Following the leader…
A colleague of mine gave me a “holy card” of John Paul II and told me the story of his choice of crucifix (that staff he carries). He had apparently chosen the bent crucifix years before he assumed the same posture, that of a Parkinson’s sufferer bent over and shuffling. Was it something “mystical”? I don’t know.
After my last post this thought came into my head. I saw the ghost of John Paul come to me, he seemed to say “My son, let’s show them how its done…”. (To get the idea of how its done, look what he’s leaning on…)
*First off some disclaimers; I am not a Catholic. Secondly, I don’t believe in ghosts nor do I commune with the dead. Thirdly, some have put a “sinister” meaning to the “bent” cross of John Paul II, I wish to give it a more benign interpretation. (I’ll get back to the funny stuff next post, going to Houston tomorrow so my brain is taking a “road trip”.)
Lift off!!!
I know some of you are old enough to remember when the announcer would say “Houston, we have liftoff!” and a space shuttle or Saturn rocket would take off into space or the moon. Well I ran into something like that last night. (Some of you may be seeing the wings and halo and thinking “!@#$% he’s getting spiritual again on me!” Well “!@#$% it!” it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want!)
I was reading in the book store (somewhere in between reading about a Psychedelic artist named Alan Aldridge and something about HTML5) a book by Francis Chan. He’s one of those new fangled, “cool” preachers. He mentioned that Joni Eareckson Tada was one of the most “spirit filled persons he ever met.” I think he was talking about her overall demeanor, always happy, praising and so on, breaking into songs. But there was something DEEPER that I think Francis missed.
Joni had become paralyzed as a teenager and couldn’t move her hands or feet. It was during this time that she “got religion”. She then took that disability and turned it over to God to use in any way he saw fit.
Joni had turned her disability into a chance to let the “divine” work through her. You see when the outward body is failing (or FAILED) then when something wonderful happens it can only be the intervention of the divine. She had turned herself entirely over to that “Spirit” to use and animate the parts that were broken. Scriptures say something like that about the “thorn in his side” that Paul had from Satan:
2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
The weaker we are the stronger the Spirit can be. Joni has been used in some wonderful ways to minister to the disabled, read about her here. So whatever Joni has going I want the same thing! “Houston we have lift off!”
Memory is a slippery fish…
OKAY the guy is looking right at you and you go blank, that’s right the name escapes you! Your first thought is “crap, it’s the Parkinson’s!” Then I remember I was doing the same sort of thing 10 years ago. A name just slipped out of the file box called the brain (maybe I was showing symptoms even back then?) Point is, don’t let it freak you out. Most of the time the name pops back in the file box in a bit, AND its not a very OFTEN thing. Just be cool, fly a kite, if it happens it may just be “benign memory loss” or a “senior moment”. What was I talking about again?
*”memory is a slippery fish” is a quote from a good friend of mine, Bill Iles; he quipped that one when I was trying to remember what the shadow line was called on a sphere (I teach art.) He then went on to tell me he forgot who Harrison Ford was just the other night… just a BML moment…
Pickled Brains…
Lotsa debate talking about “preserving brain function”… (more than half of it I couldn’t even understand on NIH’s site!). Let’s see there’s exercise, then there’s lame video games on the Wii, crossword puzzles, scrabble, crap, maybe even BINGO! But I’m stuck with learning HTML5 and CSS3 and some 3d modeling software that was made by an advanced alien civilization. As for video games, I sorta’ ENJOY blasting zombies in a First Person Shooter!
You sorta’ get the feeling that they are all talking “down to you” a little bit. No offense, but when my generation ends up in the nursing home we won’t be listening to Benny Goodman! (more like Led Zeppelin, etc.) So in honor of preserving brain function here’s a jar of preserved brains, spread ‘em on your toast in the morning!
*for anyone with YOUNG ONSET PARKIE STUFF, the bands might be even NEWER! So put on Pandora, type in Greenday, maybe a little System of a Down or your choice of tunes and rock out!
Neurons on strike!
