The World Parkinson Congress is just a little over a year away

On May 6, 2018May 6, 2018 By skrischerIn Living Well, World Parkinson Congress 2019Leave a comment

At the WPC you can meet advocates from around the world. Learn from them. Be inspired by them. Come away with life long friends.

Jean Burns

It is time to start thinking about going to the next World Parkinson Congress in June 2019. As an official blogger for the WPC, I have been involved in meetings and planning for over a year now and have much to share with you.

First, if you have never attended the WPC, I can guarantee that you have never attended a meeting like this. People with Parkinson’s (PwPs) can attend any session they are interested in,, from the most technical scientific presentations, to chair yoga, meditation, sessions on nutrition, sex and PD, the latest Marijuana research and more. Everyone has an opportunity to contribute something to the WPC, there are song competitions, video competitions for pros and amateurs. You can even submit an abstract or poster for consideration in the Poster Display as a PwP.

There are also opportunities to volunteer at the Congress. You can spend a few hours volunteering on-site, or apply to become a Delegate Leader to work with the WPC to coordinate a group of people interested in attending the Congress from your area. There are travel funds available for those who need them, to go to Japan. Sales of Parkie the Racco on and other items benefit the travel grant program. For more information on the WPC 2019 click here

I like to call Soaring with Hope for PD our “Ice Bucket Challenge” for PD awareness

So what can you do now to get involved? Participate in a world-wide effort to bring together People with Parkinson’s, their care partners, health care professionals, etc., to create an art installation for the WPC titled Soaring With Hope for PD. Three friends of mine from Southern California, Naomi, Clara and Amy, have created an amazing project, which I like to call our “ice-bucket challenge” for Parkinson’s Awareness.

To spread the word about Parkinson’s Awareness, the official WPC Bloggers are in a challenge to collect your messages of hope for the WPC. We want to collect a total 10,000 messages, each of which will be printed onto a hand-folded origami crane. The 10,000 cranes with messages will be displayed as a magnificent art installation at the June 2019 WPC in Kyoto, Japan. All you need to do is click this link and enter your country and message. If you have multiple messages, you can click and enter each message separately. And make sure to select me as your BLOGGER. The deadline for the challenge is July 31, 2018.

Thank you for your messages of HOPE, raising awareness for PD globally, and for helping me with this wonderful challenge.

I will be sending out more information about the World Parkinson Congress as it becomes available. I hope to see you next year in Kyoto! Arigato!

Travels with Parkinson’s

On March 6, 2018March 6, 2018 By skrischerIn Inspiration, Living Well, World Parkinson Congress 20191 Comment

It’s a challenging, life-changing condition, but not a death sentence

Debbie Shapiro

We returned home from Israel on Tuesday, and it has taken a few days to settle back in. A big time change is not easy for people without medical issues, although Mr. Twitchy and I have been fortunate to usually be able to adjust pretty quickly. The biggest issue for me and most of the Parkies I have spoken to about traveling, is the disruption of our medication schedules. With a 15 hour flight home, coupled with the 10 hour time change, I just kept taking my Carbidopa/Levadopa every 5-6 hours and hoped that would work. The timing of the other medications are not as crucial for calming down my symptoms.

One thing I took with me that was very useful was a pair of adjustable walking poles like these in the photo. When walking through archeological sites and uneven terrain, I use them to prevent tripping and falls. Because we encountered a lot of rain on this trip, the poles were also very useful on wet pavement, dirt paths and stairs. They look much better than a cane or walker, while providing just as much safety. I found that I only needed to use one pole most of the time. When collapsed, they fit easily into my suitcase. (click on the photo to see details)

Before I left for Israel, I arranged to meet with several people about research and services provided for people with PD living there. One of the people I contacted is Debbie Shapiro, who is also a blogger for the 2019 World Parkinson Congress. Debbie attended the WPC in Portland with Dr. Tanya Gurevitch from Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv (more about her and others I met in Israel in a future post). Debbie, a mother of 9 originally from San Francisco who has PD, was so inspired by what she saw at the WPC that she came home determined to do something for people with Parkinson’s in Jerusalem.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Posing as a hiker with my walking stick!

Debbie’s experience was much like mine. We both became well informed about Parkinson’s after our diagnoses in order to cope with it. It did not take long for other people started reaching out to us because we were willing to speak to others about coping and living with the disease. In my case, I started this blog to reach out to others more easily and share our experiences in this exclusive club.

For Debbie, it meant starting a program for people with Parkinson’s in Jerusalem where there was nothing offered. Tikvah4Parkinson, (Tikvah means Hope) provides exercise programs, boxing, support groups, etc. In other words, a community for PwP’s. Debbie has no background in physical therapy, speech therapy, tai chi, or any of the other things that are offered by Tikvah, but called in experts to help her put it all together. Her program has been so successful that she is is moving into a larger space and is looking for help to manage the program. She told me that many people in Israel believe that they will only live 5 years after their diagnosis and do little to improve their quality of life. She wants that to change. Debbie says: “We need to make people aware of the disease and help them realize that it’s a challenging, life-changing condition, but not a death sentence.” Because of her passion for this project, the people attending her programs are all showing improvement in their symptoms and their outlook on life. She is definitely making life better for many with Parkinson’s in Jerusalem.

