#237 Parkinson's, Special Garden Shop, and Photos

#237 Parkinson’s, Special Garden Shop, and Photos

Arrowhead GC, Molalla, OR

While traveling in Scotland, playing and researching for our golf books, we discovered [Sure. like we were the first to notice.] an abundance of interesting farm shops. Establishments like Gloagburn Farm Shop (Tibbermore near Crieff), Balgove Larder (Strathtyrum Farm, St Andrews), Househill Farm Shop and Cafe (near Nairn), and the Storehouse farm-to-table restaurant (south of Dornoch) all became regular stops for Anne and I as we traveled the country. We were glad to find that we had a similar shop in our area. But before I detail Bauman’s Farm and Garden I want to share some more information about Parkinson’s Disease, the fastest growing neurological condition in the US.

For photos in this post, besides the photos of Bauman’s, I’m starting with some golf photos—since I’m constantly lifting my head on a shot when I’m supposed to keep my head down, I thought I’d show what I’m looking at when I lift my head. Then I’ll end the post with a short photo surprise. 

Either Godzilla or a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle over the GC

Parkinson’s and the Gold Standard Treatment

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a movement disorder where the best treatment is often movement. Exercise can be the best aid to fighting some of the major seen and unseen symptoms of the disease. I am currently in a program called SPEAK OUT! where I am learning exercises to strengthen my voice and swallowing muscles—loss of speaking ability and volume is a very common PD condition if not controlled. But the Gold Standard pharmacological treatment of major symptoms is with dopaminergic drugs designed to help produce more dopamine or maintain the dopamine left in the brain—by the time most people are diagnosed with PD we have already lost up to 80% of our movement controlling dopamine in our brains. In fact, one of the clinical diagnostic tests to see if someone has PD is to see if symptoms respond to Levodopa treatment.

In my case I talked to my family doctor about a list of things that were happening to me such as slowness of movement, freezing (not being able to move), resting tremors in both hands, and more. The list indicated PD, so the doctor put me on a regime of Carbidopa-Levodopa, one pill three times a day. I responded well, so “Welcome, Bob, to the world of Parkinson’s!” There is no evidence that taking C-L (the Carbidopa is an anti-nausea drug to help tolerate the Levodopa)  has any affect on the progression of PD, but it does help reduce symptoms. I now live pill-to-pill and can definitely tell when my C-L kicks in (about 20 minutes after taking it) and when it’s run out (about three hours after taking it). Eating, driving, exercise, working on writing projects are now controlled by my pattern of taking Carbidopa-Levodopa. For me right now this pattern is 1-1/2 pills at 7:00AM, 10:30AM, and 2:00PM, and one pill at 5:30PM and just before bed at about 10:30PM.  And this pattern will change as the the progression of the disease advances.

But nothing is simple with Parkinson’s. Sinemet (another name for C-L) works for now, but it will eventually stop being as effective at controlling symptoms. When that happens I’ll go into a whole new system of controls that I have yet to explore. In the meantime, I also have to deal with the side effects of Levodopa which comes with it’s own laundry list of problems—nausea and vomiting, orthostatic hypertension (drop in blood pressure), psychiatric effect (like hallucinations and anxiety), constipation (one of the most common and troublesome), daytime sleepiness, impulse control difficulties, and dyskinesia (abnormal movements or gait). As I’ve said before, Parkinson’s Disease is an adventure—not an enjoyable adventure and one I’d wish on no one—but an adventure all the same.   

A Near Farm Store

Bauman’s Farm and Garden (12989 Howell Prairie Road, Gervais, OR, 503-792-3524, www.baumanfarms.com near Woodburn ) has been a family farm since 1895. A small market was started on the land called Howell Prairie in 1988. The farm store grew bit by bit: first vegetables, then flowers, and a small bakery. Now Bauman’s Farm and Garden has a large bakery specializing in donuts, fruit pies, and pastries using Oregon’s own Marionberry. The store also has a large food store for produce, fruits and vegetables, and gourmet foods—the mushroom steak sauce is one of our favorites—along with the sweets, of course. The green house shop has flowers, plants, and local advice. The garden center has a broad array of edible gardening, hanging baskets, annuals, roses, trees and garden supplies. When you want a break from shopping, or to fortify yourself before shopping, visit the deli/coffee shop with sandwiches, soups, sweets, wines and ciders.

Nice Farm Shop lunch, but bad photographer's timing. Sorry.

Bauman’s hosts several special events during the year including Spring Open House (March), Gardenpalooza (April), Harvest Festival (Sept/Oct), among others. We miss visiting the farm stores of Scotland, but find that we have one at least as enjoyable and closer to home in Bauman's.

Saw Ed H, a golfer friend, working in the shop.

Starting to load the car with our treasures.

Hooray! I've finally broken into my storehouse hard drive of earlier photos. Here are a few of my favorites, with hopefully more to come.

