Waxing lyrical!! With apologies to poet Robert Service (and Eskimo Nell).
When a man grows old
And his toes go cold
And the end of his nose turns blue
And he bends in the middle
Like a one string fiddle
He can tell you a tale or two
Don't laugh at me that way stranger
My tale I'll quickly tell
Of fixed expression
Of legs that freeze
Of that Trembling Palsy hell.
For this is a tale of Parkinson's
As yet there is no cure
And although they're working hard at it
My days are getting fewer
My neurons are decaying
And my dopamine is nil
My joints all ache
I lay awake
Is it time for another pill?
Five years ago I had a twitch
T'was barely there this quake
But five years on without my pills
My body starts to shake
My neurons are decaying
And my dopamine is nil
I'm sure I used those lines last verse
Must be time for another pill.
My Doc sent me to Aberdeen
To see a neuro chappy
He prodded, poked and tested me
I could see he wasn't happy
He asked me to walk up and down
And then to do some writing
At that my right hand went on strike
And neurons started fighting.
He told me "You've got Parkinson's"
Of that it's very clear
So I caught the bus and headed home
For sympathy and beer
My wife said "Well what does it mean?
This Parkinson's a curse!"
I told her not to worry so
It might not get much worse.
Two months further down the line
I saw a Doc in Elgin
She prescribed for me Selegiline
And not much rhymes with Elgin!
This year I'm on Ropinerole
The drugs are getting fewer
I know what's needed next I cry,
Come on, lets find a cure!!
I guess one day they'll get there, it seems as though stem cell research is the big thing in looking for an answer to neurological problems just now.
In September (now I'm getting ahead of myself) a Research Fellow from Edinburgh Uni is coming to speak to our local Parkinson's support group, his thing is experimentation on tiny worms, they are genetically modified so that their nerve cells die off in the same way that human nerve cells do and the aim is to find out why they die off, can they be stopped from dying and can the process be reversed? We'll see!!
Come the 25th (we're still in May) and it's all hands to the pumps, Wendy picked me up at Spean Bridge and gave me a lift up to Paul's, Susie and Ellie are carting boxes of equipment around while Paul, clad only in shorts and trainers (a gruesome sight) was directing operations, or so he thought! Ellie, the fount of all knowledge as to what gear was going where soon had the situation under control. Vehicles were covering four events over the weekend, a two day event near Durham, Ten Under The Ben at Nevis Range, and on Sunday A Pony Club event at Kirrimuir. and a Mtb thing at Glentress. Eventually the Durham team got away and the other vehicles were all kitted out ready for action.
Once sorted I took an ambulance along the road to where I was staying for the night, got myself a meal, bed organised and nose into a book. Ah well we'll see what carnage this weekend will bring!!
Thursday 28 June 2012
Wednesday 27 June 2012
Still a month behind!
Always some 'busy' to eat up time! Three days in BH catching up with odd jobs, making soup and cracking crab claws!
While out carrying out a quality control survey of local coffee venues I discovered one that sold select products like fancy mustards, chutneys and the like, one item that caught my eye was a jar of smoked chilli jam, bought one and gave it a test run, if you're into spicy foods I can well recommend it in fact I'm off to see if they have another jar in a day or so.
Friday and it's off on the bus to FW (one advantage of geriatricity?? is a free bus pass). A cuppa at Paul's hoose and an afternoon spent unloading, cleaning out and loading the ambulances ready for a downhill mtb event at White Corries (Glencoe ski area). The weather looked good as other team members arrived and got loaded up, 0645 we were on our way, only Wendy to collect in FW. 0750, spot on timing to get the med base set up and struggle through a bacon roll before the hill team set off for their positions. At med base we were forced to drink coffee and wait for the possible ensuing carnage! The event organisers commented that it was the first time in living memory that they'd had a dry day at Glencoe and the likelihood of two dry days was mind blowing!! Sure enough within an hour the first of the walking wounded was in for treatment. Normally the muddy conditions held the track together but in the dry the riders felt as though they were riding on ball bearings. bruising and 'gravel rash' seemed to be the order of the day with one or two doing a proper job and needing to be seen in A&E for definitive wound cleaning and closure.
Sunday promised much of the same except one young fellow decided to really clatter himself and had to be weeched away to hospital by ambulance to get checked out. And so another jolly Rescue Medic weekend drew to a close, patients sorted, organisers happy with the results, and us off to hospital to collect a piece of equipment that had been attached to a casualty. That evening was a late meal, late bed and an early rise on Monday to drop an ambulance off in FW for an MOT. A very kind friend gave me a lift the rest of the way into town leaving me around fifteen minutes to wait for the bus back to BH via Inversnechie which allowed me to regain about three hours sleep! The afternoon was rough(ish) so no comment.
