What a blessing to know that this mortal, earthbound experience of our eternal life is only one of the adventures in our journey and that we will take the lessons learned and the relationships of love and friendship with us into the next leg of our journey. This is a meditation that is refreshing when the body and spirit are tired or discouraged and in need of a rest stop along the way.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
Just Swaying to the Music...and holding each other up!!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Don & Carol
52 years and still dancing!
June 24th 2013 we will celebrate 52 years of marriage. The picture above is of us dancing at our granddaughter Alishia's wedding on June 1st 2013.
We have been blessed with 8 wonderful children; 16 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.
I'm not sure that you would call what we are doing, dancing, but we are swaying to the music and holding each other up.
I think that is how we have spent the last 52 years, and that is about all that any of us can do.
Our blessings are too numerous to count; we still pray that we can be of service to others.
Parkinson's has certainly slowed us down and we may not look pretty anymore, but we love being together and plan to enjoy an eternity together...swaying to the music and holding each other up!!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
DANCE for PD: SO MUCH FUN !! and a note about the National Parkinson's Foundation
THE WONDERFUL MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP
&
THE BROOKLYN PARKINSON GROUP
This is our new FAVORITE THING!! Don and I have enrolled in the Dance for PD dance class at the Des Moines, WA Senior Acttivity Center. The classes are wonderful...IT'S FREE...New Friends...a REASON to GET OUT of the HOUSE...we enjoy the one hour drive to Des Moines and the chance to eat lunch at a restaurant...and best of all WE ARE MOVING and TOGETHER. If you know someone with a PD diagnosis please check the website at "Dance for PD" and watch clips of classes on YouTube "Why Dance for PD".
While we were in Florida for our granddaughter's wedding, we had a chance to visit with our son who has just been diagnosed with Parkinson's; he asked if we had visited the National Parkinson's Foundation website and I had to admit that I had not. I picked up my iPad and immediately searched and found so much wonderful information (don't know why I hadn't gone there before...duh!). Our son told us that he had recieved the ID braclet (Free) from contacting them and also a wonderful information kit (also Free)...we ordered two...one for me and one for Don. I was also able to link to the wesite for this fabulous Dance Program and found one in our area (1 hour away) at home in Washington...I can't tell you how much this has helped us already!! We knew we had had a workout after the first class, but felt stronger and able to move better right away. I ordered the DVD they offered for at home use even before we left Florida so it would be there when we arrived home. The other day Don's caregiver arrived at 9:00 a.m. and we were both still in bed and feeling like we wanted to stay there all day, but of course I had to get up and take care of the dog while Justina helped Don. It wasn't long before I was ready to lay down on the couch; I just wasn't moving well or feeling motivated to do anything and then I remembered that I hadn't told Justina about the dance class. I thought that she might like to see the DVD and use the program with some of her other clients, so I put it in the DVD player. It wasn't long before we had the dining room chairs out and we were doing the dances together. Two dances later and I had my ENERGY back and felt motivated to keep on moving through the day. THIS IS THE BEST THING WE HAVE DONE FOR OURSELVES and when the GRANDKIDS came yesterday they each got a chair and JOINED IN...GOOD EXERCISE for all of us and so much FUN...when their mom came to take them home they wanted to show her their favorite dances...QUALITY TIME spent together (even if it was "screen time" on the big TV). So here is the information...hope you will feel like joining us. There are many of these dance classes across the country; check out the website to see if there is one near you.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Out-Foxing Parkinson's: the PaGeR STUDY....we've been invited!