Himalayan Blue Poppy

Branklyn Garden in Perth, Scotland

#236 Parkinson's Hallucinations and Some New Photos

 

Our front yard frosted with hail.

#236 Perception and Pictures

Crocus in our front garden.

The pictures in this post were actually taken this past month by me. They are real photographs taken on Lumix ZS100 or Nikon Z50ii cameras. It’s the first time in quite a while that I’ve felt good enough to get out and shoot some new photos, even if they are just ordinary—most were taken at the Canby Community Pond which is always full of friendly fowl and rodents.

Hallucinations and Delusions

John, Anne’s cousin, responded to the last blog post [Thank you, John!] with a story about his cat called Ghost. Ghost was a found gray cat like my George and got his name from his ability to seemingly disappear on walks and reappear later in the walk. John’s story made me consider telling about the fact that George The Cat seems to be haunting me even now. Every so often when I’m in bed the covers (usually just a sheet) will fall in on me like it would when George would curl up on the bed at night. I know there’s no cat that just got on the bed, but it’s hard to ignore the motion of the covers is like George is right there. Either the ghost of George has just crawled onto bed to settle in for the night or it’s a Parkinson’s disease hallucination.

A bullhead or common goldeneye?

A pair of ???

A newly rebuilt garden path.

That brings me to this post’s information about living with PD. As many as 50% of Parkinson’s sufferers over the course of their time with the disease will be affected by hallucinations and/or delusions. These affects will be in the form of seeing things that aren’t really there (people living or deceased, animals living or deceased, objects), hearing sounds that aren’t real (extraneous sounds, music, voices), other sensory manifestations, paranoia (believing people are watching you or talking about you), and false beliefs (fears of loved ones stealing from you, putting you in harm’s way, or being unfaithful). The causes of these hallucinations and delusions are varied, but most can be attributed to the natural progression of the disease (changes in the brain) or the side effects of dopamine therapy where the increase of dopamine in the brain may cause the effects. If natural progression is the suspected cause then certain drugs may give help. If drugs are the cause then a change of dosage as well as a change of treatment drugs may be the solution.

Alas poor Yorick...

With Parkinson’s related hallucinations visual images are the most common type. The hallucinations may be minor called passage images (like shadows) or major called presence. Most of PD patients who experience hallucinations say that while startling at first, they actually get fairly used to them. Most patients know the hallucinations aren’t real, but still find them unsettling. One of the members of my support group said that her hallucination came in the form of a cat—she knew it wasn’t real because it was polka dotted and wearing a yellow bow tie. If I have to include hallucinations in my PD symptoms I hope that they aren’t the paranoid delusional type, but rather the mild kind, like George’s ghost. Although, I don’t think I would mind meeting the polka dot cat as long as he was still wearing the yellow bow tie.  

Wood Duck

Wood duck circles and reflections.

He'll see what he can do.

Next: I like the idea of new photos. I'll see what I can do.

Spring Sunset in Canby

#235 PD, Story, Memorial, Photos

The Photos in this post are mostly just decoration—old photos found, new experiments, and eye candy. Please enjoy and comment.

The Continuing Saga of Bob’s Parkinson’s

I always tried to teach that to truly analyze an issue meant you had to examine all sides of the issue. Thus, my analysis of the good and the bad of Parkinson’s Disease. First, what causes PD? Fifteen percent of PD can be attributed to genetics—PD running in a family. That’s the bad news; you can’t do anything about it. But that means 85% of PD comes from environmental causes such as exposure to chemical factors (RoundUp, chemicals used on golf courses, etc.). And that is certainly good news because that means 85% of PD could be  preventable.

Next, PD is an eclectic disease where each individual’s symptoms or combination of symptoms and progression of the disease is different for each individual. That fact makes treatment much more difficult and stressful—it’s hard to prepare for what comes next in the disease when it could be any number of things. It takes a team effort to fight PD. The good news is you can find some really good people to put on your team. I’m lucky to have Anne as a care-giver and I worry about working her too hard. But I have also met two efficient neurologists and a great family practitioner, as well as several therapists (physical trainer, movement therapist, voice and swallowing therapist). I attend a group meeting of others fighting the condition and we all work at helping each other. I’ve met some wonderful people because of PD, and that’s a great thing.

Finally, there are good medicines and treatments for many of the symptoms of PD. It’s certainly good news when I find the right dosage of Carbidopa/Levodopa (Sinemet) that controls most of my tremors. The bad news comes when the disease progresses beyond what the meds can control or when the meds themselves cause problems. Constipation is one of the symptoms of PD and Sinemet often causes more constipation. 

Parkinson’s Disease is an ugly problem for all of us, patient and caregiver, and the good side of it becomes more and more a comparative good. But with the support of my team I’ll lumber on from one symptom to the next. Is it a good thing to look forward to the next new challenge or a bad thing? 

