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Deep Brain Stimulation — The Magic Trick – Life with Parkinson’s
“Know what you want to know.” — Marion Lewenstein There you have it – the distillation of my Stanford education in six little words. Save all that expensive tuition and meditate on this quote instead.. Marion Lewenstein was my journalism instructor at Stanford- I had the pleasure of visiting her during a reunion in 2017. […]
Deep Brain Stimulation — The Magic Trick – Life with Parkinson’s
Occasionally this comes up in conversation at our support group and elsewhere. This link here is to a fellow blogger who is evaluating the pros and cons for herself.
Carpe Diem.
It is May – the fourth
I sure do not want to be grumpy today but…
We had a wonderful dinner with friends last evening. This gathering had been put off three times for various reasons but yesterday we got together. Gary showed off his wine aerator when he was pouring the wine. He told me he cannot tell the difference. His palate is older than mine and I had gin and tonic. Perhaps he was sold a bill of goods by an aerator salesman.
Everyone contributes when we have these dinners. My job was bread. Yesterday after several false starts I got two loaves of italian (my version of italian) together. They were remarkably good so I should perhaps I will note in my notebook of cooking disasters what went wrong and what I did to recover.
Today Cheryl is very tired. She refuses to admit it. I suppose I am tired also. We did not stay out late but we did sit up and watched a PBS show to unwind a bit when we got home.
We had french toast made from the second (leftover) loaf of bread from last night. It was good again. I am very thankful that I do not have celiac disease. One reason to not be grumpy today.
Cheryl spent some time cleaning the kitchen after she had her french toast with blueberries breakfast. All the time I was worried about her. I think I am anxious for her because the last few times she has fallen, it has happened in the kitchen. This time however she moved a lot of things around and wiped counters; swiffered the floor; threw the kitchen tablecloth into the washer along with the clean one she got out to replace it with (both will be clean in soon); and then became tired and uninterested. She took her ten o’clock meds and went to lay down for a bit. When she awakened, she announced, “Today is my birthday!”.
It is not and stupid me pointed out that it is May the fourth. I thought about – may the fourth be with you – but left that unsaid. She responded with, I wish people would stop changing the dates or some other angry anxious comment. I backed off quickly. I apologized to her and pointed out that her birthday was next week on the tenth of May but tonight we should go somewhere and celebrate her birthday.
She became calm and sat down to watch the gabfest on the View. I brought her a coke and set about putting the kitchen back together. I discovered that she had thrown the tablecloth from the table in with the folded one from the drawer into the washer and I did not catch that before tossing a bunch more towels in on top. (Damnation. I became immediately grumpy.)
I sat down to write this little story and laugh at myself. I do not want to be grumpy today.
She actually slept pretty well and later today we will probably get out and take a walk in the park. And celebrate her birthday. There is nothing to be grumpy about. We had dinner with friends last evening. It was good company and good conversation.
Perhaps I will make a cake later.
Carpe May the fourth Diem.
The Last Day of April
A Happy Birthday celebration — a week or so early. A poorly written sonnet:
Tis the last of April, just beyond reach
is May the tenth the date of your birth
it’s said by some, it may have been breach
No matter the details, my life gained great worth
That night that we met, our story yet untold,
unknown at the time how beautiful our life;
no one but the Great One could have foretold,
the thrill in my heart when you became my wife
Here surrounded by loving and caring siblings
To celebrate another year past with great glee
I wrote this sad poem, earnest and small scribblings
with the deepest love. I hope you agree
Our life together is amazing as your mom would say
I think so too, so, Happy Birthday!
– Paul
Carpe Diem
Fast
There is absolutely nothing that goes fast in our life anymore. Do I miss it? My immediate reaction is NOT.
I like how the young people emphasize comments by using ALL CAPS. That enables their fast comments about most anything that strikes them.
FAST however is gone from our life with Parkinson. Planning and thoughtfulness and SLOW are the current buzz words in our life.
I have noticed as I get older (I am Old) and drive my wife with PD to various exercise or other social activities that many drivers – not necessarily young drivers – move through traffic fast. What is their hurry?
Even when I am feeling as though I am late for something, I ponder what will be the result if I am later than I expected to the destination – mass, restaurant, exercise, whatever. The end result is similar to removing one’s arm from a bucket of water.
Nothing. Maybe a couple drips on the floor.
Carpe Diem – FAST
I Have to get the Article Written
With that thought she got up at 1:30-ish in the early morning. It has come to me that when her dreams become real, I have to just go with the flow. I tell myself that our experience has shown that this episode will last about two hours, so be patient and helpful during that time. Some might to this as a prayer but I think of it as description of what I need to do to help her get through this nuanced dream she is experiencing right now. (And Carpe The Damn Early Morning Diem. 🙂 ) I suggested that she should have something to eat and she would be more alert, her mind would work better while she was writing the article. She agreed with that and asked what we had.