My Neurons went all occupied on me! Well my neuro said there would be GOOD days and BAD days. Sometimes the meds work right and sometimes they only SORTA work. Of course I had some contributing factors; COQ10, speeds you up but it might be too much; that doubleshot esspresso from Starbucks; getting off schedule on the Sinemet; the Egg McMuffin (which was sure good) can interfere with the absorption of the levidopa; Coke Zero (man was that good too!); and let’s not forget the Tylenol PM the night before, cause Benadryl (one of ITS ingredients) limits the absorption of the levidopa TOO. So I got a little shakey… (just a little…). Hopefully I learned my lessons!
*note the little bit of saliva at the corner of the mouth, mr. computer mouse froze up a bit today too!
Shut up and DRAW!
Okay, many parkies have found out that when they are involved in doing something pleasurable, like art or music or HOCKEY in the case of Michael J. Fox, their symptoms magically subside for the moment. Perhaps its the dopamine getting released in high volume that triggers this. For me its pretty much DRAWING or doing things on the computer. I forget to take my sinemet, tremors are gone. I am no longer any age, time stands still and suddenly its 2 a.m.! So find the pleasure trigger and go for it!
Getting old sucks!
Okay, so I was having this discussion with my neuro guy and we start talking about what probably caused the Parkinson’s. I mean you’ve got everyone having this theory and that one from not enough cholesterol, you didn’t smoke enough, you didn’t drink coffee to cellphone radiation (and they are coming out with more possible causes by the day.) He told me that the bottom line is that we are living longer and therefore subject to just getting OLD. Some kind of disease will get ya’ come hell or high water! We’re living longer so the diseases have more chances to manifest themselves. As a matter of fact they found a mummy recently that showed that the ancient Egyptians actually had PROSTATE CANCER! So much for environmental factors!
We have an innate NEED to find out “what caused this stuff to happen to me?” The answer is NOTHING IN PARTICULAR. It’s just the way things are when you get older. So here’s to OLD AGE! Bring on the Sinemet CR, the ibuprofen and let’s steer clear of the 10th cup of coffee. None of us is getting out alive so you might as well relax, it ain’t your fault.
War of the Neurons
This movie SORTA scared me, not like the “I married a monster from outer space movie” but scary nonetheless. It was in a creepy old theater in downtown San Francisco that I saw the previews. I sometimes imagine Parkinson’s as little Martian ships with death rays, decimating the brain. You send in the military, that doesn’t work; then the chaplain walks out with a bible, ZZZAAP! No respecter of religion…
But wasn’t it a great flick? Special effects were cheezy by our standards but the noble scientist, wearing a sport jacket and tie, an the sweater girl assistant fought off the Martians (who were finally beat by cold germs).
*been a while since I got to do any sketches, school and dumb old me trying to learn 3D on the computer, FINALLY gave up for a bit and decided to draw, got too get the drawing muscles back in shape!!!
Pop goes the Sinemet!
It’s been a while since I posted so I got to get on the stick. This image came to mind when I was setting up a tutorial for my students on animation. Basically the little brain “pops up” and wobbles like jack in the box toy. Sort of symbolizes how the meds work, sometimes its “all around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel, the monkey thought it was all in fun…” and POP! they kick in.
(actually I was going to do a little skull with a jester hat then the brain idea “popped up”…)
The Checkup Went OKAY!
6 month followup, no NEW symptoms, meds seem to be OKAY. I got MOST of my typing ability back and MOST of the drawing (let’s say 95%). In fact when I get to involved in something I often forget to take the evening dosage! It wears off around 10:30 which makes going tinkle interesting (didn’t want to cartoon THAT!) Bottomline is the neuro said “I’m looking forward to treating you for another 15 years…” Why couldn’t he have said 20? But HEY, my life insurance guy tells me their charts (I forget what they are called) says I should last till I’m 83. 83-61=22. GOT to find another 7 years somewhere!
Going to see the VA doc at the end of the month to see what THEY say (maybe this guy will say 20 years!)
