Getting some traffic

Evidently, telling the Michael J Fox Foundation that you have a blog is good for traffic and I've barely written anything in the past few months due to my new job keeping me busy.  So, if you'd like to see some of my more interesting posts....

• A job interview while having Parkinsons's Disease
• The women in my life
• Discussing my daughter's broken neck in: A Personal Rant and Learning to be Grateful
• My notes from a YOPD Conference in Orange County

Those aren't my only interesting posts, but they say a great deal about me and what my family and I are dealing with.  Please look around and let me know what interests you and what you'd like to hear more about.

Juice Fasting with Parkinson's Disease

Ok, that was hard and weird.  I did not make it the full three days. I did two days, and ate a couple of Avocados and Bananas during the fast as well, so not sure how much of a "fast" it actually was.  I'm a big guy (about 210 lbs) so, I get hungry.  Also, as my wife noted, I'm a snacker, so it took a lot to just get through those two days.

Nevertheless, I'm happy I did it because of what I noticed.  During the fast, especially the second day and the third day during which I actually did eat a bit, I noticed my meds were working really well and I seemed to be staying on longer.  In fact, yesterday (day 3), I extended my meds (Sinemet) so long, that I actually took only 8 pills instead of 9 during the day, and the last two were taken at least two hours after I would normally take my last dosage of the day.

So, the question is, what was this doing to my system that I could extend my meds for much longer periods of time.  A couple things come to mind.

1. Sinemet does not work well with protein, and the juice fast pretty much eliminates most proteins from your diet, at least proteins from animal sources.  The fact I was eating a lot less protein may have contributed to the effectiveness of my meds.  One caveat is that my wife is vegetarian, and we rarely eat meat in the house,. so unless it's dairy or soy, I don't get a lot of protein on a daily basis anyways.
2. Ridding my body of toxic food helped me reset some of my synapses and effectively improved my reactions to my medications.  This one is a who knows?
3. Similar to number 2, but coming from the opposite end, eating a lot of fruits and vegetables in the form of juice helps your body absorb and use the medications more effectively.  I mean the amount of fruits and vegetables I ate in those two days was huge, compared any other day, hell week, over the past couple of years.

While, I have no evidence other then basically how I felt and what my reactions were, it gives me somewhere /something to look into further.  I plan no trying to just skip a few meals a week next week during working hours and drink juices instead.  I want to see if that will have a similar effect on my med schedule and general overall well being.  Other than being hungry and missing the act of eating, I'd say it was pretty successful and I look forward to some more self-experimentation.

One note:  I am not a doctor, I am not recommending this to anyone.  If you do begin a fast, note that you probably should see your doctor before hand.  Nevertheless, if you do try it, please let me know how it went and what if any observations you make.

Day 1 of 3 day Juice Fast

I am finally going to do a juice fast for three days.  I'm doing three days because I figure it's long enough to show some results without going crazy.  I'll report on how I'm doing and what I'm feeling.  I will probably not be giving up caffeine these next few days, so I'll be drinking a few cups of coffee as well.

This morning's juice:

• 1  Bunch of Kale
• 1 Large Cucumber
• 1 Head of Romaine Lettuce
• 1 Green Apple
• 1 Anjou Pear
• 2 Red Apples

Hopefully, this will get me through a lot of the day, as I'm at work and don't have the ability to juice much more.  I'll go down to the cart and grab a Naked Juice or something similar if I run out and need some more nourishment by the end of the day.

Wish me luck.

Bought a Juicer

I bought a juicer to try to increase my vegetable intake and try to improve my diet.  I've experimented a bit, but I have to say, so far this is my favorite juice.

• 8 carrots (ends removed) 
• 2 Granny Smith Apples
• 2 Red Apples 

I juiced them in that order, poured it into a glass and added some ice.  DELICIOUS!  The basics of the recipe came from here.  I need to find some good green vegetable juices.  If you have any, please point me to them in the comments.

An interview with Parkinson's Disease

No, this is not a post of me interviewing my disease.  This is about going on an interview for a new job while I have Parkinson's Disease.  I work at a large corporation and have been here for nearly 20 years.  That's a long time for anyone, but especially for someone in the tech industry.  However, I have stayed here for a number of reasons, including health care, schedule flexibility and the fact that my management chain believes people's families are important and have shown that in their actions towards me and my family, especially since my daughter was born.

I like working where I am but have felt stuck in a rut that I have not been able to get out.  It's not that I lack motivation (actually a symptom of PD I don't yet have), but I seem to have been (in my opinion) typecast in a role here at my company and am unable to get to more leading roles, because of that typecasting.  Therefore, this past December, I updated the resume and sent it out to a few companies in my area that had posted positions dealing with areas that I had experience and in which I was interested.  These positions were all senior engineering positions.

