Parkinson's on STEROIDS!!

         I remember a commercial from years ago. It showed a hot frying pan and dropped an egg into it. Then it said "This is your brain," then it scrambled the egg in the pan and said "This is your brain on Drugs!"  Certain images make a huge impact on your life and you just remember them for whatever reason. I think about my brain and Parkinson's. I think my brain is definitely getting a bit scrambled! I have difficulty walking, sometimes problems getting up and down from a chair, my balance can be off, and now I also have double vision occasionally. I usually get it after sitting in front of the computer screen too long or from reading a long time.  Once in awhile it just comes on if I am watching TV or just lying in bed! I cut down on the Gabapentin that I take for sciatica pain but it still hasn't changed my double vision at all. And I have to live with more pain. Several other PD people have told me that they also have double vision.
       I have a small stress fracture in my left foot.  I have been sitting more than usual because of the pain.  My family doc sent me to a podiatrist. H put me on a Medrol Dose Pac. The oral steroids have helped my sciatica pain SO much!!! I am on my last day of the dose pac and I can feel the awful sciatica pain creeping back.  My Parkinson's disease also has been better if that is possible. I am NOT as off balance as usual and I am NOT having as much trouble with my walking gait..Could a steroid dose pac for a stress fracture really help me with my other issues??? I don't know how long it is safe to be on oral steroids but my life has been changed by this oral steroid.  My family doc told me to call my pain management doc and ask her if she will put me on a low dose oral steroid.  I am scared today because the sciatica is coming back as I am sitting here typing and the pain is just getting more and more intense. It NEVER went away but was definitely over 50% better and I am so scared it will come back with more intensity. I want to be off of it for a week or so before I call my pain doc so I can tell her exactly what happened!
        We went away for the weekend.  Dan took a bus to the Penn State Football Game and met his two brothers there and his sister-in-law Pennie and two of his brother's friends.   Olya and her friends came over to tailgate with them for awhile. Olivia and I drove up a few hours later because she was supposed to work on Saturday.  (She got called off from work because the salon wasn't busy).  We went to a town about an hour away from PSU because we were all staying overnight at a Holiday Inn Hotel.   We were all invited to my Mother-In-Law's, Mine's,  90th birthday celebration! She is my Father-In-law's third wife, she is the only grandmother that my girls ever really knew. Dan's mother died when Renee was an infant. He married a second woman who he lived with about ten years or so. She died also and then he married Mine. (pronounced Min aa). He passed away at age 100 several years ago but Mine is still our relative!  We checked out of the hotel and went to Mine's house and we all chatted and laughed for a few hours until the party!! I think it is so much fun to talk about past funny memories that you can only share with family members!! I just love my SIL Pennie. She is so sweet and I love spending time with her.   For some reason we started talking about the levels in heaven. I know if there are levels that Pennie will be at the top with Amy!

John 14:2-3 New International Version (NIV)

2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.(my house has many rooms is a quote from the Bible)
     
        She says she thinks she will be mid-level and if that is true I am really worried because there isn't any hope for the rest of us!!!The year that our beloved daughter Amy died in 2001 was a sad year at PSU.  There were many student deaths from all different reasons and because of that, Penn State planted a tree in their  memory.

We refer to it as Amy's tree.  It has grown so much in the past 19 years. They had a ceremony when it was planted but we didn't find out about it until after the fact. We would have been there in a heartbeat! Whenever we are at PSU we visit Amy's tree.