 |
 |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
|
|
| Articles about Droolfest |
| Day 8 -- the Droolfest | | 2007-04-19 01:11:14 | | 7:12 AMAt last, we reach the end of the Droolfest. Sometime after brekky, Chandler will put me through the paces of the full UPDRS. Then, I guess around 11 or so, Dr. Charles will take care of the Part III of the UPDRS. Then the "opening of the envelope" and we'll find out what's what. This has been a very interesting experience. For one, I didn't know I was as impaired as I am. I must have certainly deteriorated in the months since I went back on the Stalevo... perception is everything, and I might have a different perspective on it now, but I can't imagine that I lived my life every day feeling as bad as I do now. It actually hurts to open and close my right hand. My walk is more of a stagger -- not as bad as it WILL get if the PD progresses -- but it certainly is different from the way I walk when I'm medicated. Sitting here typing this, my arms are aching, my upper back is aching, my neck aches, and even my thighs are achin... | | By: What's Shakin'? -- A Parkinson's Blog | | |
| | Day 7 -- the Droolfest | | 2007-04-18 01:28:16 | | 9:17 AMSo far today, I've survived "Lump o' Egg" and the Blood Pressure Torture. Now the rest of the day is mine until about 3:30, when I will begin my shamble to the psych hospital for the cognitive testing. Hope they don't mind that one of the forms has coffee spots on it from the great Coffee Spill of yesterday. Numbers were still kinda high -- but not bad -- with the Arm Purpling Blood Pressure Procedure from Hell. I personally think a big part of it is that I'm not on the Stalevo and my whole body is in a state of perpetual clench. Whatever. Hopefully at or around this time tomorrow, we do the final testing, I get randomized, and I can take a Stalevo and rejoin the human race, walking erect and speaking clearly again.6:27 PMWent to have the cognitive testing. There was a young boy in the lobby, looked like he had Downs Syndrome. He walked up to me, smiling, and touched my beard. "Santa," he said, giggling. I smiled an... | | By: What's Shakin'? -- A Parkinson's Blog | | |
| | Day 6 -- the Droolfest | | 2007-04-17 02:51:26 | | 7:31 AMIt's still a half-hour until brekky. I'm pretty sure "Lump o' Egg" will be back on the menu today. You can't go more than a day with no "Lump o' Egg." No doubt, there are abstracts in medical journals to that effect. I found an occasion for a little impromptu humor this morning. I had just gotten out of the shower and was shaving, when my nurse for the day -- a jolly little lady named Eunice -- came in to check on me. She said that if I needed anything, I should be sure to press the call button, as she would be pretty scarce today ... they have a patient who is getting her blood drawn every 15 minutes. I opened my eyes in faux shock. "A new needle every 15 minutes? Sweet Jesus! Is that a punishment? Did she press the call button once too often? I swear! I won't bother you! I promise! I'll be good! I'll be good!" She laughed nervously and retreated from my room. I wonder if this little exchange will make my chart... | | By: What's Shakin'? -- A Parkinson's Blog | | |
|
|
|
| Day 5 -- the Droolfest | | 2007-04-16 03:17:01 | | 8:57 AMHow odd. "Lump o' Egg" took the morning off. Chese omelet instead. I feel somehow... empty. It's another dreary, rainy day in Nashville... doesn't look like I'll be getting outside any time today. Even with the Ambien, I had trouble getting to sleep last night... just couldn't shut my mind off. Got up at about 7-ish. Gonna be rough getting back into the routine when I get home later this week. MAN, am I looking forward to getting home. Everyone here is perfectly lovely, especially Christa -- the manager of the place. We always have a nice chat about this, that and the other when we do the 16x blood pressure thing in the morning. Dr. Charles is supposed to come in to do my "field sobriety test" later today, but that's gonna depend on air travel. He went to Silver Spring, Maryland yesterday and is due back this evening. The weather has the entire east coast balled up. So, we shall see. ... | | By: What's Shakin'? -- A Parkinson's Blog | | |
