New doctor! New hope! The neurologist in Georgetown that Charles was going to has moved to Prestonsburg so we were forced to get a new doctor. Even though we never had problems, I always had concerns because he was "green" -- fresh out of school. I was never confident that Charlie was on the right medications/dosages.
We were very fortunate that Dr. Owens set Charlie up with an appointment with Dr. Slevin today. Dr. Slevin has been a leader in Parkinson's research at UK for many years. He is a guru in his knowledge of Parkinson medications. And the good news is that Dr. Slevin did not change anything; no medication adjustment is needed. He did tell us that he thinks Charlie is four years into the disease, not two. And I agree.
Several months back based on the success that a childhood friend had with Brain Stimulation surgery, Charlie set up an appointment with Dr. Van Horn for testing. But, he has since cancelled his appointment and decided not to proceed with testing. After researching side effects, he decided to instead focus on treatment for his knee. Both Doctor Owens and Dr. Slevin think that was the right decision.
With all that being said -- from where I sit, I feel that Parkinson's took a little bit bigger hold on Charlie in 2013. It seems to me that his muscles have gotten weaker - that his grip is lighter. It is hard to attribute a symptom to Parkinson's fully because he has other health issues, with one usable hand and an arthritic knee. But, I have watched him get slower this year. The fork goes slower from the plate to the mouth. He fumbles with things like keys -- it just takes longer to do things. He fumbles with his phone, rarely getting it before the caller has hung up. He has a hard time putting his jacket on. He stays in bed much longer in the mornings. Many days, he isn't out of bed when I leave for work. He is walking on a cane most of the time, which is arthritis. But, it is hard not to wonder how much of the knee problem is arthritis and how much is Parkinson's. Another thing that changed in 2013 was his driving skills. I began noticing that we were taking very wide left turns. He admitted to me that driving is no longer automatic for him. He has to make a conscious effort to drive -- he has to mentally tell his hand what to do. But, he is still driving.
Mentally, he seems to be doing much better. He is talking and laughing much more. He seemed very upbeat after his appointment today. Hopefully, warm weather will come soon and he can get out and get some sunshine.
For me personally, I am not handling the Parkinson's as well as I thought I would. The patience that I had with my children doesn't come as easy as it used to. It is hard to separate the habits that "always" annoyed me from the habits that he now has no control over. An example is, when he is looking for something in a drawer or cabinet
-- he won't look past what he first sees. He comes to me to find it for
him. It is hard not to say, "Your mother doesn't live here." I am finding that I have to work much harder on ME. So that is my goal for 2014 -- be a better caregiver. We are very blessed and need to count our blessings every day!
