Happy Mother's Day

Art work by Ann  at Zoolatry

Dear Readers,


I'm deviating a little this week by doing a post as a tribute to my own mother, who left this world for a better place in 1995 at the age of 78 after suffering from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease for only about 4 years.  In my eyes, she was a great lady - a hero.   No, you would not have ever heard her name unless our families knew each other - she wasn't famous.   But she was a very strong, courageous lady - ahead of her era.   And I truly admire her for her strength and miss her so much even tho she's been gone for so many years.


Martha (Mom) was second oldest of 10 children and had to drop out of school in the 8th grade to help on the farm, which was typical of her generation.   Her teacher talked to Grandpa and tried to convince him that Martha was very smart and should stay in school.  But in grandpa's eyes, only boys needed to graduate from High School - a woman's place was in the home taking care of the kids.   How times have changed - thank God!   Her life was a hard one, yet she never complained.   


She married my biological father about a year before I came along.   I think she married him to escape an alcoholic, abusive father at home. Unknowingly, my father was also an alcoholic.   She divorced him when I was about 3 because she wanted something better for me than how she grew up  - in an alcoholic, abusive household.    The final straw came for her when one night my biological father was sitting in the tavern drinking, as he often did, when I was at home with an extremely high temperature and had pneumonia.  Mother told me i nearly died that night, but a neighbor came over and took she and I to the hospital so I could be treated.   To get me out of that environment, she packed me up and we moved  with one of her married sisters until she could find a job.   She spent a few years being a live-in housekeeper so we would have a place to live too.   


Keep in mind that she hadn't even graduated from high school.  Also keep in mind this was  in the 1930's and 40's.   Women just didn't get divorced in those days - you were supposed to stand by your man! But she wanted more for me than alcoholism and physical/mental abuse.  A divorced person was looked down upon back in those days - yes, truly they were.   In fact, many times you were shunned.  Some people would not let their children play with your children for fear of what you might do to their children!   After all, you were DIVORCED!


She eventually met and married my stepfather when I was in 3rd grade.  He was a very nice man and really the one I look to and referred to as my dad. he he - I remember being very sad when my mother got married again because it had just been she and I for all my life (that I could remember).  Now this strange man was going to come between us.  But that strange man was wonderful to me and treated me like a daughter.


I know her story is not all that unusual of that generation (except for being divorced - which just was not ever done back then) but I wanted to share why I loved and respected my mother so much.   She was one strong, gutsy lady to strike out on her own with no job and no education and a small baby to boot!


I think sometimes we forget about all the sacrifices our parents have made or are making in our behalf.  I certainly never thought about all this when she was alive, so I never thanked her for it.  And I wished I had.  So this mother dear, is a tribute to you for all you have sacrificed for me.  Mother, you were the best and I love you for all you did for me.


Happy Mother's Day to to all you dear readers too.  If you are a mother to either a human or furbaby, you are appreciated even if we don't tell you often enough. 


Mary   

Making A Fashion Statement - NOT

Dear Readers,

Dream Shoe

When you have Parkinson's Disease, there is a good chance that you will have balance problems - unfortunately it goes with the disease.  Thus, you need to have a good foundation so you can maintain your balance while walking.   Your days of wearing a beautiful, stylish shoe such as this one above are pretty much over.   In reality, you will be in the following - or something similar - especially when outside.

They don't exactly make a fashion statement, but will keep you standing versus falling flat on your face.   


I can get dizzy just walking outside to the patio to put bird seed in one of the feeders.   Yesterday  I found myself getting woozy as I looked up  to find the hook the feeder was hanging on and started to lose my balance.  Fortunately, I was able to stabilize myself and not fall.   Had I been in high heels, I would not have caught myself.   This happens in spite of my efforts to practice balancing on each foot several times a day.   All it takes is for the head and eyes to move too rapidly up or down and over you go - head over teakettle! 


Oh there are tons of flat shoes and sandals that I could wear if I didn't have back problems and foot problems.   That's a separate issue from the Parkinson's issue.   You just have to make sure you have a good firm foundation on which to stand if you have Parkinson's.   