| | Day 4 -- the Droolfest | | 2007-04-14 22:18:43 | | 8:25 AMMmmm. "Lump o' Egg." I will miss my daily "Lump o' Egg" when I'm done here. Does that mean I'm suffering from "Stockholm Syndrome"? Watched "Law and Order last night. The story was about a college student with PD who killed another student while attempting to assassinate an Ann Coulter type for speaking out against embryonic stem cell research. They showed the dude in court in full-blown dyskinesia, and the prosecutor said "hey, he had no trouble sitting still in my office." The dude's lawyer said, "that was him on medication, this is him off meds." Bullshit. That's just the same sort of crap Limbaugh was spreading. One does not get dyskinetic from NOT taking meds. It's a small thing, I suppose, but it spreads the kind of disinformation that we had to overcome last fall with Limbaugh spreading the lies he was spreading. Grrrr.... Anyway, just had my daily 16x blood pressure test done. Much... | | By: What's Shakin'? -- A Parkinson's Blog | | |
| | Day 3 -- the Droolfest | | 2007-04-13 20:55:14 | | 9:51 AMSlept through the night like a little angel. Ambien. Good stuff. Not feeling particularly hindered this morning... more "slow" than "tight". The typing is starting to slow down and get a bit difficult. But nowhere near "bad" just yet. There was some sort of power outage early this morning. Got woke up when it came back on and the BP monitor near my bed started going "bee-DOOP! bee-DOOP!" over and over again. It's done something bad to the TV here in the room, too. I have the volume turned up all the way on the bedside remote, and you have to be laying in bed by the speaker to hear it. When you press the "volume" button on the TV... it changes the channel. But at least, you can still tell when you're watching "Screen 2." (See below -- I still wonder what happened to "Screen 1".) Did the 16x BP thing again.... and it's still trending kinda high. So I called and left a message with Dr.... | | By: What's Shakin'? -- A Parkinson's Blog | | |
|
|
|
| Day 2 -- the Droolfest | | 2007-04-13 03:26:10 | | 9:10 AMIt sucks to wake up early here. I crawled out of the sack at about 5:45 because my body still thinks we're on Eastern time. Breakfast doesn't come around until 8 am. So there's 2+ hours with little to do. And the TV reception was crappy... it's cable/Dish TV or something like that, but it was all snowy and impossible to watch. I got cleaned up, watched last Monday's episode of "24" online. By the time that was done, the TV situation had been remedied. At 8, brekky showed up, and it wasn't bad! No "Lump 'o Egg" today... it was a cheese omelet, and it wasn't bad. A couple bacon strips, a tiny cheese danish, cornflakes, orange juice and coffee. At 8:30, my day nurse Christa (she's also the manager of the GCRC) came in. She's a delightful German lady of 60-some years. We did the 16-times blood pressure thing... I'm running a bit on the high side... maybe the stress of not having my Stalevo? Then... | | By: What's Shakin'? -- A Parkinson's Blog | | |
| | Day 1 -- the Droolfest | | 2007-04-12 16:17:36 | | 9:58 AMHey! The computer's working! The IT guy had to come in and add the wireless network to my network connections, but that's done and once again I'm in touch with the world. Crapped out at around 9 last night, woke up at 4 to take a pill, then slept in until about 6:45. Took a shower and laid around waiting for brekky, which showed up at 8. Sausage links, "Lump 'o Egg", French Toast, cereal, orange segments, a tiny blueberry muffin, apple juice. No coffee. Then my nurse of the day, Christa, came in and took my blood pressure. 16 times. I'm not kidding. It's part of the protocol. First sitting, then standing. Then 2 minutes later while standing. Then once each 30 seconds for 6 minutes. My poor arm was purple. And we'll do this every morning. Chandler, the study coordinator, is supposed to come in sometime this morning for the 8-hour symptom diary, after which I go OFF the meds at 4... | | By: What's Shakin'? -- A Parkinson's Blog | | |
| | The 8-Day Droolfest -- Day 0 | | 2007-04-11 16:57:18 | | It's Day "0: of the 8-Day Drool Fest -- the first of the several visits to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center for eight days off the meds. Let us keep track of each day's events, say wot?7:16 AMWoke up, as usual, shortly before 4 AM. Time for a pill. Hit the hay quite early last night -- a bit after 8. Was gonna stay up to watch "24" but I was falling asleep on the recliner. Stalevo doesn't seem to have all that much impact on the "fatigue" part of PD. Added to this, the stress of my hillbilly neighbor's dog getting loose again and attacking MY chained-up dogs in MY yard. The cops are now involved. Anyhoo -- we'll head to the airport in a bit more than an hour. Gonna be a lot of sitting around today -- nearly a 4-hour layover in Charlotte. Why is there no "non-stop" between Baltimore and Nashville? Are they not both relatively major cities? Oh well.12:40 PMSo far, so good. Made it to Charlotte.&nbs... | | By: What's Shakin'? -- A Parkinson's Blog | | |
|
|
| |
 |
|
| |
| |
|
 |
