My husband Ron has Parkinson's as many of you know. He was diagnosed a couple of years ago, but the doctors think he has had it for several years. Parkinson's has been around since ancient times. There are several symptoms, tremors, muscular rigidity, slowness of movement, (more about that later) and impaired balance and coordination. Those are the motor functions. There are also non-motor functions such as memory impairment, dementia, hallucinations, and acting out dreams. There is no cure for this insidious disease just a slow disintegration of mind and body.
Ron is on a variety of medicines that keep him fairly stable. Other than the tremors, his two main symptoms have been a complete slow down of his physical functions such as dressing or performing any activity like showering, eating etc. It has become kind of a joke in the family that when we get up in the morning, I can practically clean the house in the time it takes for him to get shaved and dressed for breakfast. I have to laugh or I would just get to impatient with him and I don't want to do that.
The other symptom that bothers him is short term memory and confusion. His long term memory is phenomenal. He can replay ball games from high school but he can't remember day to day moments. He also cannot correctly process conversations. He gets things scrambled.
But on the whole, he is handling the disease well. Our family is very protective of him always making sure he doesn't fall. They persuaded us to go to Florida for the winter so he wouldn't have to worry about the snow and ice. So it is kind of ironic, that the first fall occurred last night when he fell out of bed. Parkinson's patients have a tendency to act out their dreams especially early in the morning during deep REM sleep. Ron has had this symptom for several months now. He will thrash and fight and yell. I usually wake him up when that happens, but I was sleeping soundly when I heard this loud thud. He had fallen flat on his face on our hardwood floor. He was bleeding from a bump on his forehead and his nose. He is fine but has been very shaky all day. We talked about getting a rail for his side of the bed but have decided to just put the extra pillows down on the floor for now.
I walk a fine line between coddling him and encouraging him. He has days where he worries about what comes next and other days where he is happy go lucky. Humor and exercise seem to work best for keeping him on an even keel. We try to get out and walk every day. I encourage him to teach the little guys how to play baseball. I order him books from the library and I am encouraging him to use the computer. We have a couple of trips planned for late summer because we both love to travel. And the benefits of travel stimulate the mind.
I am writing this blog to help me keep track of his progress and to relieve some of my stress. So until next time I'm keeping the good thoughts.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Karma
We are leasing a condo in Florida that has been up for sale for three years. It is in a wonderful location but we have had a few problems that made us decide not to lease it again next year. One of the long time renters in the complex heard that we were looking for a new place. He told the owner of one of the units who had just found out that her long time renters would not be able to come back next year. She only rents to people she knows but she had heard such nice things about us that she offered us the condo. The best part is that we will have none of the problems we have had with this one and the price is $1400 a month less even though the units are exactly the same size.
The karma part is that this condo which has been on the market for three years sold yesterday, so without the new condo we would have been out of luck.
Another example of karma or as I like to call it serendipity involves our mail. We found out after arranging for our mail to be transferred here that the owners would not allow us to receive mail, We were told that they had lost the key to mail box and didn't want to replace it. So we had to rent a post office box. We had been waiting for baseball tickets to arrive for a couple of weeks. I had made several calls and was told that we would have them by last Saturday, so today we went out to our PO box. No tickets. When we got back I called the ticket office and spoke to several people who promised to look into it ASAP.
About an hour later, there was a knock on our door. When I answered it, a mailman was standing there. He asked if I was Mrs Kane. I said, "Yes I am." He then asked why we hadn't been getting our mail out of the mailbox. My jaw must have dropped a foot. I explained about the key and he said that was crazy. He had been putting mail in the box since early January. I said I wonder if our tickets are there and he said. "Yes they are because I am an Oriole fan and if you hadn't picked them up soon, I was going to use them. We had a laugh about that. Then he unlocked the box and gave us two months of mail including the tickets that I had spent the morning trying to track down.
Maybe it wasn't karma but it certainly was unusual that he would knock on our door the day we instigated a search for the tickets.
I started this blog before we left Florida three months ago. I never finished it. Since then, another example of good karma involving baseball tickets occurred. Those of you who know my husband Ron, know that he is a die hard Oriole fan. This year the Orioles are unveiling statues of their Hall of Fame players. Ron's favorite player Brooks Robinson's statue was to be unveiled with special ceremonies in May. I bought tickets for us to go. We were going to fly up and spend five days. I got a hotel on the waterfront (non-refundable which I didn't realize).
To my dismay, the date for the unveiling was changed to September because Brooks is ill. So I had to reschedule our flights, change our hotel reservations and switch the baseball tickets from May to September. I was not a happy camper. First the airline tickets cost more. Then I discovered the hotel was non-refundable but after giving them my sob story and talking nicely to a manager, I was able to switch the dates at no additional cost.
Then the baseball tickets. After making the other changes I discovered that the date of the unveiling was on Sat Sept 29 and Sunday was the last home game of the season. So I couldn't exchange six of the ten tickets I had. But the Orioles graciously refunded the other tickets and the refund more than covered the extra cost of the airline tickets. But now the serendipitous part. Since the Brook's statue will be the last one unveiled, we will get to see all the other statues. And it is fan appreciation weekend, so they are doing giveaways at both games. Ron is thrilled and I am happy for him.
I don't think I am any luckier than the average person but there have been so many instances of unplanned happy circumstances in my life. One of our favorite trips was full of serendipitous moments. We were driving from Boston through Maine and Nova Scotia. We spent a night at Bar Harbor and decided to stay another night. The hotel clerk said they were booked solid and every hotel around was the same way. So we started walking away when he got a phone call and yelled at us to wait. He had a cancellation and we got a room for that night. The whole trip was that way. When we got to Halifax, we went for a walk through a little park to stretch our legs. We met a lady who asked us if we were going to see the Buskers. We had no idea what she was talking about, but it turned out that the Buskers are street entertainers that come in from all over Canada and England. They were there that week for a big street fair. It was wonderful. Again we were just in the right place at the right time. Call it what you will, I call it serendipity.
