Progress, of sorts

JON: It’s been cold, very cold. There has been a thick layer of stuff all over the place, which in addition to being cold is also very slippery. What with my fear of falling and vehement dislike of getting wet, I have stayed indoors, eating, drinking but sadly not managing to be merry. As a result, I have started to get pains in my legs, probably due to a lack of movement. I don’t mean the occasional twinge but full blown, ARGH type pains.

Astute readers will remember that I have moaned about these pains before, and that I was to start seeing a physiotherapist. As it turned out, this was probably more traumatic for him than it was for me. Granted, I was in some discomfort, but the poor guy had to try to attempt to diagnose the undiagnosable (according to Doc), in English, for patient who could explain his complaints in Latin and who casually dropped into conversation that he has a Ph.D. in anatomy. OK, I was showing off about the Ph.D., but there are worse things to boast about.

Anyway, the physio pulled and prodded, asked many searching questions, and finally decided that my symptoms are most likely mainly related to the Parkinson’s. So he showed me several exercises and threatened to enroll me in the clinic’s regular Wednesday class for Parkies. Now, I am quite emphatically not the sort of man who takes exercise, but … I’ve finally become convinced that there may be something in this exercise lark, in particular the stretching which has proven helpful over the last few weeks.

And walking is beginning to be almost pleasant. At the moment, we are still at the stage of exploring our surroundings to find the best walks, and in the process I’m taking a vast number of photos of the frozen sea which has a silent beauty about it. I’m musing on getting an exercise machine so I can avoid getting cold – but will that offer up as many photo ops? At least I’m able to stretch out thoroughly and repeatedly in front of our new 40 inch TV.

Hobbies

MARIE: Jon said in a dim and distant post that he was playing with his camera once more and would soon show some of the results. And now that he has, at last, started on the Ritalin, he has stopped talking about doing things and started actually doing them. Jon took his first tablet last Saturday and frankly we were both a bit concerned as nothing much seemed to happen. But already on Sunday there were signs of an effect, and by now one week in it is quite clear that the drug is helping him break down the barrier between idea and action.

In fact, he is now rather busy, not only with the photography but also with painting and sketching, researching some equipment for an old colleague and friend, and ebay-ing (is Ritalin turning him into a shopaholic? If so, the fumes are affecting me as I’ve also just discovered the joys of ebay).

Don’t get me wrong, Jon still needs his rest periods for his back and to deal with variations in drug effect, the motor symptoms are of course the same as before, and he still gets tired and loses concentration. But before Jon was satisfied even at the best of times just to be passively entertained by the TV and radio, whereas now he uses his peak performance time actively on things that engage him, things he enjoys, things that serve a purpose or have an aim, How wonderful is that?

What with suddenly having so many things on the go, Jon has left it to me to make a little selection of pictures for the blog, so I’ve now sprinkled around a few holiday shots, some family pictures and a few of Jon’s more artistic studies (shadows, textures). However, he did specifically select the picture adorning this post.

JON: This is a picture of milk droplets in water. OK, it’s not going to end up in the Tate Gallery, but it took a surprising length of time and many false starts to generate. Which is the whole point: it was creative, fun, time consuming – and, most importantly, gave me a place to hide from she who must be obeyed. I think I’ll leave these droplet images alone for now, although I have several ideas on how to edit and improve them. Call it a work in slow progress.

To do or not to do, that is the question

JON: It’s been an odd sort of a week. The good news is that the local authority has decided to pay for my grab pole – and not just for loan, as my occupational therapist had told me was most likely, but to have and to hold onto forever. Even better, it is proving very useful for getting into and out of bed. I suspect that I’m rather slower than the average Olympic athlete but I think I would now stand a decent chance of getting out of bed in case of a fire. Is there an Olympic getting-out-of-bed event?

Less good, I’ve been accused of becoming dull – ME! Who’d have thought it? OK, snoring on the couch whilst holding a book may not count as multi-tasking, but it is a pleasant way of passing the time. In my defense, it was a rather dull book, and I had at least got out of bed.

To try to become less boring, I have decided to take up my interest in photography again. I’ve been trying for some time to get pictures of fluids mixing, such as the swirling patterns created when you add milk to coffee. I’ve had a go using ambient light and with flashgun(s), but so far the perfect shot eludes me. So a quick trip to the local DIY store to buy halogen lights and a good rummage in my room to find suitable cables should soon see me sorted out soon. I think I might even be getting a little bit excited about the project. Watch this space.

MARIE: As the intelligent reader might have surmised, it was indeed I who accused Jon of becoming boring. All his pastimes are passive – reading, listening to the radio, watching TV. While they may be good books and intelligent programmes, I don’t think that’s enough to feed a mind. Particularly since much of it seems to go in one ear and out another so Jon often can’t actually remember enough detail to have a worthwhile conversation afterwards.

Jon’s lack of energy and lack of initiative has been a recurring subject in this blog. Our psychologist says these issues are common in Parkinson’s and has tried to give Jon / us various tools and ideas to overcome the inertia, but to little effect. He now believes medication may be the way forward, so in two weeks’ time we are seeing a psychiatrist colleague of the psychologist (who cannot himself prescribe drugs).

I hope this will help. I suspect the issues are partly direct effects of Parkinson’s and partly to do with the extremely fraught way in which Jon exited the world of paid work. This left him with a dented self-image and self-confidence that makes withdrawal into the soft armchair of geriatric decline seem like a comfortable solution. But he has the capacity for so much more, and it would be entirely wonderful if the two psychos between them can bring that out again.