Category: Uncategorized

Embracing Blessings: A Reflection on a Busy Thursday Morning

And here we go! Thursday morning, and this is shaping up to be a busier than normal sort of day. More to do this day than others. But it’s also a day that I choose to celebrate all of the blessings I have been fortunate to get. It can be easy, almost second-nature, to miss so much of life. I can remember the days before the cell phone, streaming television, round the clock news, and even computers. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to have a blog in the days of the typewriter! And inspite of all of the technology, I think I’ve been fortunate.

The sun should be slowly appearing in the East horizon. I think I’ll grab a cup of coffee and watch this day unfold.

Turn off the technology. Or simply set it to mute, and watch the sun announce this day. How have you been blessed? Share your blessings on this day.

Juggling Parkinson’s: Health Updates, Culinary Ventures, and Household Responsibilities

So, you might wonder if I have been and what’s going wrong. Well, let me tell you a little story. 

Medical updates

This month has been a month of medical appointments. I have a lot of medical appointments, and that’s putting my priorities elsewhere, but only for a bit of time. See, this is the month where I’ve had to deal with more speech issues, an MRI, issues with my right hand, and problems with joints in the right hand. Two group appointments with speech pathology. It is important to remember that as Parkinson’s continues to impact movement, it also softens the volume and distinctness of my voice. Then, on the day of dermatology appointments, I checked on the chunk they took out of my left facial cheek. The biopsy came back with noncancerous carcinoma. However, several spots had to be frozen and will be monitored. I was given a new prescription to add to my regimen. Then, I’m meeting with the surgeons to look at the issues with the left hand. I’m sorry, the right hand will be up soon after that talk with the podiatry. I have some problems with my feet, so it’s full of medically-related things happening; it’s just how things are. See, Parkinson’s continues to let me know just when I think things are the same change. Never would I have envisioned that Parkinson’s would be so interwoven into life, my life. It will not stop me. It will never define me.

Culinary adventures

In the meantime, I’ve found a couple of exciting recipes. A cherry almond bread, banana bread, zucchini bread, but this time with fresh, dark cherries and toasted almonds. Cedar plank smoked salmon with a ginger sesame glaze served with a fresh cucumber dill salad. It’s pretty good stuff if I do say so myself. I think I probably put up about five batches of pickles so far. My cucumber vines have produced more this year than any other year. I’ve lived here. I’ve done some fermented pickles, some called cucumber slices, with more of a cross between an excellent kosher deal and a crisp dill. I have at least maybe one or two more batches to go. Check this morning; the cucumber vines have at least another batch waiting. The church ice cream social will be this month, requiring a batch from the ice cream maker. Wonder what fruits will be fresh and available next week. Culinary adventures have always been ways for me to focus on something other than Parkinson’s disease.

Conversely, tomatoes are very plentiful, nice-sized, and green. Not a red tomato insight yet. So when those change color, I will be processing a lot of tomatoes; I see I’ll have a lot of tomato sauce for at least a year or so. The hot peppers are probably the most interesting. The ghost peppers are plentiful green, maybe 2 inches long. That will be some hot stuff!

Around the house

In addition to medicine or medical activities and garden activities, there are the wonderful continuing activities of home ownership. I realized I could not mow the grass anymore; someone was cutting the grass for me now. Several other tasks around the house need to be completed, some of which I need to finish and some of which I need to find someone to do. My to-do list grows. My it’s done list needs to be growing. People to make that happen are seemingly overbooked or unavailable it seems. With tenacious persistance this will occur. With that going on in my life, I hope you understand why I’ve been absent. Things will get better soon. And I’ll have time to get back to what I started. I am sharing a story with you and connecting with you as well.

Sleep

To begin, I have been living with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive sleep apnea (think those are the correct words) for a decade or so. Forgive me if I’ve used the wrong words or been more precise in the time, I have never been able to have a precise recall of any event. I use a CPAP machine. And now that the background has been conveyed – oh yes, I am also living through Parkinson’s disease – we can talk about my sleep pattern.

My evening routine is be in bed by 10:30 pm. At 10:00 pm I head to the bedroom. Last round of medications, prepare CPAP machine, and then sleep. My goal is to sleep 7 or 8 hours. That should put wake-up around between 5:00 am and 6:00 am. No alarm clock on the nightstand for a long, long time has been a great part of setting the environment for optimum sleep.

Then, there is Parkinson’s disease to contend with. I am not sure how much my restless leg syndrome or generalized tremors disrupt my sleep, but there are nights where my sleep will be more like two or three naps, stitched together with periods of no sleep between 4 to 6 hours of sleep.

I have Parkinson’s. So?

Been a lot of discussions in the media this past week about Parkinson’s disease. Pundits arise to add their voices to the groundswell. The talking heads all quickly shift to the debilitation. They use the disease, perhaps even weaponizing it, to marginalize and defeat the person. No one has taken the time or put forth effort to learn about Parkinson’s. Ask before you make an assumption. Seek out someone living with Parkinson’s as your source, not merely relying on a soundbite.

Sunday thoughts, connecting to much more

Looking back on a day can shed a lot of insight for me; what stood out, why it was memorable, and acknowledging that sometimes things just don’t go as planned. Not that this is an exemplary plan, but it has worked for me for several years.

“Personal reflection is an essential tool for self-awareness and growth. Taking time to look back on our experiences allows us to gain valuable insights, understand what made certain moments memorable, and recognize that not everything goes as planned. This practice fosters a deeper understanding of ourselves and our actions, contributing to personal development and the ability to make more informed decisions in the future. ” (This paragraph was generated using AI. I provided the prompt the relevance of reflection. It has used the first paragraph, and generated this text with that paragraph.)

Will AI be the so-called breakthrough that “improves” education? Can it generate accurate, engaging content? And yes, I did not indicate that AI creates or writes. I am just not quite there to assign that label. Period.

Granted there are several pieces of technology that can make some tasks easier and perhaps more efficient. My handwriting is terrible. There are times that I cannot read it myself! So the computer is my optimal method for communication – nothing is lost in transcription.

“Simplify. Simplify.”
Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Maybe this AI doesn’t make things easier for me. Perhaps Sunday is best for rest. Monday will be here in time.