Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Football
Usually I’m not much of a football fan, but last Sunday I spent the day at my son Colin’s house watching TV. First we watched Denver play, and beat, New England. It was a rather dull game in spite of all the hype, since the outcome was never really in doubt.
All afternoon I grazed on junk food - chips, guacamole, queso, hot wings, chili poppers, brownies, beer - it was great, delicious, the best part of the day, almost.
Then we watched Seattle play San Francisco for the National Conference championship. Seattle didn’t play that well in the first half and I feared we might lose. Almost everyone in Seattle seems to be a Seahawk fan, and if they lost I was afraid that everyone would be in a bad mood for weeks. In the second half Seattle finally scored some points and took the lead, but the outcome was still in doubt up until the last twenty seconds of the game. The more exciting the game got the more stress I felt; the more stress I felt the more hot wings and chili poppers I ate. I wolfed down a ton of them.
It was a very enjoyable day, although probably not a healthy one. My belly ached all night.
All afternoon I grazed on junk food - chips, guacamole, queso, hot wings, chili poppers, brownies, beer - it was great, delicious, the best part of the day, almost.
Then we watched Seattle play San Francisco for the National Conference championship. Seattle didn’t play that well in the first half and I feared we might lose. Almost everyone in Seattle seems to be a Seahawk fan, and if they lost I was afraid that everyone would be in a bad mood for weeks. In the second half Seattle finally scored some points and took the lead, but the outcome was still in doubt up until the last twenty seconds of the game. The more exciting the game got the more stress I felt; the more stress I felt the more hot wings and chili poppers I ate. I wolfed down a ton of them.
It was a very enjoyable day, although probably not a healthy one. My belly ached all night.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Change of plans
Nonna and I worried a lot about the unrest in Bangkok and the threats to shut down the city, and at the same time Sarah is starting a new job here in Seattle and needs help watching Oran, so in the end we decided to postpone our trip to Thailand until later in the year.
That left me with the fortuitous combination of four weeks with nothing planned and a lot of frequent flyer miles in my United account. After a few emails and inquiries online, I decided to fly to Germany for two weeks. I will leave January 27 and spend my mini vacation visiting old friends, ones that I haven't seen for years. That will take care of New Year's resolution number five.
Now I have to start doing some planning to get ready for my trip. I can't take the same clothes to Germany as I was going to take to Thailand. But a large part of the fun of traveling is the preparation, so I'd better get busy getting prepared.
That left me with the fortuitous combination of four weeks with nothing planned and a lot of frequent flyer miles in my United account. After a few emails and inquiries online, I decided to fly to Germany for two weeks. I will leave January 27 and spend my mini vacation visiting old friends, ones that I haven't seen for years. That will take care of New Year's resolution number five.
Now I have to start doing some planning to get ready for my trip. I can't take the same clothes to Germany as I was going to take to Thailand. But a large part of the fun of traveling is the preparation, so I'd better get busy getting prepared.
Monday, January 13, 2014
Some resolutions for 2014
Enjoy life more
drink more wine
eat more chocolate
visit at least one new country
visit at least one old friend whom I haven’t seen for more than a year
complete both speech therapy and physical therapy programs
write in this blog once a week, every week
read a book every 2 weeks
write another draft of my Greenland memoir
get my financial affairs in order
have a photography show of my Bhutan pictures
drink more wine
eat more chocolate
visit at least one new country
visit at least one old friend whom I haven’t seen for more than a year
complete both speech therapy and physical therapy programs
write in this blog once a week, every week
read a book every 2 weeks
write another draft of my Greenland memoir
get my financial affairs in order
have a photography show of my Bhutan pictures
Sunday, January 5, 2014
2013 - A Summary
If 2012 brought death and sorrow to my life then 2013 brought disease and frustration. I first noticed a slight tremor in my right hand when Derek was in the hospital, but I wrote it off to stress. Over the next year it slowly got worse, and I noticed that my handwriting, which was never good, was deteriorating. Buttoning my shirt got more difficult, as did eating with chopsticks. I knew what it was but I denied it, until I finally went to see a neurologist who confirmed my fears and diagnosed Parkinson Disease.
So now my problem has a name and a face, a treatment and a prognosis. I will get worse, but how fast I will fail is unknown. Now really is the beginning of the end of my life; tomorrow really is the first day of the rest of my life.
Maybe I should feel sadness and depression, but instead I feel anger and frustration; I simply don’t have time for this. I am a doctor - I am not a patient. Except, of course, that I am a patient with a primary doctor, a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders, a physical therapist, a speech therapist, and probably most importantly a clinical psychologist. I’m not even taking medication - yet. But soon I will need to start, and once I start I can never stop.
When I sat down to write I intended to reflect on what I did in 2013, so I’ll move on to that. I went to Hong Kong, Thailand, and Bhutan. We moved from Albuquerque to Seattle, and I worked several separate times in Shiprock NM. We took short trips to Pacific Beach WA, Port Angeles WA, and Vancouver BC. I went to my 50th high school reunion. We made several trips to Oregon to visit family and friends. We bought a new car. And we babysat our grandson Oran, who is the candle flame in our darkness. Nothing heals better than a child's laughter.
So now my problem has a name and a face, a treatment and a prognosis. I will get worse, but how fast I will fail is unknown. Now really is the beginning of the end of my life; tomorrow really is the first day of the rest of my life.
Maybe I should feel sadness and depression, but instead I feel anger and frustration; I simply don’t have time for this. I am a doctor - I am not a patient. Except, of course, that I am a patient with a primary doctor, a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders, a physical therapist, a speech therapist, and probably most importantly a clinical psychologist. I’m not even taking medication - yet. But soon I will need to start, and once I start I can never stop.
When I sat down to write I intended to reflect on what I did in 2013, so I’ll move on to that. I went to Hong Kong, Thailand, and Bhutan. We moved from Albuquerque to Seattle, and I worked several separate times in Shiprock NM. We took short trips to Pacific Beach WA, Port Angeles WA, and Vancouver BC. I went to my 50th high school reunion. We made several trips to Oregon to visit family and friends. We bought a new car. And we babysat our grandson Oran, who is the candle flame in our darkness. Nothing heals better than a child's laughter.
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