Tuesday, January 25
Slept deliciously well, had dental work, walked on the sunny side of the Duomo. It was a fine morning, splattered with dots of joy. I napped perhaps too much (tonight will tell the tale) and got annoyed at the bottomless font of mucus that is my nose at mealtimes. I read in Recovering from Parkinson’s about how symptom free episodes rise and fall in chemical terms and was encouraged by having had exactly the experiences described, myself. We watched camera crews from RAI recording imagery around piazza del Duomo, both morning and night, for a show called Da dove sei. I felt profoundly unsettled after dinner, but the feeling passed.
Wednesday, January 26
Slept very well, had a great class in Alexander Technique, walked in the garage, morning and evening.
A few days ago some supplements ordered early in December finally arrived. They included a bottle of l-Tyrosine, a dopamine co-factor that in my impatience I decided to try. Janice at Parkinson’s Recovery Project had written nothing about it, but she does warn against flooding the system with non-natural dopamine, one of the reasons being that the brain responds by cutting natural production. I don’t know if l-Tyrosine is in any way analogous to synthetic dopamine, but just to share my experience with fellow travelers, the three days of l-Tyrosine trials rendered me heavy, stiff, and hopeless. Not all the time, but much more than I have experienced before, so I’ve stopped it. Stand by for a follow up…
Thursday, January 27
It has been several weeks since I’ve needed to stretch my lower back in order to fall asleep, so last night when I awoke electrified at 04:30, it took me until almost 07:00 to remember to stretch. I did and was asleep in minutes. Then the post-walk nap was momentously serene (because, I later realized, my right arm is especially relaxed today), no wooden leg phenomenon when I woke on my own, and as has been the case for at least ten days, no RLS. I began my post-lunch nap with great optimism, and it was justified until the ending series of awakenings, the last of which was punctuated by a long session of wooden legs – presumably to make up for lost opportunity.
Typing today is mostly good.
Rhinitis after breakfast was unrelenting, after lunch, it barely registered. The joy of dining is often stolen by having to blow my nose throughout a meal.
Friday, January 28
Slept beautifully, and Roman, who intuits my needs incredibly well, let the sleep continue until 09:30. I woke feeling like I could do anything, then I tried and discovered otherwise. The morning garage walk was okay but exhausting. Post-walk nap was short but profound, and I anticipated with glee continuing it after lunch, but that didn’t happen – there was neither need nor inclination.
Typing is pretty good despite intense pins and needles in my hands, intense to the point of being distracting.
A curious thing happened at supper. I walked into the kitchen and almost said “wow, whatever you’re cooking smells great!” Then realized that my sense of smell went away around twenty-five years ago – a classic early symptom of PD. At that point my being able to smell the food Roman was preparing vanished, and did not return.
After supper at some point I went through about an hour of feeling stiff and hopeless, the same as I theoretically attributed to l-Tyrosine several days ago but without having taken any, so that suggests there is no connection. After the hour or so, I felt good for the remainder of the evening; still with difficulty walking but movement in general was a bit easier and my mood was fine.
Saturday, January 29
Slept well in two sections, and once again woke feeling like I could do anything, which in reality was again not the case, except when I stood and moved towards the kitchen I had the oddest feeling of being taller. When I fell last summer several health professions said it would be six weeks before my legs would begin to recover, and six months before I would recover the mobility I had at the time of the fall. That seems about right at a week or so shy of six months since my release from hospital. Feeling taller may be connected to that, I don’t know.
My left ankle was a little sore this morning, so Roman took us out to San Giovenale to take in the panorama and bask in the sun. I stood at the wall and we paced the little piazza several times, both for the first time since I fell, and against all evidence I felt like I could do anything – but couldn’t.
Took a short but powerful nap before and after lunch. The one after lunch I woke up from on my own, and while there have been no wooden legs for several days, it seems that has been replaced by about twenty seconds of full body trembling. After that I was treated to my left foot rising on its own and fluttering like a butterfly; because it was pleasant I interpreted that as recovery dyskinesia rather than RLS.
Typing is comfortable if occasionally approximate.
A curious event happened during my brief evening nap. Fully asleep, both arms jumped up, then the left arm swatted away the right with some anger while a voice said, “that’s the Parkinson’s” which I took to mean “we’re swatting away PD”. I await the results.
Sunday, January 30
I slept really well, waking briefly at 03:20 and again at 06:30. The second time I felt great and walked to the kitchen for water, perhaps not exactly as Nureyev would have done but better than usual. I had the water and returned to bed where I slept well until I woke again at about 08:15, shivering as if from cold. That continued off and on until Roman opened the shutters at 09:00. Then during my post-lunch nap, the shivering happened again. True, after seeing how much gas had been used since the end of September, I adjusted both nighttime and daytime temperatures downward by a half degree when I woke at 03:20, but I couldn’t imagine it would make that much difference. Just the same I restored both settings just now.
The morning walk on the sunny side of the sagrato was difficult, and that after feeling that I was capable of any movement even after I got out of bed. But much of the journey to and from the Duomo was effused with joy, so it didn’t upset me. I got home and into the recliner and fell deeply asleep for twenty minutes, whatever else the morning was, it was exhausting.
Pins and needles in my hands continue (and annoyingly so), also occurring generally (and briefly) when I make a strong physical effort (like dragging myself out of bed). By the way, moving in bed has been vastly easier in the last week or so, or rather, the improvement continues.
Typing today is acceptably good.
Evening comes. Walking was shambling, but not bad. At bedtime, my first attempts at sleep were met again with shivering, but the temperature of the room was, if anything, too high. The shivering only occurs when I’m prone, it doesn’t happen at all sitting or walking, and what right arm tremor there is (and it is slight when it is anything at all) is calmed by stretching the muscles in my wrist and forearm.
Monday, January 30
I slept well until 04:00, stretched the lower back, and slept until 08:00. The shivers of yesterday have not repeated themselves so far, except as a minor echo towards the end of a short nap this evening. Wooden legs have not happened for almost a week (knock on wooden legs).
Lots of intense work dealing with understanding and organizing things for the pending sale of my Scranton property, mostly how to notarize documents. Having an Italian notary do it was fraught with time taking and expensive complications, but both Florentine consulate and Roman embassy were not taking appointments as late as today at noon. To be safe I made an early morning appointment in Napoli, but wasn’t happy about it. Then at about two I checked Firenze again on a hunch and was able to get an appointment. So, Roman and the wheelchair will be joining me there on Friday, and maybe Erika – I hope. All we need is a ride. I’m actually excited.