West Coast Travels

Hello from San Diego! We have had a wonderful trip to the Southwest and West Coast.  We spent the first couple of days in Tucson with Karen and Jerry, friends from Bay City, MI.  Jerry was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at about the same time as I was so we spent some time comparing our different symptoms, medications, and such. As always, I found it interesting how each of us experience different PD symptoms, what a crazy disease.

We explored Tucson and the surrounding area for a couple of days before leaving for San Diego.  Karen and Jerry were excellent hosts and we had a great time hiking in Sabino Canyon, walking around downtown Tucson and enjoying the happy hour at the Ritz Carlton at Dove Mountain where we could hear echos from a flutist playing Indian flutes across the canyon from the outside patio.

We left Tucson and drove to San Diego where Ryan, Sarah and Julian were in the process of moving out of their apartment and into their new residence a few blocks away.  They had just started the move and we got to help with emptying boxes, putting away household items, etc.  and still found time to attend a couple of Julian’s Lacrosse games, go to the beach for sunsets and nice walks, and visit with Sarah’s sister Allison and her husband Kevin and their new little baby, Jack, born two days before we got here.  We have enjoyed several great meals, a trip to San Clemente, and a great lunch at the Stone Brewery World Bistro – Liberty Station in San Diego.  It has been a great visit and we are glad to enjoy their company and to help them with the move.

I’ve been on the new increased medication dose for about a week and a half and have seen good improvement with my gait and balance.  Also I haven’t had problems with fatigue despite the busy days.  I have been keeping up with my research and saw an interesting article today about the benefits of acupuncture for balance and gait problems.  It certainly sounds promising and worth looking into further.  I applied for two clinical trials last week but didn’t meet all of the criteria for either one this time around.  Lack of research participants is a big problem and I am registered with the Michael J Fox Trial Finder to get notifications of any new trials that I might qualify for so maybe next time.  I urge all you PWPs out there to register, we need to support the research being done to defeat Parkinson’s.

We are off to Sierra Vista, AZ next for a few more days of visiting with friends before we return home.  In the meantime, don’t forget it is still Parkinson’s Awareness Month. This video by Davis Phinney, former Professional and Olympic bike racer with Parkinson’s, is inspirational and worth watching.  It is about 23 minutes long and was filmed at one of his Victory Summits that he holds around the country.  You can view the video here .  Until next time, remember It Is What It Is!