well, when I wrote two weeks ago I had good intentions of writing at least once a week.   Already I have fallen off the wagon and it's only been 2 weeks. Good intentions just isn't enough! 

Fall is at it's peak around here.  I was out a couple of evenings trying to get pictures of our trees around the neighborhood, but unforunately all of the treets have buildings in the view and I have no way of blurring the background.   At least this wasn't taken on a busy street like some were that I took.  

I got a new Nikon point and shoot camera and I'm having fun taking pictures. This one has a anti-shake feature that has worked beautifully for me especially and quite well for Don.    Prior to this camera, every other picture taken by me was blurry.   Now I only get a blurry picture now and then.

After taking several weeks off from my Water walking program at the CP Center, I finally got my bones over there and walked for 20 minutes.   I know that doesn't sound very long, but I know from previous experience that I can't over do in the water.  You really pay for it.   Next time I'll increase the time to 25 minutes, and then 30, and.......  I hope to get there next Monday and then on a regular basis once again.   

We are so fortunate to have the CP Center right in our city.  They have two large pools that have warm water for their clients to help keep their limbs limber!   When the pool isn't in use by their clients, they schedule classes for adults daily.   They have an amazing program for all levels of activity.   My plan is to get on a schedule of twice a week - perhaps Mondays and Thursdays.   

I was out trying to take pictures for a bit this afternoon, but was not successful.   Will try again maybe Sunday afternoon.   What stage is your fall color at?   It's such a beautiful time of year!  Wish we could hang on to these falls days and skip winter!  ha ha

Until next time,

Thanks for visiting.

Mary

"Where Have You Been Little Girl!

Hi,

"Where Have You Been Little Girl..........."    That reminds me of  a song only I don't have any idea what song or what the lyrics are!  Don't mind me, my mind goes off center now and then.  he he  And sometimes things remind me of a song but I can never remember what song!

Actually I was having fun for the past 2 weeks.   A dear Twitter and blogging friend (@PumpkinPuddy's mom) came to spend a week in Wisconsin.   I had a great time and enjoyed her visit so much that it was difficult to say goodbye on the Friday she left.   We even did a mini Wisconsin animal meetup in Oshkosh and met 4 other Twitter friends that live in our state.   This was the first time most of us had ever met in person.    After being on Twitter for a good 4+ years, you get pretty close and know each other quite well even tho you have never met in person.

Of course I couldn't keep up with LadyC 100%, but did manage to spend quite a bit of time with her.  Other times, like when touring Lambeau Field and the Atrium, she was content to have the time to wander around on her own.  Together we went to Door County (my favorite spot in Wisconsin).   And we did a couple of half day things such as going by the University Park along the Bay of Green Bay and sitting by the water, taking a wonderful boat tour of the Fox River on the Foxy Lady (where this picture was taken of the shoreline along the Fox River!  

I had a great time, but was really tired out at the end of each day.   She lives in Colorado, so she had a 2-hour time difference to adjust to.  Unfortunately, I was yawning and ready to end my day at about 8:00 when she was just gearing up.  he he 

Mario posted several pictures in his blog that were taken while she was here if you are interested.  http://mariodacat.blogspot.com/  I will be posting a few of them in my blog too over the next few weeks.

I'm going to try to be a little more regular now in posting - at least that is my goal.   It's either that or I need to give up on the blog.

Hope you are having a beautiful fall.  Temp is in the 70's here and colors are not quite peak yet - but will be next week.

Mary


  

D Tackles Big & Loud

Dear Friends,

A couple of months ago, a very good friend sent us a newspaper clipping of a program offered in her area for Parkinson's Patients.  It is  called Big And Loud.   

I immediately got on the good "ole" internet and researched the program to see if we had one here.   YES!!!

Big and Loud is conducted on a one-on-one basis with an Occupational Therapst and a Speech/Language Therapist.   Parkinson's suffers usually walk in tiny little steps and are not good at picking up  their feet for each step - thus the name "Parkinson's Shuffle."   This program is to re-train the brain to take BIG steps to help improve or maintain balance and hopefully avoid falling from not picking up your feet.  It should help prevent some accidents down the road, and give the patient much needed exercise.  Don has already learned how to get himself off the floor should he fall.  He lays down on the floor and has to roll over onto his knees.   Sounds simple right?  Well, try it sometime - especially if you are over 70!  

The Loud portion is handled by a Speech/Language Therapist.  It should help improve the sound of Don's voice.  Parkinson's patients quite often have very soft voices that don't project well as the disease does affect muscles - including throat muscles.   This should also help later on with swallowing, etc. 

Don is into week 3 of Big And Loud, enjoys the sessions, and has been working very hard at home on his own.   I can already tell he is walking straighter and talking louder.   He's tired out by the end of the day but is very dedicated at getting his exercises in twice a day - no matter what!  It is an intense program as he meets with the Therpists  for 1 hour Monday thru Friday.

I'm so thankful that @Katiebella2's mom happened to see the information in her local paper and told us about.  I'm a little ticked that Don's doctor didn't mention it.  He knew about the program because I asked him about it when Don had his appointment a month ago or so.  Don needed a referral in order to participate and the doctor did give Don the referral.   He did make the comment that several of his patients did well on the program.   He might not have mentioned it because it is a program not offered by his hospital group.  Don has to go to another hospital group to participate.  Fortunately, we have the health plan where we can go anywhere.

If you or a loved one have Parkinson's I highly recommend checking into this program.  It can only help - even if it helps only a tiny bit -  it's worth doing. 

I'm going to try to get on a schedule of posting once a week and get around to visit you every day or two.  It's a goal anyway.

We've cooled off considerably.  In fact we're having perfect weather - 70's and very low humidity.  ha ha - I'm a very happy camper!

Until next time,

Mary

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