(19) PD clause: take care of head and limbs will follow

NB (19) above indicates the numerical order 

The past 

In December 2015, we travelled by cable car, into the mountains, in order to get to a monastery on Lantau Island, Hong Kong to see a giant buddha. While my wife and the grandchildren explored the nearby village, I sat waiting nearly an hour for the mist to lift so I could see the 34 metre high bronze buddha (picture below). The trees on either side of the buddha indicate its size and distance from my vantage point. What a view! It was worth the wait.  

The present

Parkinson's Disease (PD) has severely compromised my movement since 2013 and I have spent years searching for measures to ease the PD muscular lethargy. I use the word 'ease' as I wish to be realistic. As mentioned in previous posts, I have already used wrist weights, a monopod that doubles as a walking stick, a fiddle spinner, stress balls and small dumb bells. I've learnt to close my eyes to counter my muscle "forgetory" as my muscle memory is waning. 

In addition, I have developed a system of corrective messaging where I constantly tell my muscles what to do. I guess it's my attempt to conjure up virtual dopamine. One example is saying "toe-toe" - a contraction of a longer message for normal walking - when climbing up four flights of stairs to our third-floor apartment. In the past four months I have neither stumbled nor tripped and my unscarred shins will attest to that: success!

Opting for a drug-free approach to PD is taking The Pinky and the Brain way. Well, the Pinky in me decided eight months ago to try out the laser therapy in Durban and that has helped reset a large part of my brain. The next step was to review my decreasing mobility, especially during the lockdown. Enter the mini bike.

REVIEW: Threshold sports mini bike

Earlier this year I came across a stationary, motorised, exercise bike to help with arm and leg movement during the COVID-19 period when beach walks were not an option! The bike retailed for around R10,000 overseas. The cost bothered me so I searched for an alternative and found a few that are available in-store and online. I opted for one that cost around R2,000. 

The non-motorised, manually driven Threshold sports mini bike (in picture left) was delivered to my door by an online supplier a few weeks ago. It required a bit of assembly that took me over an hour due to weakening muscles (sigh!) but once complete it was perfect. 

It is 35cm high and 40cm wide so it may be placed under a desk or table for cycling using one's legs and one's arms and is easy to store. As it weighs just under 9kg it is relatively easy to lift onto a higher surface for cycling using one's arms. I have discovered that if it is on a solid surface about 40cm off the ground, it provides a challenging arm exercise while seated. The mini bike mechanism - a magnetic flywheel - is quiet and has 10 levels of resistance. Naturally, I am on level 1 and am managing between 10 and 20 minutes at a time. It is too soon to tell what effects it will have but it has been a major confidence booster. And being parkinsed means a gradual erosion of confidence, so...

An important feature of the mini bike is that I sit upright in a chair when I cycle. Years ago, when I used to go to a gym, sitting astride a stationary bike challenged my balance, and I felt compelled to hold onto the handlebar. However, when I am on the mini bike my back is supported, I am balanced perfectly, and I can do whatever I want to do with my hands and arms. 

Since retirement in December 2017 I have only been able to walk at supermarkets and large malls with the assistance of my walking stick or pushing a shopping trolley. Being able to cycle for 20 minutes without stopping has been an amazing experience. It is re-introducing the notion of coordination to my gradually weakening limbs and their muscles.     

Back to the future

On 04 January 2021 I will be back in the neurolaser clinic for therapy. I have also started reading Michael J. Fox's new book called No Time like the Future - I'll share some thoughts on that sometime in the future. 

2020 has "Mcflown" past, courtesy of COVID-19. I hope that you, dear reader, will continue to stay safe till 2021.

                                                    

(18) Forks and food for thought!

NB (18) above indicates the numerical order

Being grateful for being

By the end of December 2020, the following should be true:

• I would have completed 23 sessions of therapy at the Durban Neurolaser Clinic; 😲
• I would have experienced nine months' COVID19 lockdown; 😕
• My tremors would have increased (more Elvis Presley); 😔 but
• I should be a tad "fitter" than I was earlier in 2020 😊.  

I received my first salary in 1977, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease (PD) in 2013 and I retired in December 2017. While my profile during that time morphed from power walker to tremor carrier, I am grateful for this unfolding experience except, of course, for the past three years' daily battle against PD.

The picture below of a weaver building a nest, starting with that initial hoop-like structure, was taken in the KwaZulu-Natal, Midlands in 2017. At that point of the build there was no perfect beaker shape nor underside entrance, just the start of a journey of persistence rooted in blind faith. Let's explore that idea.            