To see a video about Tivkah4Parkinson, click here

Tripping into the new year

On January 18, 2018 By skrischerIn Living Well, Parkinsons Disease, World Parkinson Congress 2019Leave a comment

Did you just fall? No, I was checking if gravity still works. Anonymous

Somehow, when things seem to be going well, something happens to bring you back to reality. I fell twice this past week, after having gone months without a fall. Once when I stepped on the edge of the sidewalk and my foot gave way, and the second time in someone’s home, when I was too busy talking to someone to see a one inch step in front of me. Both times, I fell hard, with no chance of recovering my balance. The second time, I actually injured my self. I landed on one knee and the opposite hand, which was holding my cell phone ( I think). The cell phone apparently dug into my hand, resulting in immediately swelling and pain. Fortunately, x-rays showed no broken bones, so I am left with a sore hand and wounded pride, both of which should subside quickly.

But these incidents serve as a reminder that when living with Parkinson’s, we must always pay attention to our surroundings, more than usual. You never know what dangers are lurking ahead to take you down. A person without PD and good balance, will usually manage to stay upright when tripping on an uneven sidewalk. They will start to fall, but catch themselves. But with PD, it is a different story. My wonderful husband, Mr. Twitchy, said that I fell like a tree off that sidewalk. I never had a chance against gravity, as I would have before PD.

Image result for tripping What can a Parkie to do to minimize the chance of falling? Walking poles can help, but only if you remember to use them. I really make an effort when walking up and down steps to use the handrail, and that has helped a lot. Uneven steps have been a challenge for a long time. Unfortunately there isn’t always a handrail when you are out on a sidewalk. You need to look down at the sidewalk and look ahead at the same time so you don’t walk into anything in your way. Sounds easy, right? Not always, especially on a crowded sidewalk.

And then there is the cellphone, which is a major distraction and probably dangerous to use while walking (as much as when driving), but we all do it anyway. Mr. Twitchy keeps telling me to put it away while walking. He is concerned that I am really going to hurt myself one of these days. He is probably right, but don’t tell him I said that.

Image result for quotes about tripping and falling Finally, I can’t help wondering if the recent falls are signs of changes in my Parkinson’s symptoms. And that scares me more than anything else. Mr. Twitchy keeps reassuring me that I am ok, that I just need to pay attention to my surroundings more. And I really hope he is right about that.

On a totally different subject, please check out Soaring with Hope for PD – Parkinson’s on Facebook. This is a project created by 3 friends of mine who are all living with PD. Their goal is to reach out to the Parkinson’s Community worldwide and bring at least 10,000 origami paper Cranes, each bearing a message of hope, to the WPC in Kyoto, 2019, to be displayed in a beautiful art installation.

Soaring with Hope for PD

On November 15, 2017November 16, 2017 By skrischerIn Inspiration, Living Well, Parkinsons Disease, World Parkinson Congress 2019Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2017-11-14 at 10.03.52 AM Several months ago, some Parkie friends of mine, Amy, Clara and Naomi, started a project called “Soaring with Hope for PD”. Inspired by the art installations that they saw at the World Parkinson’s Congress in Portland last year, they decided to create an art installation for the next WPC in Kyoto, June 2019. Naomi is Japanese, and to celebrate her heritage, she settled on Origami Paper Cranes. She says “traditionally, it was believed that if one folded 1000 origami cranes, one’s wish would come true. It has also become a symbol of hope and healing during challenging times. As a result, it has become popular to fold 1000 cranes (in Japanese, called ‘senbazuru’).”

They have taken this idea one step further. Each crane represents a person with 22852927_364077437370768_1492230337745861884_n Parkinson’s or a person impacted by Parkinson’s. They are asking each person to give their message of hope, which will be written on a crane. So instead of 1000 cranes, they have a goal of 10,000 cranes to bring to the WPC, each of them with a message of hope written on it. Can you imagine an installation of 10,000 colorful origami cranes hanging from the ceiling? How beautiful will that be? And the impact that the installation will have will be substantial – there will be more cranes than there are people attending the WPC, representing the thousands who could not be there.

To participate in the project, please
provide your NAME, LOCATION and WORDS OF HOPE by clicking HERE, emailing to SoaringWithHope@gmail.com or message it to them. They will dedicate a special crane with YOUR MESSAGE on it. You can also help by getting the word out, sharing this post with others in your community. They are also going to take pictures of the origami cranes and and post them on the Soaring With Hope for PD Facebook page for all to see.

Soaring with Hope for PD – Parkinson’s

Raising awareness in PD Parkinson’s globally!