It is at this point I use my first assistance device of the day: my closet doorjamb. My bed is about two feet from the closet and I stumbled—or rather fell—across this assistive device one morning as I struggled to get out of bed.
Standing up on my feet is not usually a major problem, but my feet need some looking after. After opening up my bedroom shades to bring the outside light in, my next task is "untangling" my feet and getting them to point in the direction I need to go. In this, comes a motion made by my feet as something akin to turning a reluctant doorknob. Slow and deliberate in what seems like corkscrew motions, I catch myself silently urging my feet by thinking "come on feet, come on."
Okay, all systems go, so far. Time to shuffle out of the bedroom and head toward the kitchen to feed my cats who, though I intend to feed them a can of moist food, are running in between my legs pleading as felines do to be fed. After fulfilling their demands and starting my coffee maker, I head back toward the bathroom and get ready for the day.
It is here where I experience my first major Parkinson's induced hurdle, getting changed into the clothes I will wear for the day. About this time, the tremors start and my balance begins to falter. Putting a clean shirt on is easy. The problem is putting on my pants. I should sit down to make it easier, but I try to stand while doing this, resulting in my eventually leaning on the bathroom counter. I continually feel the loss of balance as I finally succeed in getting changed.
Back to the kitchen to get my morning coffee and though the coffee cup in on the counter, I spill some as I pour it. Here, knowing what will happen next if I attempt to pick up my cup, I stand back as concentrate on not allowing my hands to shake while walking the short distance from the kitchen to the living room. Sometimes I am successful, sometimes not. Regardless, I have to take my morning medicines, which in the first dosing of the day, is as follows:
- Three tablets of Sinemet 25-100mg which I will repeat three more times throughout the day.
- Effexor XR 150mg(Only in morning).
- Clonazepam .5mg which I must take two more times in the day.
- Requip .25mg, which I will take one more time when I head to bed.
- Keppra 500mg which I take two more times today.
- Comtan 200mg which I must take in unison with my Sinemet.
Finally, I take the only over the counter medicine approved by my physician: Bayer Back and Body Pain Reliever. The pain reliever is for a dislocation of four vertebrae at the bottom of my spinal column, L3, L4, L5 and S1. I have used hydrocodone, better known as Vicodin, but found it "made me feel good." Now I stay with the Bayer product. Some days it works, some days it doesn't.
After taking my medicines, I check out the cable news channels to see what happened overnight. I catch up on the night's sports scores hoping my team didn't lose, and get the weather report. Once I have been "filled" with all the info my brain can handle, it's time to go out and hang the United States flag, try to get an idea of what the weather is really going to be like, and if needed, I refill the bird feeders outside my house. I see the stares of my cats as I do this and I can almost hear the cats saying, "Bring on the bird show, bring it on."
By this time, it's usually 10 a.m. or so and there are the typical beginnings of the tremors spreading to the rest of my body. My head begins to bob, and my shoulders begin to twitch, as do my torso and hips. Now I know my body is truly awake. However, there a few things to be done such as dishes from the night before, picking up anything the cats may have knocked off the counters during their nightly frolic, sweeping or vacuuming where needed, and doing any laundry that may need to be done. Walking is not yet a major problem. I can get around now with what resembles something more like actual steps. But this will not last much longer, especially if I try to walk any significant distance, like the roughly 700 feet to the bus stop to go to Wal-Mart for food and supplies, such as my med's.
I know many of you have some similar experiences. I am not sharing this to complain. I only share it because we are all in this together. I hope my experiences help you know you are not alone. Tomorrow, I'll walk you through the rest of my day.
- Brian