Well, my wonderful yard crew (Harrison and dad) are here taking care of the yard, and I have to pay them for a job well done again.   So, will close for this time. 


Would you believe I managed to prepare this entire blog with the new blogger interface without screwing anything up?   As is the usual case with "new and improved" items, it's more complicated than ever to use now, in my opinion - but then, I don't always like changes,   


Mary

The Journey From D to D - - Not a Subject For The Dinner Table

Dear Readers, 

How did this ever happen!    How does one go from diapers to Depends in 73 years?   (snicker)   How can this be when in my head I'm only 53!

When I started this blog on September 11, 2011 it was with the intentions of being a helpful tool for someone else who is newly diagnosed with Parkinson's and struggling with all the changes your body goes thru - or perhaps in helping to broaden your knowledge base to better understand what your parent might be going thru.   It's my perspective of things and what I have picked up from reading various reputable articles.   Here we are - 7 months later and I'm already talking about (gasp) Depends!

When you have Parkinson's your muscles weaken.   Your bladder is one large muscle.  Did you know that?   I didn't..   Now if you have Parkinson's, it doesn't automatically mean you will end up using Depends, but the chances of it happening are very good.   Muscles tend to weaken as we age anyway, then add Parkinson's to the equation and like magic your bladder muscles weaken too.   What did we ever do before these wonderful products were available?

I am a big water drinker.  If I didn't drink so much water, I'd probably not be buying Depends.  Bbut I love water and you need to drink a lot for urinary tract health and general health.   The biggest problem happens at night.  When you have Parkinson's and Arthritis in the spine, your movements are slower.  Thus getting up out of bed in a hurry for a bathroom trip in the middle of the night just isn't always possible.   It is so nice to have the Depends to depend on for those occasiona l leakages that happen.  (I'm not being paid by Depends - in fact, I buy any brand that's available and is on sale!   They are  nearly all the same.)

While I'm on the subject, Urinary Track Infections are on the rise with the aging population. Dr. Duncan Jefferson blog post on "Sniffing out Urinary Tracts Infections -UTIs" is a very interesting article.  Everyone is susceptible to UTIs - not just the elderly or young children.      You'll remember I've mentioned Dr. Jefferson's blog in the past as being an excellent resource as he writes about all kinds of medical issues in easy-to-understand language. You might nose around in his blog sometime - it's full of helpful information and certainly this post is very interesting.

Until next time,

Mary

What A Day!

Dear Readers,


What a day this has been.   Thankfully, everything is fine now, but it  was an interesting morning and one we don't care to repeat.    I had an entirely different post in my head for an Easter post, but that went by way of the trash bin.


Don woke me up at 6:00, out of a deep sleep, by shaking me.   "Get up - I fell and am bleeding all over the place."    Not the best wake-up call.  Having Mario give me kitty kisses or stare in my eyes only an inch from my face is much more pleasant he he.


Don's description was a little dramatic - he was dripping blood on the carpeting but it wasn't all over the place - just a trail going from the bed into the bathroom.   I'm sure he was still stunned that he fell out of bed (yes  -  fell out of bed") and apparently hit his nose on a table nearby and landed on his face.   His face and nose have a beautiful, bright red, rug burn on them,  his pride is wounded, but otherwise, he's okay.   He is lucky he didn't break something!   


It seems he was dreaming he had fallen out of bed and banged his head.  Well, in reality, his dream wasn't a dream - it was real.  


Since he is on asprin every day as a blood thinner (after having had open heart surgery about  12 years ago), I  was worried about either a concussion or internal bleeding in his head, so I suggested we get dressed right away and drive to the emergency room.   


Four hours, one cat scan of his head, blood work, and an EKG, later -  he was pronounced okay.   


Being a Saturday morning, the ER didn't seem unusually busy, but they had to wait for all test results to come  back, wait for a doctor to read them, wait for the discharge nurse, wait for, wait for, wait for.........   They sure did give him a good going over tho.