I suggested cereal with a banana cut up on top and some o.j. She took her vitamins. Later after she decided a piece of coffee cake from yesterday morning would be good also, we discussed how she could get started. She looked at the two-day old paper on the kitchen table for I bit. Maybe she was thinking about what to write? She did not tell me.
I suggested we watch TV for a bit while her thoughts gelled. We watched a couple TV shows that were previously recorded. After a few minutes as was our previous experience she became tired again and we returned to bed at 3 am.
The alarm went off at 7 am and I fetched her morning meds and we returned to bed for a little longer as we usually do. Twenty to thirty minutes is usually enough for her to get moving. I fell asleep a little more soundly than ordinary.
I woke up and realized I could not hear her. I got up and put some clothes on. I searched the condo and could not find her anywhere inside. The front door was unlocked. This morning when she got up, she left the house.
Did the rapture happen? It scared me. It is my greatest fear, not the rapture, the fact that she had wandered off looking for something she could only see in her mind. Fortunately she was just outside the front door to our building and it was not raining.
Later as she was laying down to rest she told me, she was looking for anyone awake. She was scared that no one was here. She had decided to go look in the next building for anyone. She asked me if that woman who runs things here was around – whoever that may be. I left, “What are you thinking about?”, unsaid and suggested we go out and get some sun. Take a walk. Maybe we could have lunch.
I felt bad that I fell asleep again.
Carpe Diem.
Always Learning
One can always learn new things if you open your heart to the experience.
Recently we met with a dementia specialist. It was not intended on my part to be one on one but as it turned out it was. She had several key points to deescalate frustration and anger. Like many things that happen these days with Cheryl and me, I often forget which people and services I have investigated before. Theresa Youngstrom is a nurse and a dementia specialist. In a previous post I quoted these points from her website.
From Theresa’s website;
- Always approach from the front.
- Watch your body language and tone in addition to the words you use.
- Smile and wait until they acknowledge your presence before touching them.
- Validate their point when they are upset even if they are wrong.
- Say you are sorry at the first sign of their frustration to keep situations at a minimum.
After we talked for a bit the other day, I realized that I had already learned a lot from her about deescalation of frustrating and angry situations.
I am sure there is more to learn.
Carpe Diem.
Kardia Mobile
This company wants me to buy a device that pretty much tells me I am not dead yet. I already know that. I run to the store and run to the library and run to the doctor fairly often. I am pretty sure I am still running okay and not dead.
Many people, probably most, spend a great deal of time running here and there. It is ingrained in us. We chide each other if we are not active. But instead of running what if we took a deep breath and stopped to look around at God’s wonder of Spring and the renewal of life. It happens every year. It is truly amazing.
Breathe and notice the world. Run for exercise and health but do it outside where He can show you His wonder.
Run: Carpe Diem.
Why don’t you like me? — Standing up to Parkinson’s
The title of this blog post is the name of the poem posted in a discussion group. Zella wrote earlier this week… “I thought my husbands poem might be suitable for Parkinson’s Awareness Day!” To which LAJ responded… “I thought it was going to be about a caregiver who thought their husband didn’t like them anymore, […]
Why don’t you like me? — Standing up to Parkinson’s
As Sue thought, I thought this was going to be about the care giver. It is not. It broke my heart. I have watched Cheryl struggle with opening many things. And I heard Parkyboy talking in the background.
Carpe Diem.
Let There Be PIE
Mavis is here building the apple pie – as I wrote on Friday. This is the end result. We took it to Anna’s house for Easter dinner. The pie dish is now in the dishwasher. All is well.
Cheryl told me today that we should get a deep dish pie pan for Mavis for her birthday.
This particular pan came from my mother’s house, so, it has some history. It also has a recipe for quiche that I think I want to try. Quiche is pie with a different flavor, savory rather than sweet.
Quiche Lorraine: 1 C. shredded Swiss cheese, 1/2 lb. bacon fried and crumbled (I interpreted 1/2 16 as 1/2 lb.), 2 C. half and half or milk, 4 eggs, 1/8 teaspoon red or white pepper, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/3 C. minced onion, 1/4 tsp. sugar. Preheat the oven to 425° F and prep pastry. Sprinkle cheese, bacon and onion in pie plate. Beat eggs & blend in the remaining ingredients. Pour cream and egg mixture into the dish. Bake for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 300° F, bake 25 to 30 minutes until a knife inserted comes out clean. Let stand for ten minutes before serving in wedges.
Let there be pie!
Carpe Diem.
Adjunct_Wizard 