Mia's graduation day

First, I had a doctor appointment yesterday but he called and canceled it so now it's next Monday.  GRRRR.

Today was Mia's last training class in the Beginner Section and she graduated!  Here is her picture with her graduation cap!  We will start intermediate training in January.  And if I can find an agility class, I think she would love that.  She has an energy level that is off the charts.

 Tomorrow Mia has an "interview" at Camp BowWow and if she is accepted, I am going to probably board her for the Christmas holiday.  I've never boarded a dog before and it will break my heart to do it but I think it's for the best.  She will feel abandoned but hopefully they will keep her so busy that she won't have too much separation anxiety.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a nice quiet holiday.  I got all my Christmas gifts wrapped and listened to Christmas music.    I tried to get the holiday music going on Pandora but evidently I am not smart enough to figure out how to use Pandora!  So I resorted to CDs.

There is a small retention pond near my house and for the past few days it has been covered with geese.  You couldn't even see the water for the geese.  Today Mia and I took a walk and while we were out the sky was literally covered with hundreds and hundreds of geese making a LOT of noise.  It was fascinating.  They seemed to be flying in circles for quite a long time and I just stood there watching.

When they finally disappeared, I came in and did a Google search and learned that when it comes time for the geese to fly off to wherever they fly off to they gather by the hundreds -- and maybe thousands -- to create their formations, flying around in circles over and over.  And then when they are all ready, they go.  So I learned something today.  I can't believe I've never seen that before.

I still have tremors but they are very mild and only last for seconds.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Christmas shopping

I got all of my Christmas shopping done and I think I will spend Thanksgiving playing Christmas music and wrapping gifts.

My cousin Tom died last week.  He battled non-Hodgkins lymphoma for 8 years.  When he was first diagnosed he was given 5 years so going for 8 years was pretty good.  He was only 66.

I've been doing tons of research on Parkinson's -- spent a lot of time on the Michael J. Fox website.  Just preparing myself.  Did you know that he was diagnosed 25 years ago?  Isn't that amazing?  It feels like it was not that long ago.  And he still walks and talks and lives life so that is heartening.  He says that he has occasional problems (like side effects from medication or difficulties sleeping, etc.) but he deals with it.

I had a few tremors this morning and then throughout the day there were no outward tremors but I felt some weird inner vibrations.  As soon as my bloodwork gets back to normal after starting back up on the Warfarin I will talk to the cardiologist about trying to cut back on one of my heart medications to see if it has anything to do with tremors.  Trying to cover all possibilities hoping to find another cause of the tremors.  But that presents new concerns -- if we discontinue a heart medication, what will take its place and what side effects will it bring?

I just had a thought:  if we were to learn that Flecainide was causing the tremors, perhaps I could keep taking the Flecainide and just deal with the tremors.  I think I could handle that if I knew it wasn't Parkinson's.

Snow

Today was our first snow of the winter.  Only about an inch but it pretty much snowed all afternoon and the temperature got down to the mid-20s.  It was COLD.  I couldn't get Mia to go out in the snow so I will probably have a few surprises in the house.

I took Mia to PetSmart's Doggie Day Care today for a 4-hour play date.  When we walked into PetSmart there were a few dogs and she went nuts like she always does.  And when I was signing the paperwork to register her, she was barking and pulling like she always does.  The lady at the desk came and got Mia to take her into the play area and I stood near the glass window so I could watch.  They let Mia into the room -- off leash -- with about 10 other dogs and she didn't react at all.  They all came over to say hi to her and then they all went back to sniffing and napping, etc.  So clearly being on the leash causes her anxiety for some reason.

When I picked her up at 1:00, they told me that she was laid back the whole time and she didn't play much, just kind of stayed to herself.  I walked over to the glass and when she saw me she literally did cartwheels trying to get to me.  We put the leash back on her and as I walked through PetSmart to the front door to leave, three dogs came in and Mia became a tornado again.  I guess I just need to keep bringing her around other dogs while she is on leash and see if she can get used to it.

Today was also a day with almost no tremors.  The only time I had any tremors was when pouring a glass of milk.  My hand shook just a little.

Today was a banner day

First of all, this morning a moving truck pulled up at the townhouse next to mine.  It's been empty for a few months and now has a new owner, a man about my age who travels a lot to Russia and India for his job.  We talked for a long time and it looks like I am finally going to make a friend here.

Then this evening I went to my grief support group and there were 5 other people there, three of them women.  There was a lot of laughing and crying and telling stories -- very cathartic.  During the meeting we agreed to form a "social group" where we would get together for breakfasts, or brunches, or movies, etc.  We exchanged email addresses.  So that's three new friends.  And if either of the men join us, that's five new friends.  A really good day.

And I think Mia is finally starting to understand -- for the most part -- that she needs to pee and poop outdoors!  But we are still working on leash training and what they call "reactive" behavior, to try to get her to be more calm when she sees a rabbit or another dog.  Tomorrow is another one of her private training sessions.  Hopefully we can get her to a point where she can be in a group class again.  I really think that going into PetSmart makes her think she is going to be left at a shelter again.  She needs to feel safe.  We're getting there.

