What we did on holiday

I have no intention of showing you all (or indeed any) of our 2000+ slides or of going into great detail, so suffice it to say we went on a guided tour through Cambodia, Vietnam and Singapore, and we had a great time.

We booked the trip earlier in the year when we were pretty optimistic about my health, and had some worrying months while I went downhill, so my improvement on the new PD meds came in the nick of time. In fact, having the new sleeping pills meant that I suffered much less jet lag than others in our group because I could control my sleep. And bliss, oh bliss, I was (and still am) sleeping normally – or what passes for normal when you have Parkinson’s and jerk about when you dream.

Going as part of a group (of 12) meant that I didn’t feel guilty about opting out of a few activities as that would not leave Marie with no-one to share with. So, instead of climbing about temples or crawling through Vietcong tunnels, I could take a nap in the bus and wait for the others (including an overweight and hyper-energetic 75-year-old grandmother) to get back. It also helped that everyone we travelled with, both tourists and guides, were really helpful and understanding. My bags were carried for me, I had first choice of seats, and was expertly handed in and out of numerous boats.

Another thing is that one of the symptoms that has had me most worried was my sudden aversion to coffee starting about 18 months ago. I used to drink gallons of the stuff, but suddenly it had a powerful acrid/burning smell. But I noted to my great delight that Vietnamese coffee smelt like coffee used to do. The difference, I think, is that the Viet coffee is sweetened with condensed milk (8% fat) and I suspect the high fat content absorbs whatever unpleasant component it is that I have become sensitized to. Oh, yes, and after very thorough testing I can also confirm that I now appear to tolerate beer really rather well again…

The last two days of the trip were interesting. Marie sprained her ankle getting onto the bus from the airport to the hotel. It looked painful and she said it was painful, but after sleeping with her foot in a bag of ice and borrowing a crutch from the concierge she was keen to do the night safari at Singapore zoo. I found it exhausting jogging to keep up with the woman. But seriously, you should have seen us when we first arrived at the hotel: she hobbled painfully straight to bed whence she directed me to ring for ice and fetch towels and pillows and dig out the painkillers and get the door and put the kettle on – and I performed a perfect pantomime of rushing around in slow motion. But it was good to be the one doing for once, rather than being done for.

So was the trip worth it? Yes, definitely – we got to spend a lot of time together in a stress-free environment, we got to feel immensely lucky and privileged compared to the locals, and we got to see and do and eat a lot of new and interesting stuff.

Back home, I have noticed that I am not doing so well on memory issues. Other people my age joke about senior moments, like when I forgot the name of the Prime Minister. Embarrassing at least, somewhat worrying at worst – I retrieved the name after 10-15 seconds, but they were a long few seconds. With Parkinson's, you know there’s a greater risk of dementia, so it’s harder to laugh off the lapses in memory. Do these lapses affect my ability to work? Well, I had another of my regular assessments with the work doctor who claimed to detect a slight improvement since he last saw me two months ago. He may be right, although I’m tempted to put my apparent improvement down to the mild sun tan I picked up whilst away. Anyhow, I’m still assessed as 0% fit for work, it just may be a slightly smaller zero this time.