Social Isolation Hack #1: Changing Your (Virtual) Scenery
Today’s headlines affirm many of us are hitting a social isolation wall, and we all have reason to fear a group charge into the virus-infected wild for a change of scenery (and maybe a bacon cheeseburger). Before you go full Butch & Sundance, maybe decorating your virtual space in...
Fighting Parkinson’s in Isolation
As the world hunkers down for a long battle with the Coronavirus, isolation will become an issue for everybody, and it will be particularly impactful on people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this post, I will offer suggestions for maintaining a proactive, hopeful approach to fighting PD in this...
Turn, Turn, Turn: The PD Gladiators Story and a Time for Reinvention
I have not posted in this space in over six years, but in my fourth season of reinvention (see sidebar) I’m re-purposing my blog. Now entitled Shaking The Chi, it will serve as an incubator for high impact solutions to complex social problems, with a particular focus on issues...
The Very Real Cost of Denial, Apathy and Complacency: Don’t Wait for the (Sinemet) Honeymoon to be Over!
This post was originally published in the PD Gladiators newsletter. When you’re first diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, it’s typical to go through the stages of grief. Without counseling, many view the diagnosis as a death sentence, with nothing to do but take medicine to mask the symptoms until the...
Trouble With The Curve
Through the first part of a rather inauspicious Little League career, I struggled to hit straight fastballs and was fortunate that young pitchers back then were discouraged from throwing the curve. When I graduated to Babe Ruth League, the first two curveballs I ever saw knocked me on my backside...
If We Build It, Will They Come? Part II
This post was originally posted on the PD Gladiators blog. In Part I of this post I suggested that the Parkinson’s community needs to build an exercise infrastructure in order to coax the secluded majority of people with Parkinson’s to join the community and participate in exercise programs, physical...
If We Build It, Will They Come? Part I
This post was originally published in the PD Gladiators blog. Ellie and I attended the Southeastern Parkinson’s Conference hosted by the National Parkinson’s Foundation in August, and for the second year in a row we left inspired. The theme of the conference was Parkinson’s advocacy, and we were encouraged...
A Call To Action: We Need To Inform Our Neurologists About The Latest Exercise Research
With about 1,200 journal articles published annually on Parkinson’s disease alone, it’s impossible for practicing neurologists to stay abreast of all developments in the treatment of PD. However, recent research findings regarding the effect of vigorous exercise on PD symptoms are so compelling as to warrant patients calling their...
(The Beginning of) My Parkinson’s Journey
A version of this post was originally published on the PD Gladiators blog. Minor details have been edited. The journey with Parkinson’s can be a long and frustrating one, but hang in, there are many things you can do to improve your quality of life. One thing that has made a big impact in my life is exercise,...
The Great Reservoir of Unfinished Business
With rare exception, I have used this space to blog about my novels and the occasional political rant. Both topics expose my progressive ideals which, in my view, reflect the better part of me. But as I integrate my newest role—person with Parkinson’s disease (PWP)—into my being I have...
Patrick Henry Revisited: Give Me Liberty AND Give Me Death
I dislike that we have become a starkly divided nation but understand the philosophical underpinnings of many disputed issues. I can’t understand how one mind can believe government intrusion into the personal decisions of citizens is an intolerable restraint on liberty (the conservative credo), yet insist government deny women...