Back on Warfarin

I had my dental appointment on Wednesday and it went a lot better than the last time.  Two teeth pulled and a bone graft (yuk), but it went really well.  She said I might bruise, but I didn't.  I have two more upcoming dental appointments.

The tremors never really totally let up but they sure diminished.  I've been exercising the left arm, too, to see if that helps.  Tonight I go back on the Warfarin.  Then on Nov 28 I see the cardiologist again and will get the pacemaker "interrogated."  I will talk to the cardiologist to see if we can cut back on one of my heart medications to see if that has anything to do with the tremors.  It's a little scary to cut back on a heart medication so I'll go along with whatever the doctor says.

This is all kind of scary because if I do actually have Parkinson's, it is my understanding that the sooner I get on Parkinson's medications the better. So I need to stay on top of this. Ugh.

I have taken Mia to her private class and she is improving, but it's slow going.  I adore her but I'm not very good at training.

I guess that's it for now.

Tremors

I had to stop my Warfarin/Coumadin (blood thinner) on Sunday in preparation for more dental work on Wednesday.  And today I woke up without any tremors.  During the day today there were a few very mild tremors but for the most part there weren't any.  I will be off the Warfarin for a week so we'll see if they stay gone the whole week.

I would be so tickled to find out that the tremors are caused by a medication and not Parkinson's, but not sure how that could be resolved since I need the blood thinner and I do not want to use any of the new ones that are out there now (Eliquis, Xeralto, Pradaxa, etc.).  We'll take it one day at a time.

You know, the doctors don't ever want to listen to questions about possibilities other than what they want to diagnose.  When I saw the neurologist, she put me through a series of physical movements that convinced her I had Parkinson's.  Most of them had to do with the fact that my left arm wasn't as strong as my right arm.  She said that was a definite sign.  However, she didn't want to take into consideration the fact that I have had several pacemaker surgeries in the past six months and each of those operations required that my left arm stay immobile for several weeks of recuperation.  So to my way of thinking it is only natural that my left arm would lose strength.

Another movement that I failed was putting my feet flat on the floor and lifting my big toe without lifting the other toes.  I had difficulty doing that with both toes, but mostly the left one (although I could do it when I got home).  Another test I failed was doing the "straight line" walk that police officers use to check sobriety (when I got home I could do it flawlessly, but I think I was nervous trying to walk down a doctor's hallway with people watching).  Also, I don't have a good sense of smell and she said that was a sign of Parkinson's.  I tried to tell her that I have had a poor sense of smell for 60 years but she just moved on.  So I look forward to the second opinion in January.

Took Mia to her PetSmart training class tonight and the trainer and I decided that Mia needs private classes, so we go back tomorrow for some one-on-one training.  I'm beginning to think that perhaps she spent a lot of time in a crate before she got to me.

Yesterday I spent most of the day in the garage getting it organized so that I can actually get the car in there.  I figure winter is coming and having the car in the garage would be a big plus.  :)

Eye doctor

I saw my ophthalmologist today because my vision was getting a little blurry.  I took with me the medications I've been taking for my heart and showed him that right on the bottles isi printed the warning, "May cause blurry vision."  He shook his head and said, "I doubt that seriously."  I accused him and my other doctors being in cahoots with the drug companies and he just laughed.  Doctors are necessary but sometimes I just don't understand them.

So he said my eyes have changed a little bit, probably because of the cataract in the right eye.  And he said that in a person with astigmatism, like me, even small changes are more noticeable.

The veterinarian called me today to say that Mia's tests all came out good, so it's good to know she's okay.

Now back to the World Series.  Last night's game was incredible.  Can't wait to see how tonight goes.

Halloween

Last night I was so prepared.  Decorated my patio, had scary music playing, and $50 worth of candy.  And I didn't get a single trick-or-treater.  How disappointing.  Now I have tons of candy to get rid of.  I guess this neighborhood doesn't have that many kids.

In the past few days I have been endlessly researching one of the heart medications I am taking -- Flecainide -- to see if it can causes tremors just like I am experiencing.  I found MANY message boards with many people who said they suffered from tremors while taking Flecainide.  So I will be talking to the cardiologist about this.  It would be wonderful to not have Parkinson's.  But I wonder what would take the place of Flecainide if I discontinued it.  Or if I could just reduce the dose of Flecainide.

I feel like the pacemaker may need adjusting, too.  Whenever I exert myself, my heart seems to be over-working.

I have another upcoming dental appointment and I will be discontinuing the Coumadin (blood thinner) on November 6 in preparation for the appointment on November 9.  I will pay close attention to how I feel after discontinuing the Coumadin to see if it could be causing any side effects.

I'm watching the World Series game and it is exciting.  Cubs are winning and even had a grand slam home run!!