Another year, we went to Paris. Once I had scheduled the trip, I was looking through some of the literature and I read a tip not to schedule your trip for July 14, it is Bastille day the equivalent of our July 4th. Of course, that is the exact date we were arriving. When we got to our hotel we found out that there were ceremonies and fireworks that night at the Eiffel Tower. So we walked with thousands of people down there and watched the ceremonies. Though we don't speak French, it was very moving. There were people of all nationalities there. Everyone was very polite and respectful. We walked back to the hotel feeling lucky to have been able to participate. Another serendipitous moment. What if I had panicked and changed the date of our arrival? Look at what we would have missed.
Maybe you just have to be open to opportunity. I know when something goes wrong there is usually a bright side if you look for it. I'm not a Pollyanna (does anyone even know what that means anymore) but I do think attitude makes a big difference in how you deal with the unexpected twists life can hand your way.
We met a couple on the beach one day and had a conversation about the unusually warm winter. When she found out it was our first winter, she said we must have good karma. I told her we were lucky that way. She said we must give good karma to have good karma. I hope so.
The karma part is that this condo which has been on the market for three years sold yesterday, so without the new condo we would have been out of luck.
Another example of karma or as I like to call it serendipity involves our mail. We found out after arranging for our mail to be transferred here that the owners would not allow us to receive mail, We were told that they had lost the key to mail box and didn't want to replace it. So we had to rent a post office box. We had been waiting for baseball tickets to arrive for a couple of weeks. I had made several calls and was told that we would have them by last Saturday, so today we went out to our PO box. No tickets. When we got back I called the ticket office and spoke to several people who promised to look into it ASAP.
About an hour later, there was a knock on our door. When I answered it, a mailman was standing there. He asked if I was Mrs Kane. I said, "Yes I am." He then asked why we hadn't been getting our mail out of the mailbox. My jaw must have dropped a foot. I explained about the key and he said that was crazy. He had been putting mail in the box since early January. I said I wonder if our tickets are there and he said. "Yes they are because I am an Oriole fan and if you hadn't picked them up soon, I was going to use them. We had a laugh about that. Then he unlocked the box and gave us two months of mail including the tickets that I had spent the morning trying to track down.
Maybe it wasn't karma but it certainly was unusual that he would knock on our door the day we instigated a search for the tickets.
I started this blog before we left Florida three months ago. I never finished it. Since then, another example of good karma involving baseball tickets occurred. Those of you who know my husband Ron, know that he is a die hard Oriole fan. This year the Orioles are unveiling statues of their Hall of Fame players. Ron's favorite player Brooks Robinson's statue was to be unveiled with special ceremonies in May. I bought tickets for us to go. We were going to fly up and spend five days. I got a hotel on the waterfront (non-refundable which I didn't realize).
To my dismay, the date for the unveiling was changed to September because Brooks is ill. So I had to reschedule our flights, change our hotel reservations and switch the baseball tickets from May to September. I was not a happy camper. First the airline tickets cost more. Then I discovered the hotel was non-refundable but after giving them my sob story and talking nicely to a manager, I was able to switch the dates at no additional cost.
Then the baseball tickets. After making the other changes I discovered that the date of the unveiling was on Sat Sept 29 and Sunday was the last home game of the season. So I couldn't exchange six of the ten tickets I had. But the Orioles graciously refunded the other tickets and the refund more than covered the extra cost of the airline tickets. But now the serendipitous part. Since the Brook's statue will be the last one unveiled, we will get to see all the other statues. And it is fan appreciation weekend, so they are doing giveaways at both games. Ron is thrilled and I am happy for him.
I don't think I am any luckier than the average person but there have been so many instances of unplanned happy circumstances in my life. One of our favorite trips was full of serendipitous moments. We were driving from Boston through Maine and Nova Scotia. We spent a night at Bar Harbor and decided to stay another night. The hotel clerk said they were booked solid and every hotel around was the same way. So we started walking away when he got a phone call and yelled at us to wait. He had a cancellation and we got a room for that night. The whole trip was that way. When we got to Halifax, we went for a walk through a little park to stretch our legs. We met a lady who asked us if we were going to see the Buskers. We had no idea what she was talking about, but it turned out that the Buskers are street entertainers that come in from all over Canada and England. They were there that week for a big street fair. It was wonderful. Again we were just in the right place at the right time. Call it what you will, I call it serendipity.
Another year, we went to Paris. Once I had scheduled the trip, I was looking through some of the literature and I read a tip not to schedule your trip for July 14, it is Bastille day the equivalent of our July 4th. Of course, that is the exact date we were arriving. When we got to our hotel we found out that there were ceremonies and fireworks that night at the Eiffel Tower. So we walked with thousands of people down there and watched the ceremonies. Though we don't speak French, it was very moving. There were people of all nationalities there. Everyone was very polite and respectful. We walked back to the hotel feeling lucky to have been able to participate. Another serendipitous moment. What if I had panicked and changed the date of our arrival? Look at what we would have missed.
Maybe you just have to be open to opportunity. I know when something goes wrong there is usually a bright side if you look for it. I'm not a Pollyanna (does anyone even know what that means anymore) but I do think attitude makes a big difference in how you deal with the unexpected twists life can hand your way.
We met a couple on the beach one day and had a conversation about the unusually warm winter. When she found out it was our first winter, she said we must have good karma. I told her we were lucky that way. She said we must give good karma to have good karma. I hope so.
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