https://videopress.com/v/JFYkKYjj?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&posterUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fvideos.files.wordpress.com%2FJFYkKYjj%2Fimg_2747_mov_std.original.jpg&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true Andi rides a Vespa in Tuscany. Fun!!!! Click here if you have less than two minutes to learn how it feels to have Parkinson's. I have been feeling overwhelmed with my overly full plate. Is the answer a smaller plate or fewer items on my usual plate? Clearly this metaphor isn’t working since I’m …
Sleep is the new sex
Or so you’d believe if you read, well, pretty much anything. Coincidentally, I’d already decided on today’s topic; I just had to write it. I scrolled on over to my mail, clicked on the icon, and voila! My mail opened on this, from my friend and fellow Parky blogger (and so much more) Sharon Krischer, …
Positive attitude: blessing or curse
I spent a day recently with two old friends. Someone mentioned another member of our friend group who had just completed her last round of chemo. Everyone made note of her positive attitude in the face of a scary diagnosis. We reminded one another that this friend boasted a naturally optimistic disposition; she fell into …
Great summer listening
You’re soaking up rays on some coast or other, hiking through a piney mountain pass, or.sipping your favorite iced tea on the deck. Just add some fascinating tales of medical weirdness. like the person with Parkinson’s who buys a store’s entire supply of prunes, and another who who can smell the disease on those who …
Hidden talents
84% of us have something special in our arsenal of abilities. Actually, that’s a totally made up figure, but I bet it’s true. But first, I shall treat you to a hilarious little video. This could easily be me ...or any one of us. Next up; here’s a nice little math problem for you; if …
I quit the clinical trial
You might be expecting me to tell you I’d had it with all the redundant questionnaires, the symptom diaries, the schlepping to and from the hospital for assorted pokings and proddings, and the endless queries from friends and acquaintances about the scientific underpinnings of the project. Folks, I practically flunked freshman biology. I have the …
I had my head examined
Wednesday, 3:45 am. My airport chauffeur has arrived. Ooh fun, you’re thinking, maybe like me, associating middle of the night flights with Negronis by the pool, the satisfying thwack of balls being volleyed down at the beach. Um, not exactly. I’m flying from Boston to New York for a PETscan, a requirement for my clinical …
Adventures in Transportation
A wee bit of background. I'm having surgery on my brain as a participant in a clinical trial for a new gene therapy for Parkinson's. Yes, there will be holes drilled into my brain. No, I won't be awake for it, and it isn't expected to be painful. The study provides what they call "concierge" …
Drill baby drill
That’s what I’ll tell the surgeon some months hence as he prepares to inject a virus into the command center of my very essence, that is, my brain. Yes, the clinical trial testing a gene therapy's efficacy in slowing disease progression in Parkinson's Disease is on, baby! In my typical Only Know What You Need …
Lean in…to lethargy
I woke thinking….Hmmm. Well I probably wake thinking hmmmm every day. Today’s hmmm translates as “how can I waste house-bound guilt-free time today? But is there really such a thing as wasted time anyway? I mean we spend time. We use time., sometimes wisely sometimes not. Either way, those five minutes are gone forever.. What’s …
