Movement Disorders clinic - first visit

First off, I had a friend from church along for the ride. It was great to have someone to talk with on the way there, and especially to "debrief with" on the way back.

Dr. Jog is the head of the clinic, and he did my evaluation. There's a wide range of tests that he took me through some simple physical tasks;

• follow his finger with just my eyes
• point at his finger and then my nose, back and forth while he moves his finger
• a number of activities with first one hand and then the other, some resistance testing, and some "looseness" testing where he would move my arms while I (attempted to) relaxed
• He observed me walking, recover from being pushed off balance, and demonstrate an activity (blowing up a balloon) that he told me later was to evaluate cognitive ability.
  

Although he said that many of my symptoms were atypical for Parkinsons' (PD), he felt still that a diagnosis of PD was accurate for me. He has evaluated 15,000 patients, and there's no consistent set of symptoms in all people with PD.

He gave me two options;

1. Start taking medication to give me symptom relief. It's my choice, and for me to decide if the symptoms are severe enough that they keep me from having the quality of life I need or prevent me from working.
2. Participate in a study for a drug that may slow down the progression of PD. The subjects are in three groups; patients getting a high dose, a medium dose, and a placebo.
   

There would be no point in being in the study if I felt I would need to exercise option 1 within the next 12 to 18 months. Subjects in the study are patients not taking drugs for symptom relief.

I'll see the doctor in about 3 months (when some of the current stressful situations are over) and let him know whether I feel I can be a part of the study.

A long day with a late lunch

Judi had her liver surgery today. We were at the hospital at 6am. I ate breakfast before we left, then had a butter tart and a granola bar by about 10am. I drank a bottle of juice also.

I expected Judi's surgery to be done by 2pm, and that I would go get lunch when I knew she was out of surgery. I was talking with our pastor while waiting, and I couldn't get my leg to stop shaking. I was feeling pretty hungry, but I really wanted to know Judi was out of surgery. By about 3:45 I knew I really needed something, so I drank a coke. It helped quite a bit.

So, I'm finding that I'm also much more susceptible to shaking when I haven't eaten in too long.

Sometimes it's a few steps back

Generally I've been feeling like my symptoms are progressing forward, always forward. I've been sick with a fever for the last few days, and really noticed how my hand would have a long lasting (I guess 2 to 3 seconds) tremor after I would use my arm.
Today, I'm feeling a lot better (no more chills, etc. from the fever) and I'm feeling much more "relaxed" in my arm, leg, and face.
Maybe because it felt so bad for the past few days, I'm noticing even more when the symptoms take a few steps back.
My hand isn't completely still, but I'm noticing that my leg and face feel much better - and it feels great to have a feeling of "normal" for a while.