A Disease Diagnoses-Throwback Thursday

I’m not sure what type of Throw Back Thursday post this is. Surely not uplifting or lighthearted. I’ve been hesitant to write about my husband’ disease. Perhaps because we live it everyday,  I have no energy to relive it in writing. Nevertheless this is what I remember of when we first learned my husband had Parkinson’s Disease.    I’m not even sure I’m remembering this all correctly. This will seem disjointed as I dig up small details from a time that already seems distant.

A stiffness in one hand and arm. A slight limp. We attributed it all to sleeping in an awkward position and a fall on the ski-out at Sunshine in April of 2005. A chiropractor that finally admitted he couldn’t do anything to fix these problems,  suggests a visit to the GP. The doctor makes a referral to a local neurologist. July 2005 and My husband goes to the appointment alone. A mistake. The neurologist diagnoses Parkinsonism.  I know what you have, he announces. He says it like my husband has just won a highly improbably lottery. My husband, at that first appointment hears only Parkinsons. This is not news you should face alone.

If I could use one word to describe the weeks immediately following this news it would be blackness.

I believe it was the second appointment when the neurologist prescribed medications. There is a chair for my husband and I  stand with my back to the wall in a corner of the office. I already dislike this doctor, who has made me feel like an inconvenient interloper. From where I stand, I read the computer screen. The diagnoses is actually Multiple Systems Atrophy.

My husband takes two weeks off of work as he ramps up the medication. The medications however, quickly prove more troublesome than the symptoms they were to alleviate. He is unable to drive, is paralyzingly fatigued and suffers from mental fog. He spends most of the day laying on lounge chair on the deck.

He still doesn’t know about the original diagnoses of MSA, a disease with a lifespan of less than ten years after diagnoses, and still doesn’t. And probably won’t unless he reads this blog. That’s okay.

A Little Crafting

Just a reminder if you should come into my house.

Now that all the Christmas decorations are put away I needed something fun to put on my front door. This was a quick craft that I whipped up while hubby was watching the hockey game this evening. Cardstock letters are Mod Podged to an inexpensive signboard I bought at Michaels. I made a sign like this several years ago when I first got my Cricut and it is still holding together well with only a little fading of the colors.

In lieu of an interesting ‘photo a day’ this will have to do. I remember having this problem last time I did a photo a day challenge. During the winter months the scenery started to look all alike. And sometimes it was just too cold and wintry to go out exploring and looking for something new.

A Photo A Day – January 5

As friendly a January day as is possible. Sunshine, blue skies, fluffy clouds, a frozen pond and a beautiful old barn.

At one time, it would have been filled with loads and loads of hay for the dairy cattle that lived in brick dairy barns beside it. The brick barns are long gone, and only a little rubble left. Only this structure and a hodge-podge frame house remain, along with the impressive brick gate posts that marked the entrance to the “City Dairy”.

I wish this old barn was mine. What would I fill it with?

Happy New Year 2019!

I always feel a little down when the holidays are over. But I’m setting my sights on some new goals this year. So there is lots to look forward to. I know there are some hard times coming but, that is just life.

Two small projects that I intend to keep going through the year are another photo a day project. And I am going to do another big year just using lists of birds that I see in my travels.

I know that some people do a big year and follow migrations or travel to see specific birds, but I am just going to record what I see in my daily life and see how many I can get. Today I saw wild turkeys chickadees and a cardinal. Nothing spectacular, nothing new to put on the life list, but a start anyway. I also took a photo as I went for a very chilly walk this afternoon.