Amorak (son) and Myko (father) crashed out after pulling a four-wheeled cart 72 miles through beach and sand dunes in two days with rest of a 7-dog team. Good dogs!

Anne and the team with little snow at Beaver Marsh and Mt Thielson in the background.

Anne driving a five dog team at a Dune Musher's beach race in the '70s.

The Tournament of the Bad Tooth

The fall 1964 University of Washington collegiate speech tournament was an unusual one for me. I was entered in three individual speaking events and debate, but that wasn’t what was unusual. It was the second day of the three day competition that I woke up with a swollen cheek and an extremely aching tooth. All Dr. Mahaffey or Craig Singletary, our speech coaches at Linfield College, could do was give aspirin and tell me to make my way over to the U of W School of Dentistry during the day to see if they could help.[Side note about our team: Linfield’s speech team had a small budget, so to extend our monies Hap had us stay in a downtown Seattle 4th Street hotel where the lower floors were rented out on an hourly basis while our cheap rooms were on upper floors. It was a good educational opportunity for small town debaters and we never had any problems. Back to my story.] With my full competitive schedule I could find only a little time during my lunch break—I had no interest in food anyway—to seek professional help. With my slurred speech, puffy cheek, and sore tooth they set me up to see one of the dental professors during a class session. He put me in a chair, took a look at my tooth, and called another professor over to take a look. Soon all the students were coming over and after seeing the tooth, muttered to each other about it. 

It seems that several years before, when I had had work done on the tooth by Dr. Toothacher in Los Angeles (and yes, that was his real name) he had done some unusual damage to the tooth which had now split right down the middle. The doctors said the tooth had to come out, but they couldn’t do it. They said I would have to take that up with my dentist in Salem when I got home. They did though pack the tooth and give me something stronger than aspirin for the pain.

So drugged up with more slurred speech I took my packed tooth back to finish the tournament. And finish the tournament I did. Mike and I placed 2nd in debate and I finaled and took a trophy in each of the three individual events in which I participated. Even drugged—swollen—and slurring it was one of the best performances of my college speech career. I wonder if I could have done any better if I’d been healthy. 

Osprey bringing home the fish dinner to the nest near Mt Angel.

George the Cat -- (?)1997 - March 20, 2013  (I know I've posted this before, but of all the animals we've shared our lives with he was our last and the one we can't forget.)

George, named by the neighbors, was a stray abandoned by the people who lived behind the neighbors across the street from us. The neighbors neutered George and fed him, but he was just one of several outside cats the neighbors fed. I started hand

feeding George Tender Vittles in the mornings before I went to work. He soon discovered that he liked coming into the house in the evenings, even if he had to share it with Muffy, Queen of the House. Muffy took all the best sleeping spots, but George decided that even the second best spots were better than living on the street. After talking with the neighbors and taking George to the vet for his jabs, he became our cat although weighing between twelve and fifteen pounds he freely claimed the neighborhood as his. 

George was a lovey cat with us, but fairly shy among other people. He tolerated us having groups over, but relished group dinners when he’d get his own chair at the table--he was content to sit at the table and watch us eat, knowing he’d eventually get some scraps when everyone was done. Almost any meat would attract his interest and ice cream was of course his favorite dessert.

In the twelve plus years we had George he got used to having sitters when we were away, first to debate camps and then to UK adventures. For a while we used live-in house/cat sitters, then we had neighbors who would watch over things while we were gone--letting George in and out on a regular basis. He didn’t like our traveling and started sulking as soon as saw the suitcases come up from the basement. He never knew whether the trip was to be for a weekend, a week, or six weeks--after all, as smart as he was he never learned to read the calendar or the itinerary we always left on the table. He was almost always happy to see us return. In fact, one time we had left our car at the airport for a friend who was coming back from a trip a couple of days after we left. When Scott pulled into our carport with our car George came anxiously running until he saw it wasn’t us. Scott said he looked so dejected when he left in his own car. George would punish us, though, for leaving him (even if he had been well cared for) by demanding to be let in and out at his whim for several days. Out of guilt (and fear, for George had claws which he kept very sharp) we always gave in to his demands. This was the pattern for years, until this last short trip to Eastern Oregon. When we got home George greeted us, wanted pets and a little lap time, but was far more interested in curling up in the bed we had for him in front of the heat vent. This now was the pattern for several days--George became harder and harder to wake up. He’d get up to eat his breakfast and dinner and wait beside us for our scraps, but then it was back to sleep in front of the heater without much lap time. In few days it was just sleep. I had a chat with George’s vet, made an appointment, and took him in for his final visit.

We hope George, good friend that he was, is now enjoying his long, permanent nap.

NEXT: Maybe some new photos...or maybe some old stories...or both.