More Parkinson's Info Coming at You! A "Webinar" from the Davis Phinney Foundation

Hello all, below is information from the Davis Phinney foundation about a "Webinar" information session that they plan to hold on the 15th of June. The time is set for 1:00 pm Eastern Standard time which makes it 9:00 a.m. Alaska time by my not-too-reliable reckoning :) The Davis Phinney foundation is a PD group started up by Olympic cycling champ and PWP Davis Phinney. Their focus is in helping people with Parkinson's live well and maintain themselves.

While techno-wiz is not one of the things that springs to mind when you think "Pete" I am pretty sure that I can stream this to my large screen TV if anyone would like to come by and watch it at my house. Warning: If you do come over, you may be licked by an extremely cute Dachshund. If you would like to come, please send me an email (dunlapshohl(at)gmail(dot)com) by June 1 so I may make all in readiness.

Your humble servant,

Peter


More than 4,500 people living with Parkinson’s have been inspired and challenged to take action as a result of attending the Davis Phinney Foundation Victory Summit™ symposium in cities across the US.

Now, this information and inspiration is coming to you in the first online event of its kind.

Tune in on June 15, 2011 at 1:00 pm EST for the

LIVING WELL CHALLENGE:

A Victory Summit and Panel Discussion Webinar on how to live well with Parkinson’s

• Featuring presentations and discussions with leading researchers and movement disorder specialists from around the country
• Covering topics like the latest in research and clinical trials, nutrition, exercise, how to communicate with your doctor and your family.
• And finally, giving you access to worksheets and tools to support you in your
commitment to live well today
Challenge yourself to live well today. Watch with a friend or loved one. Tell your support group and tune in together. Get the tools and information you need to live well today with Parkinson’s disease.
Register today by visiting their website and clicking on The Victory Summit page. Or call 1-877-274-7673.

The Sound of the Man Working on the (Bicycle ) Chain Gang

(Above, a picture of me sent by friend Scott McMurren. It was shot from his car when he happened across me aboard my recumbent. In his typical kindly way, he titled this "Riding Nerdy")

Although I am crazy about bicycling, my earliest memory of riding is not a good one. I was maybe six or seven and was just learning on my sister's hand-me-down royal blue Raleigh. Before me, the open road. Behind me, my mom, running as I pedaled, her hand gripping the saddle to steady me. Only... what's this? Applause? That's Mom clapping! That can only mean there is nothing holding me up! Exactly like Wile E. Coyote walking into thin air off a cliff, when I became aware that there was nothing holding me up I went down hard.

I've had numerous spectacular falls since then, including one that left my right cheek impaled by an old rusty aerial from a car radio, and another when I smacked into a woman who was sharing a joint with her boyfriend on the path down from West High hill. And now that I have Parkinson's Disease I expect to fall from my bike frequently.

Yet I don't.

Even more mysterious than the human ability to balance on two skinny tires while hurtling forward is doing this while your movement is compromised by Parkinson's Disease. Recently a small sensation was kicked up by a report that a Dutch man with advanced PD was barely able to walk but rode his bike six miles per day (you can see him tremoring up a storm, then riding his bike here)

This is a case where the patients are way ahead of parts of the medical community. I doubt this news shocked Davis Phinney or Doug Bahniuk, or any of a great number of parkies who pedal.

Like them, I feel freest and most like my old self when on a bike. But what I didn't expect was all that biking could restore.

Lately I have been struggling with my voice, partly because new settings on my deep brain stimulator seem to interfere with my brain's vocal centers. My speech can quickly deteriorate into rushed and indecipherable syllables. And my singing, to use a decipherable syllable: Oy!

So I was surprised when about 45 minutes into a 2 hour ride yesterday when I found myself singing in the saddle with better pitch and strength than I had been able to muster for months. I easily warbled "Pancho and Lefty", "The January Man", and host of other songs from my personal hit parade. When I launched into "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" I envisioned a full-blown musical. In the show-stopping big production number the kids on a passing school bus joined in with four-part harmony on the chorus while a trio of street-corner inebriates doo-wopped and a bevy of meter maids high-kicked in between writing tickets. All this only slightly marred by gasps for air.

That exercise can at least temporarily improve PD symptoms is confirmed by exciting work done by Dr. Jay Alberts of the Cleveland clinic. But it's one thing to read about the amazing research results that Dr. Alberts is reporting, or even to see video. It's quite another to find yourself flying ahead on two skinny tires, singing your fool head off, and held up against all belief by an invisible hand.