Hi everyone..I cant believe its already the last week of August!!..The summer flew by..Days are getting shorter, and the nights are getting cooler

My friend John who Ive been going clamming with occasionally, his boat sunk last Wednesday night, so we teamed up and went clamming on Thursday and Saturday..We, and a couple of other guys spent Friday morning getting his boat afloat again..We come alonged the stern up by the dock piling, and I lifted the bow up with my pot hauler, and after a few hours we got her up high enough to start bailin' and pumpin'..Always a horror show when that happens, and never fun, but a relief when its over..Finally we got her dry and I towed him over to the boat ramp and we got her on a trailor and took it to the mechanic..So we plan on going out everyday for a while, untill he gets his boat straightened out..All this work is making me stronger, and except for alot of aches and pains, I do feel a whole lot better..Exercise sure seems to be the enemy of pd

How was your week?

Hi Steve:

Glad to see that boat hauling had some positive affect (exercise). We (my family and I) spent the week vacationing in the White Mountains at an AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) camp. It's the happiest time of the year for me. My family is together and we are spending it in the mountains. We've been doing this since 1982. First my wife and children and now the grandchildren.

I only tripped once during the week. Stumbled over a root in an open field and banged up my knee and forehead. It was the only exposed root in the entire field

My PD is hanging in there. I don't see much evidence of continued deterioration though I suppose it is happening. One thing will change in the Fall. The trial I am on is ending in October and I will have to find a new Doctor. I have been on trials since I was diagnosed and my current one has no new ones to put me on. Besides that she is in New York City and I have moved out of range in Maine.

Well that was my week. The next thing we have tio look forward to is the Fryeberg Fair in the Fall.

All the best,


Lloyd

Well it may be the end of summer but from all the signs Fall is arriving early this year. First of all I have picked up a cold....who gets a cold in August?? And secondly, the tree in front of our house is showing a lot of red already.

I had a terrible day yesterday, and I know I haven't been eating very well lately. Too much of the stuff that I know bothers me and not enough of those leafy greens that come so highly regarded. I have a friend coming over some time this week to put up my chin up bar. I'll probably end up hanging clothes on it. No. I need to make a commitment to exercise, which I have let fall to very low levels ...why do we have to be told so many times what's good for us?

Well, back to sinking boats. I remember at one point I lived on a sailboat for a few months. We happened to be in the harbour at one point, when another sail boat started to sink. No one could locate the owner, and because it's private property no one could set foot on it to save it without putting themselves in the line off fire, because if they did and even if they saved the boat they could be sued by the owner for trespassing. Sounds crazy but we all stood around all day and watched this boat sink. ....now to hook this in with Steve's story about a week later the owner turns up and all he see's are a couple of masts sticking out of the water and he was not a happy camper. But I'm sure they rose the boat by inserting inflatable bags of some sort which they pumped air into and brought the boat to the surface. Quite interesting to me. I guess there is more than one way to rise a boat. I', guessing the do-it-yourself method that steve and friend used was probably a lot cheaper,and would a sail boat be a lot lighter too?

Love to look at boats, but know very little about them.

Have a good week all.. rosey-posey

Well after a really wonderful weekend, I'm starting back into school again. I had my week off from school, and sucked as much free time from it as I could. I did some piano practice, but my room got too hot. I hate trying to practice or play with the A/C going because I have a difficult time hearing the music. I can hear the piano plenty, it's the subtle things that can't heard, and this makes the playing very frustrating. The problem too with the A/C is I can't hear the clavichord at all. Period. The instrument is very very soft and becomes inaudible with the A/C unit running.

I mentioned in my post about being grumpy. I'm beginning to think that I need a med change and as Charlie said a nice quiet place. I was quite happy when I was on vacation away from the confusing mess that I live in. The constant noise and tension don't help the situation. The other thing too is I have a couple of neighbors that fight at night. The boyfriend is a drunk (I think) and starts arguing with his partners. The son starts in in defence of mommy, and then the whole neighborhood is awakened around 2:00 in the morning. This happened to me last Monday. I was actually asleep, and well within the dream stage when I was levitated out of bed from the noise. After that everything went downhll from there as far as sleep goes. It took me the rest of the week to be able to sleep again.

The past weekend was beautiful. I probably did a bit too much and end up paying for it the rest of the week, but I couldn't help it. Friday night I went out to dinner with a friend, and I got home really early Saturday morning. I slept like a rock, and took it easy on Saturday. In the afternnon, my brother and I went canoeing. This can be an interesting experience, and I'm sure an interesting sight to see as someone with very stiff legs trying to climb in and out of a canoe! The weather was gourgeus with picture-perfect sky, light breeze, and glassy-still water. My brother fished and I enjoyed the scenery. I ended up helping with the paddling at then end because we were quite far from the shore. It was quite a work out paddling the canoe, but it sure felt good. Getting out of the canoe was interesting. I got my left leg out barely, but I couldn't unglue my right foot from the bottom of the canoe. I was "still on", but I really had to think and work hard at moving the right leg. Once on shore I was fine; just a little stiffer from sitting so low int he canoe, which is murder on the butt and back.