Within two weeks, one of those companies contacted me and after an initial interview over the phone, asked me to attend an onsite interview.  This is where the nerves could kick in.  I did not want to hide my Parkinson's; but, I also did not want to advertise it in the way a constant tremor or being off balance may cause.  Luckily, I have recently figured out a good med regimen that keeps my tremor and gait issues pretty much controlled as long as I get a good night's sleep and eat right (lower protein intake and reduce the junk food).

So, after making sure I got a good night's sleep and not overdoing anything for breakfast, I took my meds at the appropriate times and showed up for my interview on time (giving thanks for leaving an extra 20 minutes early because of all the traffic I hit).  The interviews went well, they seemed to like my resume and experience.  Also, I had barely a tremor and really had no gait issues for the 3 hours I was there.  I was relaxed and felt good.

The last interview was with the person that would be my manager if I got the position.  It was near the end of this interview that I told him that I wished to disclose that I had Parkinson's Disease.  The reason I did this was twofold.

1. If I got the job, I was going to be working with these people.  I wanted to be up front and honest because they would be the ones I would be interacting with everyday.  If I didn't disclose, when I got to work and started using a cane or shaking really badly, they'd be wondering what else was I hiding.
2. To be honest, if they had a problem with my PD, I wouldn't want to work there.  I worked for a company that has been very accommodating  I don't need the added stress of hiding my disease from my new employer added to the stress of learning a new job.

The manager looked at me, thanked me for being honest and asked point blank what did that mean in terms of my work.  I explained that my work wouldn't suffer (it hasn't at my current job), I just might type a little slower and use a cane at times.  He told me as long as my work was not affected, he didn't care (which is the answer I was hoping he'd give).  We ended the interview about 10 minutes later, and I was escorted to the lobby.  

A week and a half later, I was offered a position and will be starting a new job for the first time in two weeks.  I am excited, nervous and very happy with all that has happened.  But, I'm especially glad/hopeful that I found a company that will allow me to continue working with PD and support my family.  

The Women in My Home

If you didn't know, I am not the person in my family with the most health issues.  That distinction belongs to my daughter.  My daughter was born the same year I was officially diagnosed (my son was born the year my symptoms began).  When she was born, we were expecting a healthy baby girl (we found out she was a girl beforehand) and I was not taking any medications at that time.  Needless to say, the moment she was born, we knew we were in for it.  However, we actually had no clue.

My daughter was born with a cleft lip.  While immediately noticeable, it ended up being one of the smallest issues we've dealt with over the past six years.  She had heart surgery at 10 days old to fix a PDA, had surgery again at one month old to get a mic-key feeding tube and fundoplication, had two surgeries at 5-6 months old to redo the fundoplication and get a tracheotomy inserted due to a laryngomalacia and tracheomalacia, and surgery at 8 months old to fix her cleft lip.  The trach and feeding tubes were removed when she was four years old.  She is also deaf in her left ear, hard of hearing in her right ear (aided to normal with a hearing aid), has coloboma's in both eyes and is missing her semi-circular canals in both ears.  Besides this, she broke her neck last month, again due to a congenital issue.  Needless to say, my daughter deals with a LOT.   Yet, she is in a mainstream Kindergarten and is doing work appropriate to her grade level.

My wife is a stay at home mom, who has not only taken care of our daughter, but has ensured that she has thrived.  My daughter is a very special girl with an amazing attitude.  If you doubt me, you can ask any of her therapists and teachers who not only are amazed by the progress she shows every year, but her work attitude and desire to succeed.  But, I will say, if not for the mama bear of a mother she would not be doing as well as she is.  Also, in the past six years, my wife has started a foundation at my children's elementary school which has raised over $50k in its first two years, run a multitude of half marathons, finished a half-ironman, became a great cook and pushed my ass to workout countless times.

This week, my daughter's halo came off at the doctor after wearing it for eight weeks.  She will now be in a neck brace for an additional 7 weeks and then will probably wear a neck collar for a little while after that.  She should make a great recovery.  The night it came off, my wife commented that our daughter is her hero.  I would venture my wife is my daughter's hero.

In my opinion, they're both incredible and I'm lucky to have them both in my life.

Jon Stewart nails Fox on the "War on Christmas"

As a Jew in the US, the idea of a War on Christmas just seems ridiculous to me.  The fact is, I had to tell my kids to lie to their friends and just keep their mouths shut when they mention Santa Claus.  I don't like having to tell my kids to lie for you, but it's the right thing to do for other reasons.

However, Jon Stewart nailed it this year in the annual mocking of Fox News' War on Christmas.  Two of my favorite parts of the show:

1. On the proliferance of Christmas specials, there's even a Flinstone's Christmas special, Stewart pointed out, meaning "there’s a Christmas special celebrating Jesus’ birth thousands of years before the birth of Jesus."
2. On Bill O'Reilly's argument that Christianity is not a religion, but a philosophy, Stewart replied, "While I can get an A in Jesus' philosophy class, I don't get to go to the after party

Enjoy