We finally got home at 1:00 after stopping off at the drug store for a prescription - very thankful that things were not as bad as they could have been.   I promptly called the man who steam cleans our carpeting, and he came right out (was I lucky or what?)  He performed his magic (he he - his business is called Magic Carpet Cleaning and he did a fantastic job.  There is no sign of an emergency situation in this house.


So, on a happier note  - Happy Easter or PassOver or Happy Day blessings to all of you.   


Until next time - 


Mary

Feet - Human Paws

Bad picture of our Magnolia Tree this spring.

Dear Readers,

Todays post has nothing to do with Parkinson's Disease, but it is something you may very well be faced with in your lifetime - (Gasp!) Toe Fungus!   (Okay, you can stop reading here if you have any objections to this non-dinner conversation topic and come back again when I'm on a more pleasant subject.  he he )

I have had Toe Fungus for probably 20 years on one or more toes and avoided wearing sandals most of my adult life because of it.   At one time the doctor tried a dosage of Spornox on me to treat this problem, but I then broke out in a severe case of hives.   I stopped that drug immediately and just decided to live with the problem. Oh, I did mention my toes to my family doctor on occasion, and his comment was "Oh feet!"   It was very obvious he didn't want anything to do with the subject either.

Fast forward a few years and add arthritis to the toes and spine, in addition to the Fungus.   I recently had to go in search off a Podiatrist to treat the fungus problem and find one who could  cut back an ingrown toenail or a toenail that I felt was going to become ingrown.   That's when I found out that most of the podiatrists today don't want to see a patient for toenail trimming - or fungus nails.   Interesting!!   Why?   I don't know!

I finally found a Podiatrist that would treat my ingrown nail only (according to the receptionist).  (He would not trim the nails with the fungus.)   I grabbed the appointment while I could get one and went off to see that doctor yesterday.

Fortunately, he did decide to trim my horrendous nails that Don and I have trouble trimming because they are so thick.  I did not ask him to - he did it on his own,   He was hesitant to prescribe Lamisil (a medication to treat toenail fungus) because it can damage the kidneys and I'm already on lots of strong medication.   So we talked about removing the toenail covering the big toe.   I'm going to have that done - only will wait until early May so it's warmer outside and maybe I can wear open toed sandals while the toe heals.

I was really shocked when I heard doctor after doctor say that they don't do toenail trimming.   i'm fortunate that Don and I have each other, but what about those people who have no one to help them?   When you have Arthritis and get to be this age, it isn't always easy to trim your own toenails.   

Why is it that podiatrist after podiatrist office told me they were not taking any new patients for toenail trimming?   I know Medicare doesn't pay for that, and that's understandable.  But if a patient isn't capable of doing their own and is willing to pay to have it done, what is a person to do?  Yes, I could have gone to some salon for a pedicure, but I didn't want that.  I wanted to make sure the person doing the trimming knew how to work with toes that had a fungus and could maybe offer a solution to the ongoing problem.   I wanted a foot doctor!  Is that unreasonable?  

In the grand scheme of life, this is a minor problem, but it's very annoying.   

Does anyone else have that problem and have you also found it difficult to get in to see a Podiatrist for nail trimming?  

Mary

The Other Kind Of Dragon

Dear readers,


I think I mentioned in my last post that the program Dragon Naturally Speaking had arrived at our doorstep late last week.  I have spent 3 days playing with it, and i can honestly say I LOVE IT!   


In my opinion, it's a hard program to learn when you are old and technologically challenged.  But, it's getting easier each day.  Ha ha - those first 3 days were filled with my calling the Customer Service number probably at least 20 times, usually needing help with the blue tooth gizmo.   This is my first experience with a Blue Tooth - ya ya - I know we're behind the times here.  he he  - but at least I knew what a blue tooth was.  ha ha  


I have to say the customer service was wonderful, patient, and walked me through things step by step.   I do much better with learning via hands-on rather than reading.  


