Mr. Parkinson, An Update

It’s been a while since my last update about life with Parkinson’s disease. As far as health is concerned, I’m doing well. My drugs are still effective; I walk 4 miles a day (with my trusted cane), meditate and stay as far away from stress (good and bad) as I can. However, I have noticed a slight tremor in my left hand as opposed to my main tremor in my right hand. There are some differences in its development for I remember all too well how my right hand started to shake. Though PD is

Every Picture Tells a Story

“All things must pass” -George Harrison

This is Levi, who belongs to a good friend of  mine. This picture, taken July 1st, 2015 was the last face I saw as I left Raleigh, North Carolina to move to St. Augustine, Fla. I will miss Levi as well as the many friends I’ve known for the past 15 years in which Raleigh has been my home.                                       -JC

 

Mr. Parkinson Goes to Clinical Trials, Part 1

When I was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease I went online and signed up for newsletters, free publications, and became a member of several major Parkinson’s foundations. As you may have guessed, I have collected tons of information and the one thing all these sites suggested is volunteering for clinical trials. Yet for some reason, I did not think they were talking to me? Maybe that was the ‘denial’ part of me; if you take part then you acknowledge you have Parkinson’s.

One day a friend gave me the phone number from an advertisement, looking for volunteers for a Parkinson’s study. I asked my neurologist about it and with his encouragement I called the number, left my name, and did not think twice about it. After a few months, I received a call from a research facility and they

Changes One Nimbus

 “Turn and face the strange Ch-ch-changes,”                   -David Bowie

You think you know why you’re leaving, but maybe the real reason is not the same as what you think is causing you to leave. You haven’t a clue in your linear world as your reasoning is temporal in thinking but the cause is spatial. Its’ a secret echoing through the heavens and it shows itself in every form in the tangible realm… the red-tailed hawk you saw sitting calmly on the branches of a Laurel oak… the Celtic gateway. The doe and her fawn by the river’s edge prevailed upon you a longing you couldn’t comprehend, just as Rama’s consort Sita longs for a mythical golden deer. The blue heron and his mate you suddenly noticed flying over the icy waters of Lake Lynn; a liminal bird of crossing thresholds. Each is whispering your secret, a secret known to all except you. 

Sarasota

The world is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” -W.B. Yeats

To the beach tonight, I long for the salty air. The sun has completed its’ days’ work, so Helios rein in your trusted steeds; the moons dance with the clouds has just begun or is it a game of hide and seek? A storm is brewing, falling in off the gulf, rain in the distance, moving from east to west of the jetty which extends out from the coast, penetrating and dividing the waves. The lightning, a spidery web of energy, electric veins of the night sky, counting the seconds when the thunder roars, 1001, 1002… the miles it must sprint until illuminations arrival. The waves are wanting of my feet as they melt into the sand; I see a path of light on the surface of the water, guided by the moon’s reflection. It disappears, comes back into play, a lot like you, coinciding with the rhythm of the moon and clouds, the light and dark, the sacred and profane… wild heaven and all it will allow.

Prayer

…said at dawn

I step into the day

I step into myself

I step into the mystery

-Anishinaabe: Odawa, Ojibwa, Algonquin First Nations