I’m Alright, Just Slow!

I find myself uttering this remark far too often already 🙂  Unfortunately it was the first of my noticeable symptoms and the one that is still present, even with the improvements from the medication.  While my normal walk in the county park next door has gone from 42 minutes down to 37 minutes since I started the medication, I still have my slow times during the day.  I guess even the walk is still slow, used to be able to complete in 34 minutes a year ago.

There are many research studies that show exercise helps to slow the progression of PD symptoms so I have been exploring some options in addition to my daily walk.  I have found that the local Tai Chi group has weekly Health Recovery sessions so we plan to give that a try in the next week or so. The instructor said the Health Recovery class is for students who want to address particular health issues with Tai Chi, and also for those who are not able to take the regular beginning class.  The class focuses on a number of exercises rather than on learning the Tai Chi set.  She also indicated that many PWP are able to take the beginning class depending on the severity of their symptoms.  So we’ll start with the Health Recovery class to see how my balance issues effect the training and go from there.  Will give you an update in a future post.

We also discovered that the National Parkinson Foundation sponsors a retreat every October for newly diagnosed PWP (less than 5 years) and we were able to get into this years offering at the Kripalu Retreat in Stockbridge, MA.  The retreat is the third week of October and covers many topics including yoga, nutrition, medication, exercise, etc.   The retreat is designed for both the PWP and their caregiver so we are excited we are able to attend.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since my last post, Mara had her second successful cataract surgery, we celebrated grandson Jacob’s 9th birthday and enjoyed a brief trip to Pickwick Landing state park in the southwest corner of Tennessee to meet up with good friends from Colorado who were attending a family reunion.  And of course we enjoyed many sunsets from the screen porch and a relaxing boat ride on the lake.  I may be slower but Life is good!

PS Don’t forget the Michael J Fox show, premiering September 26th!!