I'm especially happy that it will work on Twitter, which was my main reason for getting it - to keep in touch with the many friends I've met there and in the blog world.   


ha ha - I did learn the hard way tho that one has to be careful when one carries on a conversation within your own household while wearing the blue tooth.  Don and I had a conversation yesterday and Dragon transcribed the entire conversation and typed it on Twitter.   Fortunately, it was way way too long to send out, but I sure did have a lot of back spacing to do to erase all of it.


Probably the biggest challenge is to memorize all the commands one can use.   Presently, I use a combination of dictating to Dragon, but I then correct Dragon's mistakes or mistakes I've made.   Dragon and I are both trying to get used to each other.  ha ha - someone asked if I was going to call him Puff.  Actually, I think that's a good idea.   Once Puff and I get used to each other, life will be easier.


It's funny because in all my working years I used to do transcription of School Psychological Reports, and School Social Worker Reports.  All of a sudden I have to learn to dictate - which isn't easy.   You really need to pre-plan a little as to what you want to say before you start the paragraph.   Puff likes to be told punctuation, which you have to remember to toss in as you are dictating.   It will get easier as time goes on and I become more familiar with the program.  The other strange thing for me is writing something without typing it.  My brain has always automatically communicated with my fingers.   I never really gave much thought to what I was writing - it just seemed to flow out my fingers.   Now I have to think ahead.   I suspect this will become easier with use also.  


I'm sure a younger person could breeze through this without half the struggles I go through.   But, I'll get there - it just may take me longer.   Oh yes, the other downside is that it doesn't know cat talk.  So Mario has to tell me what he wants to say and then I have to tell Puff in human talk.   I could take the time to teach Puff some of Mario's special words, but that will take time also.


The entire program is rather amazing actually.   Now i wonder if Dragon can balance the checkbook for me and clean the refrigerator.


Mary

Why Haven't You Posted?

Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
(YES, that is one of many glaciers)

Dear Friends,


Last night two dear friends asked why I hadn't posted in awhile.   Well, I guess several reasons - it takes me longer these days to do anything (including think).  Then last week there were a couple of days that I could barely type because my hands were bouncing around all over the place.  I was also going through a "dumps" period for a week or two.   You know the kind - "poor me" - "why me"  - pity weeks.  No, I don't want anyone else to feel sorry for me - I did enough of that myself last week.  As I have said, there are many  young people in this big wide world with worse problems.   I really feel that way 99.9% of the time.  But I guess a case of the "poor me blues"  was bound to creep up on me.  It has been a year since I was diagnosed with PD, and this is the first time I've gone through it.      


My self-pity period may have been blessing in disguise as it forced me into doing something proactive.   I've purchased a computer program called "Dragon Nuance Naturally Speaking."    Several good friends on Twitter have been encouraging me for about 6 months to look into it.   After having a bad couple of weeks of not being able to type much, I decided it was TIME to at least check into it.


My big concern was that it might not be compatible with Twitter and Blogger, as those are my two big social outlets.   A call to the company representative assured me it was compatable.   And, it just so happened they had a little special going on whereby there would be $50 off the Blue Tooth head set.   My son-in-law (SIL) told me the Dragon has been around for years - they kind of come on strong for awhile, then fade away for awhile, then come back strong again after improving things.   He said there was no concern with my computer not being able to handle it.    After talking it over with Don, I decided to order it.


What is Dragon?   It's a system that will allow me to dictate the words to be typed and the program will type for me.   Beats me as to how this is possible. But I've always said (especially when there are problems with the computer) that there are little tiny gremlins running around inside the computer and every now and then they say "gotcha."   So maybe now the little gremlins are the ones who will be typing for me.   he he.    


I'm excited for it to come, which will probably be one day this week.  Unfortunately, there will be a learning curve for both me and the software.   Dang, I swear this computer stuff is smarter than humans sometimes.   I had to laugh when she said the program would have a learning curve too.  I wonder if it gets an A, B or a C and who will rate it.   


Oh, and does that mean I'll be pacing the floor while dictating.  ha ha - every boss I ever had that dictated paced the floor!!   Stay tuned for more news on this one.


Mary