YOU MIGHT BE INVITED TOO.....We got our invitation today...NOT one we would have been interested in a year and a half ago, but as we all know .....THINGS change. I got a call from Erica Martinez at the University of Washington. She said that they would "love" to have our family take part in the study. I told her that I would contact all eight of our kids and give them her contact information (she already has Pamela's). Enrollment and testing takes between 1 or 2 hours, and can be done at many of the VA Medical Centers and other locations across the country...for those of us living in the Seattle area, the Puget Sound VA Med. Center on Beacon Hill is the location. If you have 2 or more members of your family who have been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease you can contact Erica Martinez by leaving your contact information at the PaGeR Study website www.thepagerstudy.org or by telephone at 206-277-4592 (in the Seattle area) or 1-855-646-4221 (toll-free) and she will contact you ; you might be invited to join us....it's what we can contribute to the research efforts to find a cure for Parkinson's...I figure it's the least I can do with a pretty bad set of circumstances....
Monday, April 22, 2013
"Berry" Interesting...
According to an article published in WebMD (www.webmd.com) April 5, 2012, blueberries and strawberries may protect against Parkinson's Disease. In a study done with 130,000 participants, who were followed for 20 years, of whom 800 developed PD, those who consumed 2 or more servings of berries a week were nearly 25% less likely to develop PD than those who ate less than one serving per month. Men appear to have benefited the most. Men who had the most flavonoids in their diet were 40% less likely to develop Parkinson's disease than those who ate the least. Flavonoids are found in abundance in fruits and vegetables, especially berries and apples...also, tea and red wine.
MY COMMENT:
They may not be able to say definatively that berries protect one from developing PD, but this is a GREAT excuse to have berries on your cereal or ice cream ALL YEAR round....
...I'll take this kind of "medicine" any day!!
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Ai Chi and Water Exercise for Parkinson's
I recently came across a reference to Ai Chi (Tai Chi in the water) and became interested in it's possible benefits for Parkinson's patients. I have not tried this exercise program yet, but wanted to pass along the link for the books and CDs that I found available at aquagear.com. They are a swimming supply company online and have many books by Ruth Sova who has developed instruction materials (including CDs and DVDs) for Ai Chi. There is, also, a book available from aquagear called "Water Exercise for Parkinson's". I'm ordering some of this material and plan to help Don "get back in the water" and try some of the exercises with him. I'll keep you posted on how this all works out. If anyone has had experience with Ai Chi and Parkinson's I'd love to hear from you.
Archery and Parkinson's
Just before Christmas, Don and I were at Cabela's (one of Don's favorite hangouts) when Don decided to try out one of their youth bows to see if he could pull a 15 lb. bow and maybe be able to try target shooting again. When he enrolled at Cal State LA, low those many years ago, he found that he needed a 1 credit class. He saw some people out on an athletic field who were shooting bows at targets and he asked if this was a class...the coach told him that it was a team, but if he could shoot well enough he could sign-up for the team and receive 1 credit for participating on the team. That sounded like fun to him, and since he had done some bow hunting, he tried out and became a member of the team. So, you see, archery was like anold friend that Don hadn't seen for awhile.
We bought him the 15 lb. youth bow and some arrows and he started going to the indoor range that is near our home. By mid-January it was evident that he was getting strong enough that he needed to get another bow...this time a 25 lb. recurve. Don has been going to the indoor range and shooting from his wheelchair about 3 times a week; he's made lots of friends and since I can drop him off and know that there are people around him who care and will remind him of medication times and be there to help if he needs it, I have 2-3 hours to myself; without worry. And Don will be picking up his old college bow (a 30 lb.er) next week. Archery has strengthened his right arm and given him friends; a challenge and something to look forward to having fun. Archery has beed good for both of us!! Sure beats using Thera-Bands and an upside down patio table to shoot day-old-bread balls to the ducks!!
SERIOUSLY...here's proof...
...and Now We are Three...
Sadly we have just learned that our 42 year old son has Parkinson's...when it comes to PD you really don't want to be just like Dad. Although, if you must have PD being like Dad in attitude isn't all bad. Don has kept his sense of humor and his determination to stay active in life. Don returned to shooting target archery (more about that in a seperate post) . We have contacted all eight of our children and our neurologist has refered us to the PaGeR study (Parkinson's Genetic Research Study). I have contacted them and left a message; hope to hear back from them soon. I'll post more about the Study and put a link to their website in the side bar.
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