More inspiration

Two things happened today that inspired me, really, really inspired me. This morning I read an article coughed  up by my google alert about a woman who died from complications of PD. She was 79 and had lived with a Parkinson's for 40 years! Wow! She was one tough cookie! That means that she was diagnosed at age 39, the same age at which I was diagnosed. Oh, yea! Now I have a model for living well with PD for a very long time. Because I, too, am a tough cookie.

The other inspiration came at yoga class. You may remember my post several weeks ago in praise of yoga. That post was mentioned in a local PD news blast and that particular entry now has more hits than any other. Two of those readers were convinced enough they came to yoga class today! Thank you, Bob and Bill! I know you won't regret it.

If I were not an optimist, I could see the obit I read as an oh-no I hope that is not me kind of story. But I choose optimism. Yes, optimism is a choice. Look up and maybe while we are looking up, they will discover a cure.

Persistence is a blessing and a burden

For someone living with Parkinson's movement is difficult.  But since exercise is all about movement, and exercise is medicine for PD, what I must do every day is difficult. In order to actually keep doing it daily, I must have a great deal of persistence. So I guess I am thankful for the persistence (hard-headedness?) that helps me keep at it although i do get tired of all this exercise. I can see my persistence as a blessing. But persistence can also be a burden. Powering through something that is hard is not always the right thing to do. Sometimes I should step aside and give it up or accept some help or some respite. I am supposed to know when to draw the line, but. I don't always. So much introspection! And we thought this was a physical condition , , ,

Another 5K

As part of my motivational efforts to keep myself moving, I am trying to walk a 5K event once a month. In June there was the Parkinson's Wellness Chapter's fundraiser Steady Strides. In. July it was the Hyde Park Blast. In August the Association for the Blind did one in a lovely setting -- Spring Grove ( Cemetery and Arboretum) and in September the Sunflower Revolution was another Parkinson' event. My event for this month was the Warrior Run, which benefits the local teen suicide prevention program.

I had done the first four in 45 minutes or less, but after some recent forays back into the world of running, I decided to try running this one. Well, it may have easier with someone to run with, but I did it mostly. I ran almost 2 miles, slowed to a brisk walk at the water stop (for about 1/3 of a mile maybe), picked it up to a run again, walked about another two-tenths of a mile near the end and ran across the finish line. My time was around 34 minutes!

I don't know that I really want to engage in such high impact exercise, but the high intensity is good. And I wasn't even sore! Who wants  speed walk with me in November? 

Inspiration for the fight

I have just returned from Montreal where John and I attended the World Parkinson's Congress. Wow! Over 3300 folks from more than 70 countries joined together -- neuros and basic science researchers, dancers and physical therapists, PWPs and yoga teachers, care partners and clinical trial organizers -- for three very long days of sharing information and sharing hope. It will take me a while to absorb all the information, but it doesn't take as long to absorb the hope. I was encouraged by the desire of the researchers to discover more treatments and even a cure. I was encouraged by enthusiasm of the neurologists to fight with their patients and to work together to make lives better. I was encouraged by the zeal of the other therapists -- exercise professionals, physical therapists, etc. -- who work daily helping PWPs feel better right now and even slow their progression. And I was encouraged by the care partners without whom all the PWPs could not be there. But mostly I was encouraged by other PWPs, many of whom are worse off than I am. It makes me feel both good about my exercise and what it does for me -- and grateful that I am doing so well. And their example offers a good model of how to go ahead and live life. One woman who was diagnosed at age 27 said that you have to give up your fear of the future to start living in the present. Yea, what she said!