Author: womenwithparkinsons

Our guest speaker this month is Dr. Aviva Ellenstein, M.D. Ph.D., a Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Neurologist at Washington Brain and Spine Institute. She will speak to us via Zoom from 1:00-2:00 p.m. followed by Just-Us Share Time for the rest of our meeting.   Please plan to sign in 10-15 minutes prior as Dr. Ellenstein will begin […]

Meeting Details: Date: Wednesday, October 4 Time: 1:00-2:30 pm Place: Our usual classroom location Topic: Just-Us Share Time OUR PERSONAL PARKINSON’S JOURNEY. NIH defines Parkinson’s as “a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by both motor and non-motor features.” That’s a pretty vague definition, if you ask me. So I googled Parkinson’s symptoms for more specifics […]

It was so great to be together in the Zoom room on Wednesday, September 6. Our guest speaker was Speech-Language Pathologist Susan Wranik, whose years of experience and extensive knowledge informed her talk on the swallowing challenges and vocal issues of Parkinson’s. She shared her enthusiasm, passion, and positivity with us, as well as her […]

I don’t know about you, but summer feels like it’s been here forever with its 90 degree days. Yet August, by far the hottest month this year, has flown by. I realized looking at my calendar today that Friday, THIS Friday, is September 1. Since we meet the first Wednesday of the month, our meeting is […]

Our May 3 meeting was held via Zoom. It was so great to see everyone! We went around the Zoom room, each of us sharing what’s been going on in our lives, our support group experiences, and whatever else we felt like sharing. We had a good turnout–I counted fourteen–including five members who have been […]

A huge thank you to everyone who responded to our e-mail questions! A lot of time and effort goes into planning and running our meetings. We appreciate all your input about what works and doesn’t work for you, as well as what you are looking for in the group. Because we’d like to continue the […]

The Women with Parkinson’s support group began September 2014. Many of you have been here since that inaugural meeting. Many of you joined over the next few years. I attended my first meeting in September 2015 but had met some of you at lunch the month before at the Italian restaurant in Reston. Food was […]

At our next Just-Us Share Time meeting on April 5, we will be talking about gratitude. Does counting your blessings help you roll with the punches? What gets you through a rough day? What are you grateful for? Looking forward to seeing everyone! In the meanwhile, some resources that may be of interest. If you are […]

At our March 1 Just-Us Share Time meeting, we talked about Aging with Parkinson’s. There were a dozen or so of us who were able to attend. Our dates of diagnosis ranged from 2006 to 2013 and our ages from mid-fifties to mid-eighties or so.  We all agreed on the progressive nature of Parkinson’s disease and aging, and that some signs […]

At our March 1 Just-Us Share Time meeting, we are going to talk about Aging with Parkinson’s. Aging affects our bodies and our minds. Parkinson’s affects our bodies and our minds. Aging is a progressive, degenerative process. Parkinson’s is also progressive and degenerative.  Sometimes there’s a clear line distinguishing the two. Changes like wrinkled skin […]