💬 NEWSFLASH: PD and the USA 💬
Support, care, treatment, research, etc. into Parkinson's Disease (PD) cost the USA $52 billion annually. So, instead of continued budget increases (projected estimate for 2037 is $80 billion) the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research has introduced into the US government's House of Representatives, via
both a Republican and a Democrat representative,
"legislation solely devoted to ending Parkinson's Disease" in the USA. A wonderful, First World idea!
Click on the link above to read more.
Settlement cracks
Settlement cracks are the tiny, narrow cracks that sometimes develop in newly built walls. They are a natural result of a heavy structure settling and generally harmless. Like these tiny cracks, I experienced varying levels of "settlement" discomfort, my "cracks" manifesting as increased tension, irritability and mild depression during the first six months in 2022. An obvious reason was my adjusting to the sale of our old third-floor apartment - access via four flights of stairs - and subsequent move to a new road-level apartment in another wing of the same block.
The close-up picture below is of moss growing in cracks on an exterior wall of a Western Cape house. In my opinion, this is a fascinating shape resulting from within something that is supposedly imperfect. Nature is adding visual value!
My own "settlement cracks" appeared this year as a result of my instability because we decided to move out of our apartment. First, there was advertising then negotiating the sale of our old apartment (January/ February/March) followed by packing and preparing to leave (March/ April). During this time we negotiated the purchase of the road-level apartment (March/April). Finally, after weeks of renovation we moved into that new space (May/June).
During these first six months in 2022 I had gone from being mildly inactive to being almost completely sedentary. (This was disturbing for me, dear reader, but probably a joyous time for my PD that appears to thrive on inactivity and my co-morbidities!) The COVID pandemic also left me generally inactive during 2020/2021 when my sole outdoor activities were weekly walks down/up four flights of stairs or a shopping trolley-assisted walk through a mall.
So, our relocation during June/July 2022 became another difficult period of adjustment for me, parkinsed and inactive. Although I was now at road level I had no motivation to walk outside on a relatively flat, tarred surface. And then in July this year, my wife suggested we hire a caregiver to assist me. I was not impressed with the suggestion but, reluctantly, I agreed to it.
When is a foundation good?
What follows, dear reader, are recent thoughts and revelations. If a foundation is good when the building it carries is without structural faults, then what about one's lifestyle and its foundation: when is that good? Possibly when it contains elements of balance resulting in some form of harmony in one's life.
Since I retired at the end of 2017, I moped around our home in Pretoria with no established routine to counter my PD. I joined a biokinetics class in 2018 that proved to be too expensive to sustain as was a weekly golf-training programme. I really enjoyed a weekly Dance for PD class in 2019 and that became my only physical exercise. But, I was still driving a car, still going shopping and still meeting friends on a weekly basis. For a few months in 2022 in Durban, I did weekly, computer-based Chair Yoga, Tai Chi for beginners and seated Dance for PD. However, they were isolated events done irregularly.
In January 2022, when we started the process to move to the new road-level apartment, my attitude was negative, as my focus was on personal survival. All the above computer-assisted activities around my desk ceased, as things were packed away.
I gradually arrived at the painful conclusion that I had become vain! Because I had spent ten years reading about and increasing my understanding of PD, my ego believed I knew everything about it. Sleeping, eating, exercising and resting appeared to be trivial elements of my daily survival compared to my broad, expert understanding of PD. My life was based purely on the need to counter the effects of my PD. What I should have done was to have integrated my new Ayurveda lifestyle - it started in October 2021 - into the ever-present PD and recreated some form of "harmonious" balance. But, maybe I needed a catalyst of some sort, to nudge me towards making a change and embracing it.
I realise now that a foundation should be integrated into the structure that it has been designed to support. For the eleven years that I lived with my PD, I regarded PD as a destructive force. However, there was an element of "respect" and I believed I could co-exist with it. That is probably why I avoided feeding my PD with chronic drugs and opted for natural remedies and strategies. This is in keeping with my Ayurvedic regime of plant-based medication (e.g. mucuna pruriens can increase dopamine levels), daily meditation and breathing routines that, together, try to refocus me and my new life.
My revelation is that I should have sought a balance and integrated these two elements a long time ago rather rather than attempting to divide them into two opposing forces. This is my new foundation and those "settlement cracks" are being fixed.
Settlement cracks & other inconsistencies
The caregiver arrived a month ago. She has a caregivers' certificate (a year's theory followed by a year's practice before completion) as well as a diploma in PR. She has also worked with another senior family member who had PD, has since passed away and whose children recommended her. She starts work at 07h45 and leaves at 14h45, Monday to Friday.
She observed me for a few days, made notes and then suggested a short walk outside followed by light stress ball exercises while seated inside. Now we have a daily routine between 08h00 and 14h00, namely, breakfast, medication, word/number games, shower, exercise and lunch. Activities outside the apartment are either walking up and down stairs and/or walking around the apartment block for 15 to 20 minutes before and occasionally after lunch. Activities while seated inside are cycling on my stationary bicycle and/or using a chest expander (on both arms and legs) especially on my weaker right side. I hope my new routine is the catalyst to lead me towards finding that balance between the Ayurveda regime and dealing with the manifestations of PD!
Routines, regularities & responsibilities
I have observed that some people hate regular activities because daily routines can appear to be an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) while daily repetition for others can be simply boring. However, in my case I needed to have a regular set of activities, including exercise, to prevent my muscles from further deterioration because of the nature of PD, especially muscle rigidity.
What the caregiver has succeeded in doing is encouraging me to be comfortably active on a daily basis. Such regular exercising should make me more confident in my general movement. I should be active for at least 30 minutes a day but if my PD has its way it will deteriorate to 30 minutes a week :-/.
Initially, when my wife suggested hiring a caregiver, my reluctance was based on the idea that I would become too dependent on her. I now see that I was mistaken. The caregiver's presence and her overseeing my morning routine is building my confidence so I am slowly getting back a semblance of independence. And I have the afternoon free to nap, to read, to watch TV or to do nothing. More balance!
Till next time, dear reader...