Of forks and roads

In 1970 I had a matric certificate with commercial subjects so I could not enter university. Consequently, in 1971 I enrolled at a larger high school in another city where I repeated standards 9 and 10 (i.e. grades 11 and 12) and included maths and physical science for the first time. What a challenge! I arrived at 'varsity in 1973 after being confronted by my first fork.    

When I received my very first salary cheque in 1977, there was no clear view of the future. I guessed that on life's journey, there would be choices to be made and those would determine it. 

In 1984 I resigned from my first job - a permanent post, and another fork - and registered full-time for a Higher Education Diploma, hoping it would better prepare me for lecturing. In 1985, after completing the diploma, I was offered a job that included facilitating the development of university students' academic literacy. In 1990 I joined another institution to drive a computer-assisted academic literacy programme, one of a few nationally. During this stint I realised that university teaching staff were also faced with challenges and by 2002 I had crossed over to facilitating the professional development of teaching staff. 

In my fork-filled higher education career, between 1977 and 2017 I had the privilege of working at universities in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. Like our weaver above, each time I examined my practice and sought change, I believed it was time to build my nest elsewhere.     

In retrospect, [The] Pinky and the Brain analogy sustained in the past few posts has become an important element of my 'persistence' and life choices. I think I have always had an adapt-or-die philosophy. Also, I have been strongly rooted in the notion of being a practitioner-researcher in contrast with being a research-practitioner, as explained in a previous post.      

Is it safe to indicate?

It seems that choosing which fork to take in a road can end up being either a poor choice or provide an opportunity to innovate, and this can manifest in different contexts. 

Between 1987 and 1999, for instance, many higher education academic literacy programmes were packaged for specific target groups of students. These programmes were based on linguistic assumptions that were generally appropriate for their countries of origin and embedded theories. So, I sought an alternative sourced from experience and my practice. 

In 1987 I decided to use visual and audio excerpts from American television series, movies and radio dramas as the basis for additional "Bridging English" classes. This approach was in order to stimulate students into engaging with English language differently. My approach was successful and student pass rates improved significantly. Th stigma attached to "second language" classes had been minimised and  additional classes were scheduled to cater for growing interest. In 1979 the programme attracted American "social responsibility" funding that benefited both the students and the university.  

By 1990 I was offered an opportunity at another institution to drive a university-wide initiative using computer literacy as an incentive to improve written English language. I was confronted by another fork. An exciting time to indicate and to change lanes on life's highway. A common mistake due to mother-tongue interference is that first-year university students writing in isiZulu would often omit the article preceding a noun. One reason is that articles and nouns in isiZulu are combined into a single concept, e.g. an office in English is "ihovisi" in isiZulu.

This lead to many such students being marked down by lecturers assuming it was merely careless writing. However, when lecturers were sensitised to this phenomenon, lecturer bias was transformed into lecturer insight. Such insights, together with the computer-assisted literacy programme run each semester, led to our team making a significant impact on hundreds of students between 1990 and 1997. But let's return to alternative remedies for parkinsed people. 

Can abyss be dangerous?

Dr Javid Abdelmoneim recently examined the complex world of cannabis in a BBC documentary entitled Cannabis: Miracle Medicine or Dangerous Drug?  He visited a joint (pun intended :-) Canadian-Danish pharmaceutical enterprise cultivating cannabis plants, he  participates in a British clinical trial into cannabis and he travels to Israel to interview a cannabis researcher and cannabis service providers. Also, there is coverage of a six-year old whose epilepsy is cured after taking cannabis oil. 

For me, there is credible evidence of the wide range of applications of cannabis, as well as valuable insight into the complex calculation of deciding on the proportion of CBD and THC required by each individual. The dosage issue is similar to that unpacked in the L-dopa Conundrum article presented in an earlier post. My cannabis fork was that after three years of avoiding medication I tried cannabis oil orally in 2016 but without any idea of its quality or what proportion of CBD-THC was present. It had no effect on my tremors but I acknowledge that they were mild at the time. 

I am now interested in trying cannabis oil again, especially for the tremors. And so I will revisit an old fork... 

Next post: mini-bike review

In the next post, dear reader, I will review a new mini exercise bike with pedals that may be propelled by either both feet or both hands. So, is it a nifty piece of equipment for PD sufferers and others, or merely another useless gadget? We'll see.