Uplifting Events This Week

Hi Friends,

This past week I needed a little pick me up, and there were two events that happened that really did the trick.

As some of you may remember from a previous post, I introduced Diane's blog to you. Diane has Multiple Sclerosis and has a wonderful blog. She not only reaches out to others with Multiple Sclerosis, but she also has a link section to 100 blogs that are written by people with chronic conditions in addition to Multiple Sclerosis. A few examples are links to blogs about cancer, fibromyalgia, mental health, etc. This is an inspirational example about not only how Diane helps those who share her condition, but taking it a step further, she is reaching out to those with other forms of chronic illness.

Additionally, Diane created a unique method of introduction to other blogs. She recently left me a comment that stated that I received an award. When I went to her site this is what I found. This is the exact post from her blog at: http://dj-astellarlife.blogspot.com/

Sunday, March 16, 2008
The Award Goes To:

The envelope please. The winner of the
You Make My Day Award goes to...
Parkinsonism - Road to Diagnosis
"I am a 39 year old female, and I have been diagnosed with Parkinsonism. (Parkinson's Disease or Parkinson's-Plus; yet to be determined) I am married to a wonderful and supportive husband, and I have two children. My daughter is 18 and just graduated from highschool. My son is 14, and is a freshman in highschool. After several years of undiagnosed medical problems, numerous surgeries, at least a dozen doctors, and multiple diagnostic disappointments, I am finally the closest to a diagnosis than I have ever been. It has been a long, frustrating road, but I have gained so much knowledge through my diagnostic journey. I decided to share my experiences, with the hope that it might help other patients avoid the diagnosis pitfalls that I encountered. Whether it is PD or any other chronic illness, if my story and my experiences with the medical community can help just one person obtain that illusive diagnosis more quickly and easily, then my long journey and the knowledge I gained, was well worth it. It is only due to my faith in God and the support of my husband, that I have been able to continue in the struggle to seek a diagnosis, as well as reach out to others like me. "

She then added a link to this blog at the end of the text.

As you can see, her introduction to my blog is not only unique, but it is also eye catching. By inserting my own words from this blog as a reference, she has let her readers know exactly what my blog is all about. If you have the opportunity, it is definitely worth a visit to Diane's blog. Her blog has something for everyone. I want to personally thank Diane for the pick me up she gave me. We all need that in our lives once in a while. I have found that it is the people that I have met through blogging are often the source of encouragement when I need it the most. Thank you again Diane.

On a separate note, I decided to give myself a pick me up last week. As you might recall, in November I rescued a dog from our local animal shelter. She has been a great source of comfort and companionship, especially on those days where the recliner by the fireplace seems to be the place where I need to be. Because Mary Jane has been such a trooper, I thought that she deserved a friend. Although she is a great source comfort to me, I felt that there were times that she may not have been getting enough play time, especially on my "bad" days. Therefore, last Wednesday I went to another local animal shelter and got her a friend. Here is a picture of Mary Jane and her new friend Eldon.

Eldon is quite a bit smaller than Mary Jane, but he does not seem to have a problem when they play or wrestle around. He is 7 pounds compared to her 12.5 pounds. My intuition was correct, and Mary Jane seems to fully enjoy Eldon, although it did take her a few days to get used to the idea of sharing me. In addition, on those days when I just do not have the energy to "play", they have eachother for companionship. Both dogs definitely enjoy sitting with me in the recliner during their down time. The two of them are quite a pair, and I enjoy knowing that Mary Jane has a friend that she can play with anytime she feels the need. Of course, both dogs are extremely spoiled by both my husband and myself.

Two Great New Blogs

I hope this post finds everyone doing well and in good spirits. I have felt a little better over the last few days which I am very thankful for.

I contacted a fellow blogger after finding her blog and reading it. It is called “Life With Shaky”. It is written by a wife, whose husband has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Additionally, her husband recently began writing his own blog called “Shaky’s World”. I believe that their combined blogs give great insight to not only how Parkinson’s Disease affects the person who has it, but how it affects the spouse. With their permissions I am adding links to both of their blogs. I believe it will be interesting and very informative to read about each of their perspectives as time goes on.

On a different note, I have begun writing letters to all of the former doctors that I have seen throughout my entire diagnosis process. I intend to write to doctors who not only were helpful, but especially to those who were not quite so helpful. I think it is important to let the doctors who tried hard to help me, know that I thank them and inform them of my diagnosis. On the flip side, those doctors that were not helpful and sometimes downright arrogant might find it interesting that their depression theories and other theories were incorrect.

I will be including the address for my blog in all of the letters. Hopefully, with the many links provided on this blog, along with my detailed story included on my blog, those doctors might think twice before presuming that a patient’s symptoms are mental health related. Hopefully, they might find that it is much more beneficial and morally correct to take each patient they see seriously. If only one of the doctors that I had a bad experience with takes the time to do a little reading, he or she may find that the negative experiences I had with the medical community are all too common. Although we share knowledge with one another through our blogs, I believe that doctors can gain a little education from our blogs also. This is my hope, and this is what I am currently working on. I will offer further updates on this topic, if I receive any feedback from any of the doctors that I write.