Another few days in BH filled with lots of 'busy'. Tuesday involved a drive into Elgin then a lift to Boat of Garten to attend a Parkinson's UK Information Day. Some of the folks attending were in a pretty bad way with mobility problems and suffering far more violent tremors than I have to put up with, seeing folks like that make me realise that although the Parkinson's isn't going to go away (not until a cure is found!) I'm lucky not to be more badly affected. I feel a poem coming on!! Well maybe next post, it's time for bed.
While out carrying out a quality control survey of local coffee venues I discovered one that sold select products like fancy mustards, chutneys and the like, one item that caught my eye was a jar of smoked chilli jam, bought one and gave it a test run, if you're into spicy foods I can well recommend it in fact I'm off to see if they have another jar in a day or so.
Friday and it's off on the bus to FW (one advantage of geriatricity?? is a free bus pass). A cuppa at Paul's hoose and an afternoon spent unloading, cleaning out and loading the ambulances ready for a downhill mtb event at White Corries (Glencoe ski area). The weather looked good as other team members arrived and got loaded up, 0645 we were on our way, only Wendy to collect in FW. 0750, spot on timing to get the med base set up and struggle through a bacon roll before the hill team set off for their positions. At med base we were forced to drink coffee and wait for the possible ensuing carnage! The event organisers commented that it was the first time in living memory that they'd had a dry day at Glencoe and the likelihood of two dry days was mind blowing!! Sure enough within an hour the first of the walking wounded was in for treatment. Normally the muddy conditions held the track together but in the dry the riders felt as though they were riding on ball bearings. bruising and 'gravel rash' seemed to be the order of the day with one or two doing a proper job and needing to be seen in A&E for definitive wound cleaning and closure.
Sunday promised much of the same except one young fellow decided to really clatter himself and had to be weeched away to hospital by ambulance to get checked out. And so another jolly Rescue Medic weekend drew to a close, patients sorted, organisers happy with the results, and us off to hospital to collect a piece of equipment that had been attached to a casualty. That evening was a late meal, late bed and an early rise on Monday to drop an ambulance off in FW for an MOT. A very kind friend gave me a lift the rest of the way into town leaving me around fifteen minutes to wait for the bus back to BH via Inversnechie which allowed me to regain about three hours sleep! The afternoon was rough(ish) so no comment.
Another few days in BH filled with lots of 'busy'. Tuesday involved a drive into Elgin then a lift to Boat of Garten to attend a Parkinson's UK Information Day. Some of the folks attending were in a pretty bad way with mobility problems and suffering far more violent tremors than I have to put up with, seeing folks like that make me realise that although the Parkinson's isn't going to go away (not until a cure is found!) I'm lucky not to be more badly affected. I feel a poem coming on!! Well maybe next post, it's time for bed.
Thursday 21 June 2012
Only a month behind!
Since the Trainers Training session at Glenmore Lodge there have been three bike events, 0ne pony club horse trial, a three day trip to Rum followed by an overnight stay on Eigg and the Edinburgh Moonwalk. The Rumm - Eigg trip was a holiday! I really am going to retire again, after the next Strathpuffer!!
12th - 13th May BDS at Nevis Range. A busy weekend with sixteen casualties, most spectacular was a serious cervical spine fracture which was managed perfectly by the Rescue Medic guys on the hill. Thankfully his spinal cord was intact and because of the faultless management it remained so. The young man was evacuated to the Belford Hospital, scanned and transferred to Edinburgh. Comments from Belford A&E and the Ambulance Service were very complimentary about the packaging and evacuation of the casualty. A great result all round.
Sunday evening saw me driving back to the sunshine of the midge free east coast! Bags unpacked and gear sorted, shower and bed. Monday and an outing (not that sort!). This outing was the Parkinson's Support Group's annual bus trip, the venue this year, as displayed on't bus. The bus does work though not operating while we were there, I understand the driver doesn't start until June!!
12th - 13th May BDS at Nevis Range. A busy weekend with sixteen casualties, most spectacular was a serious cervical spine fracture which was managed perfectly by the Rescue Medic guys on the hill. Thankfully his spinal cord was intact and because of the faultless management it remained so. The young man was evacuated to the Belford Hospital, scanned and transferred to Edinburgh. Comments from Belford A&E and the Ambulance Service were very complimentary about the packaging and evacuation of the casualty. A great result all round.
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