No Pain, No Gain......

It's five am in Illinois and we have extreme weather conditions all around. Icing everywhere does not encourage me to get real excited about venturing outside to get some form of exercise...This is what I have been working on while not blogging daily. November nineteenth I had my right hip replaced and with that decided to just reinvent my whole life. I now exercise an hour or more daily. I have lost 34 pounds since August 1st and this is what I am trying. I joined the Y and go in and walk the gym in laps. One lap is one/sixteenth of a mile. As of yesterday, I am up to a half mile, 8 laps.....four without a walker and four with. I can now accomplish this in 24 minutes. Not lightening but gets the heart rate up and is building the strength in my legs AND MIND. I found out that after the surgery, my repaired leg wanted to go big time but my PD leg wanted now to freeze. My leg that was operated on is smaller than the PD one but seems to be much stronger. My main worry now is upper body strength....especially my left (PD) arm. The upper muscle in both arms has excruciating pain most of the time SO I do three sets of twelve, arm pulls to the front with a Pilate's stretch cord, three sets of twelve lying in bed and extending my arms straight over me and making large circles to small circles, leg lifts high to just off of the bed and then back up. I have never been an exerciser and this is not fun but I am starting to see the rewards and that is fun. Second is dry skin......My meds seem to drain every ounce of moisture out of my body so "Lubriderm Lotion" constantly and lots of liquid water or green tea. I force myself daily to do my hair and makeup....why, because, I have found if I don't force ALL of this I will not do it and I will die a slow death and not even know it. In with all this I am working on a 1000 piece puzzle of down town New York City(for the brain), read my Bible and several books loaned me by a special friend and take care of my 87 year old mom with Alzheimer's. None of this would be possible were it not for the total support of a long time love, who constantly tells me my worth to (if no one else) him. He sets my goals on very high shelves and encourages me to reach ever higher. What a difference he has made in my life at 63.The point behind all this is.....If I can do this, so can you. A chronic disease is a killer in so many ways. It not only kills your body but your brain while it runs all those around you away in fear. Those who are once friends, tend to pity you and you let them. This causes you to start a never ending road that takes you nowhere but to "Waste Land U.S.A." Please, no matter what chronic disease you are battling, do one thing for YOUR improvement today. Then tomorrow try two things. Life at this end of the scale maybe short but it need not be unproductive. Take five minutes and laugh, if at no one else, yourself and know I am thinking of each and everyone of you at this Christmas Season with love in my heart. Love Pokie

This I Know

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I have read too much lately and filled my dopamine starved brain with many very disturbing thoughts.  The news has gang wars, senseless killings and stories too gruesome to imagine.  Small, small children going hungry as their parents panic from job loss.  Houses made a home where in a family dwelled, taken away with not a bat of the eye, leaving two or three generations homeless.  Is it any doubt that people you come in contact with are not trusting or long for another reason in your deeds?  What seemed so effortless two years ago now is a struggle.  I have always tried to live in the path of my Lord, hoping to comfort along the way the needy.  Maybe it's my disease and maybe the times but winter scares me this year. I have had the dream of finding the cure.  I walked the miles toward awareness but now I have stopped to focus.  Which way is the right way on this journey and will I know before I step into the path?  Have I become hard in my fatigue?  I seem to be wandering from side to side on a path I once traveled with a light heart. I have always met the world as a challenge and tried to give it my very best but now I seem to doubt if I can do enough to make my world right. I can only feel so happy that I have my faith in these times of trial. My faith, I know will somehow replace doubt with peace. THIS I KNOW:

Grief has it's rhythm....first the wild,

Swift tide of dark dispair;

The time of bleak aloneness,

When even God's not there.

And then the slow receding

Till quiet calms the sea,

And bare, washed sand is everywhere

Where castles used to be.

The gentle lapping of the waves

Upon the shore.....and then

The pearl-lined shells of memories

To help us smile again.

Thank you H.L. Marshall for in your day and time knowing how to quiet my storm in this day and time.  The killings must stop and we must give of every thing we have.  This is the greatest nation on earth and we have come on much harder times than we are being told.  If it is just taking something warm to a neighbor in need, then do it.  If it's heading a fund raiser for your food bank, then do it.  If it's touching someones hand as you speak or a hug from out of the blue, what have you lost?  Please set a better example for our young and love with all your heart. Our nation is so precious, dour families so dear.  Together we can do this, through trust in ourselves and the Lord.....love Pokie

What a Game Parkinson's Is......

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This Parkinson's Disease really keeps one on their toes, if you have any hope of keeping up. Everyday is a whole new ball game but there are no time outs to regroup. Every inning is intense and suspense activated. If Joe Parker is the Pitcher, (Parkinson's) he is the best the coach can send in. I pray for a slow ball and he pitches a curve. I pray to just hit the ball and maybe make it to first . He pitches that curve....I strike and I am out for the inning. Now if I am a good player, which I am, I square off my shoulders and walk proudly away. When my next time at bat comes up, I give him my evil face and hope I will scare him. I keep my Parkinson's eye on him and my good eye on God and swing with everything I have. I am not a Albert P. but somewhere in my brain I think I might be if given half a chance and me and the ball connect. I cannot run but I head for first and they fumble the ball somewhere in left field. With my head down and one arm swinging, I am repeating. "I think I can, I think I can." Hell has no fury like a sixty three year old grandmother on a mission and I make it to first base huffing and puffing all the way.

As the inning progresses, two of my team mates are up to bat and strike out and then up steps "Big Albert" to the plate. All eyes are on Albert and I can hardly think for the pounding in my ears. I pray, "Please not the curve ball." but sure enough here it comes BUT Albert goes for it and connects and it's gone! Joe Parker watches as I stumble across home base with Albert in close pursuit yelling, "Go Parkinson's...Go for the Cure." and we win in the ninth Two to Nothing. What a dream, huh? love pokie