The elderly woman was taking a tour of a residential facility. She wasn’t happy with her current residence for a variety of reasons. So she was looking carefully at this one, hoping it would be a better fit. When the tour took her to the therapy room, she got into a conversation with the staff […]
Walking Off Parkinson’s in Washington, DC
The local Parkinson’s charitable foundation, Parkinson’s Foundation of the National Capital Area (PFNCA), held its annual fundraising walk, “Walk off Parkinson’s, this morning. As before, it was held at the MLB Washington Nationals stadium, Nats Park. The stadium itself is a good draw, it’s the one time you can go to DC and 1) find parking and […]
Sad news
I lost a dear friend this week. I dedicate the Parkinson’s Walk on Sunday to her memory. I’ve written and rewritten a memorial and each time its either been too personal or too cold. If you want to know more about her, you can read the post, “Losing Herself”, on the WhyNotMeBlog.
Inosine, Rytary, Alpha-synuclein…Oh, My!
If you aren’t familiar with the subjects listed in the title, you must have missed the September meeting. Look at all you missed! It was wonderful to be back together. We had a full agenda, including a visit by neurologist Drew Falconer, MD. Dr. Falconer and his partner, Sean Rogers, MD, along with […]
what’s wrong with me? by Dr. De Leon
This interesting article tells the tale of neurologist Maria De Leon, as she fought to discover her own diagnosis. We can probably all relate with her path of discovery for answers. The difficulty of diagnosing Parkinson’s Disease is obvious here, when even a neurologist struggles like we did. Dr. De Leon is also the author […]
Variations on a Theme: Now a FoxFeed Blog Post and Podcast
We all know that Parkinson’s Disease is considered a “designer disease” in that we each get our own unique version to deal with. As it says in the FoxFeed blog post,”Researchers are taking note of the variability and studying different causes and clinical appearance to develop new treatments.” Check out the webinar at Michael J. […]
September Meeting Agenda Makes it a No-Miss Event
Is September 2nd marked on your calendar? It is the first fall meeting of the Support Group and we’re kicking it off with a bang. We’ll start with a catch-up session to see how everyone is. Then at 1:30, Dr. Drew Falconer will join us to talk about our “favorite” disease – Parkinson’s. Dr. Falconer […]
News You Can Use from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
Progress is being made in Preventing toxic protein clumps. Alpha-synuclein is the sticky protein that clumps in brain cells in Parkinson’s, and scientists believe that those clumps (called Lewy bodies) are toxic and lead to cell death. Because Lewy bodies likely play a primary role in disease progression and are seen in the brains of […]
Looking Forward to Fall
What an exciting summer it has been, working on the planned fall seminar for other affected women in search of a support group that’s right for them. Since the group took August off, most of the effort has been by email or small groups. Someone told me that it was important that the group participated […]
The First WWPD Fall Workshop – Planning Stages
I have had a few opportunities/challenges in the last few weeks, ones that require skill-sets I lack. What I have learned is that people in this Parkinson’s community are sharp, have had vast experiences to bring to any table, are generous with their time and talents and are delightful people to be around. Our July […]