Re: Questions on behalf of Mom

[Barbara Patterson <patterso@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, Laverne & Karin.  Re your (1).  I, too, just came into the room as
the scene with the 'pacemaker' stopped the tremor.  Now, we'll have to
hope that someone a bit quicker than we are saw the whole thing.  Re your
(2).  I have found that wearing tops with multiple colours and patterns
is best when dining out.  The spills don't show.  (I learned this from
being the mother of five children...for them as well as me.)  Barb

On Sun, 13 Aug 1995, Karin Lee wrote:

> My mother, LaVerne (dx w/ PD five years ago, now otherwise healthy age 76,
> living alone) asked me to post two questions for her. Any related info is
> welcome and appreciated. Here goes:
> (1) Did anyone else see a documentary news report last week about a
> mechanical apparatus (looks like a pacemaker), which , when "turned on"
> instantly stops tremors? Increasingly severe tremors are LaVerne's primary PD
> problem, but she tuned in too late to get the details. Does this sound
> familiar? Anyone know pros & cons?
>
> (2) And about those tremors. . .my mom is getting uncomfortably
> self-conscious about dining in public, because she often spills, drops food,
> etc.  For some time she could remedy this by ordering only "finger foods"
> that didn't require knife&fork dexterity, but even the finger foods present a
> problem now. Dining out (at home and while traveling) has previously been a
> great pleasure. She's wondering what tips the folks on this list might have
> for frequent spillers (laundry tips or otherwise!).
>
> BTW, LaVerne's neurologist has her on eldepryl *only*; sinemet caused quite
> severe hallucinations a couple of years ago. (She is a VERY small woman, and
> her doc couldn't reduce the sinemet dosage enough to eliminate the
> hallucinations.)
>
> Thanks from LaVerne and from me, daughter Karin A. Lee (moox@xxxxxxx)
>