I spent Sunday at my former piano teacher's house. She celebrated her 88th or 89th birthday this year. I brought over a couple of lobsters, a some dessert, and some fresh corn. We enjoyed the food and some good company and music for the day. I got home late Sunday night and shuffled to bed. I feel it today, but I can deal. This worth it. How many 89th birthdays do you celebrate with someone? How many perfect summer days do we get?

Anyway, Steve I'm glad you're getting out there to enjoy the nice weather while we still have it.

John

I started some physical therapy last week and I can't believe how much it has helped already. I have been having a problem with pain in my arms. It turns out it has been caused by my stiff shoulders. My arms would hurt when I played guitar from reaching around the guitar. After just 2 physical therapy sessions and doing exercises at home, I noticed a difference. I played gigs Friday night and Sat. night and did not have a problem. I am continuing with therapy 3x this week. The therapist is also having me work on my posture. It has been easy to blame my stooped posture on PD and not do anything about it, but stooped posture causes tight muscles and less flexibility. If we want to stay active, we need to keep exercising and trying to counteract this disease. It is a lot of work. I need to start doing my voice exercises again because I can tell my voice is getting bad again. I wish I didn't have to keep doing all these exercises, but unfortunately, I have PD.

I should add that the therapist was also impressed with how much my range of motion has improved.

Today was the first day of my CNA Program. I was so excited that I hardly slept lastnight...CRAZY! Class starts at 7:00 and ends at about 2:30. We spend most of the time sitting and watching power point and taking notes. The note taking was a little rough because my hand kept cramping up all the way into my forearm...kinda bummed me out. I haven't done much writing in awhile...typing is just easier and faster. I hope that the cramping improves with the more writing that I do, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it won't.
Regardless, I will deal with it and get through this.

We read four chapters per day and have to answer questions about each chapter. The questions are multiple choice and most of them are pretty simple. However, some of them...I think, are intended to trick you! Or, it could be that I haven't been in school for about twelve years and I am a little rusty. There are a lot of definitions and terminology that I have to memorize...it's a lot to take in. The neat thing is that I can actually feel my brain working harder and my memory sharpening up. It is just proof that our brains need to be exercised! I'm lovin it! I am so happy that I am doing this.

Well, I just finished my homework at about 6:45. I better go study and spend some time with my family.

Evonne

Hello all.
Steve, your clamming and boat-raising activities appear to be doing great things for you.

Burkle, your mountain camping and hiking vacation with grandchildren sound like a blast!

Joy, sorry to hear about your not-so-good day. We haven't talked in a while. If you were to pm me with your new number we could remedy that.

John, hope the cooler weather allows you to turn off the noisy AC so you can enjoy the claviochord. Your experience with the canoe reminds me of how many years my canoe has sat unused in the back yard. We just put our grandson who spent the summer with us on the plane back to Seattle, and I might have enticed him into an excursion on a local lake, were it not for the high nineties and triple-digit temperatures we have experienced most of the summer. Summertime is not good outdoor activity season in this part of the world.

Chicory, glad to hear how you have responded to the PT. I'll bet you will find that voice therapy will do wonders for your vocalization too.

Evonne, you sound like you have found exactly what you were looking for in a career. I'm very happy for you.

Well, now that grandson Will is back in Seattle, mowing our fair-sized lawn is my job again. As luck would have it, after performing perfectly for him throughout the summer, the lawn mower quit on me today just before I finished with the front yard, after running just fine for the back yard. It is now in the shop and the yard will just have to grow another week or so until it is fixed. One of my neighbor's front yard needs mowing much worse than mine, so maybe no one will notice!

Be good to yourselves, everyone.

Robert

Evonne-
If you could get a small laptop to take to class, it would make your note taking a lot easier. I took a class for guitar teachers a couple weeks ago and 2 people in the class took their notes on a laptop.

Chicory

Thanks for the suggestion. I thought about asking my mom if I could borrow her laptop. The only thing is that I don't want to stand out in the class as being different. Nobody else in class has a laptop. I haven't revealed my health issues to anybody in class because I don't want it to jeopardize things down the road as far as being able to get a job at a hospital. I don't want to be discriminated against because of my health. I know that is not supposed to happen, but I am fairly confident that it does. At this point with the meds controlling things pretty well, it wouldn't be obvious to anyone that I am facing a possible PD diagnosis...unless they knew an awful lot about PD.

Today was a little challenging. We watched a video about Alzheimer's Disease and the devastation that it causes. The woman talked about going through a mourning process when she was diagnosed, knowing that she was facing a slow and gradual process that would eventually lead to her death. I remember feeling like that a little while back. I felt really down and was in a pretty dark place. Then, I developed a new attitude about my life and have been trying really hard to focus on the positive. In spite of that, I still have my moments. The rest of the time that I was watching the video, I had to try and swallow the golf ball that was in my throat...and try not to cry. I know that the video had an impact on all of us in class. The girl behind me spoke up and talked about also relating to the same statement that affected me. She told us that her grandfather was diagnosed with PD ten years ago and that he is so rigid now that he can hardly move and that he is suffering from PD dementia. It took all that I had not to get up and leave the classroom and have a good cry. I managed to hold it together until I got in the car, then I let it all out! I am not saying this because I want pity or anything. I am trying so very hard not to even think about what is going on in my own life with my own health. The reality is just that things like this are going to come up and I need to try not to personalize it. I am trying to focus on where I will be at the end of this program...working at a hospital. I will get through this!