Look who’s back in Town…

Well, I think it would be fair to say that it has been a little while since the last update from us here at the International Headquarters of Shaking not Stirred. Your reaction is either going to be “I wonder why?” or “Thank heavens for that!” – it is up to you.

So, I suppose that an explanation is required here really – so here goes:

To be honest, looking back at last winter I think that with the benefit of hindsight I was a lot more depressed than I thought that I was. I am not talking about ‘thinking about ending it all’ type depression, more like an ‘You know, I just can’t be bothered’ type depression, and I think that it has taken me several months to realise that I was so low. I seem to recall that at about this time last year I wrote about getting low mood in winter, and it was ever thus. I must try a bit harder this year, and one of those things to try to help will be the self-discipline required to knock out 800+ words once a week to unburden me and burden you. I think that I just fell out of love (got bored) of writing for a while, but hopefully the fire has been re-ignited.

Mark felt that something about his blog needed freshening up

It has been quite a busy summer really, and all the better for the wonderful sunshine that we had for weeks on end. Not ideal for everyone I know, and in the long-term it is worrying that global warming seems to be very real now, but who doesn’t want wall-to-wall sun for the summer? We spent quite a bit of time at the caravan (sorry – holiday home) in Cornwall, to the extent that Nic has bought herself a wet suit. For someone who has not previously really enjoyed sea swimming that really is significant.

In April the Plymouth University School of Health Professionals resurrected its Service User and Carer Group, and this was my first face-to-face volunteer meeting since Covid and it felt like a real step forward after the last, disastrous, two years. We have had a second meeting since then and I think that this group is just finding a new potential. I will keep you updated.

In May I went back to Southmead Hospital in Bristol and had my five-year-old Deep Brain Stimulator (DBS) replaced because the battery was about to run out. I had neglected my regular checks on battery level on the old device and when I saw Caroline, the Movement Disorder Nurse, she was less than amused to find that the battery was almost flat, and I had to be squeezed into the surgical list at very short (2 weeks) noticed before the whole thing conked out on me.

This is what Deep Brain Stimulation looks like.

The night before the operation I had to stop taking my medication and turn my DBS off. It was a real shock to see just how bad my tremor has become and how reliant I am now on the technology just to cope with day-to-day living. I have been fitted with the very latest all singing, all dancing, re-chargeable battery DBS. It requires re-charging once a week, which requires me to sit still for about an hour with the re-charger over my chest. It can be a bit of a faff, but it is better than having an operation on the same site in my chest every five years.

Also in May, my two groups of third year medical students presented their Special Studies Unit (SSU) work for marking. I have written about this before, so suffice to say that they were both excellent and all eighteen of them got a good grade. I am already working on my first presentation to this year’s year three students, and with the reduction in Covid restrictions this will be the first SSU that I have done in person. I am really looking forward to it and working with the same facilitator again, Jeff.

In June I started to have some Parkinson’s symptoms related acupuncture. Some of you might (but I’m not holding my breath here) recall that I already have acupuncture for my dry mouth problems at Derriford Hospital, after radiotherapy on my throat in 2013, but this is a whole new level of treatment at a private practice here in Tavistock. To keep it slightly less boring than it could be, we (the acupuncturist and I) have identified that I am lopsided to the right, I have chronic shoulder pain, some depression and some anxiety that all need treating.

I don’t have a clue how or why sticking tiny little needles in various parts of my anatomy help with physical and mental health problems, but all I can say is – “It works for me”. I am in considerably less pain than I was with my shoulder, I feel more upright in my stance and my mood has improved. Of course, I am still barking mad, but even three thousand years of Chinese medicine won’t cure that problem.

Made to make your mouth water (ask your grandparents).

I also had my PIP (Personal Independence Payment) benefit review in May. It is a long, complicated and detailed process to get this, what Liz Trust regards as a “handout”, to help with the additional costs of being disabled, but if you do have Parkinson’s, or any other disability and you are not claiming, perhaps you should consider doing so. Mind you, I would strongly advise getting some professional help, probably an Occupational Therapist, to help you fill out the initial application. My application was for a renewal, and if you include the one-to-one phone call with the DWP assessor, I reckon that I spent at least eight hours on the application. Plus having to get Nic to write it all out for me because I have that classic Parkinson’s symptom, micrographism (tiny, illegible handwriting) and the DWP, being a government department, don’t seem to have the ability to provide the application in an on-line format. Still, it is only 2022, why the hurry for this new-fangled Interweb stuff?

In July I found out, to my great dismay, that my G.P. is retiring in October. I will have to try to find someone else to listen to me drone on about how ill I am and how much I need to drain the NHS and to make sure that it is all about me, me,me.

August was nice, but other than enjoying the sun, I don’t seem to have done very much!

The highlight of this month has to be the three-day weekend we spent with friends in our caravan (sorry, holiday home). I think it is like the Summer of Love – if you can remember it, you were not there. They are indeed brilliant friends – who else would be happy to go out for a walk on a sunny Saturday afternoon to make sure that I could have a sleep before going out on Saturday night? Most people would think that sloping off to bed in the middle of the day would be anti-social, but they were quite happy – probably because they got a break from me for a while!

Mark prepares for another Saturday night on the town.

Well, that was a quick re-cap of the last six months or so, but if I put everything, I want to say in one blog then it would be far too long and boring – so, more next week!

And if you wonder just why you read this, go back and read the last blog “To the workhouse” in February.

Just call me “Nostradamus”. Or not…

Just saying!