Playing catch up but getting there!

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!!