My Lucky Day

I read about a man whose dog can help him to walk. The man has PD ( Parkinson's Disease) The dog has not been trained specifically to work with Parkinson's patients. The man's feet sometimes freeze when he is walking and he is not able to move until his dog touches his feet. The dog realizes that the man is not walking and touches the man's feet with his paw. Immediately, the man can walk again.

No one seems to know very much about the disease, so there are a number of anecdotes that seem to make sense. I an interested in what a dog makes of a person with such symptoms. Dogs have a uncanny sense of what is right and wrong with human health.

This has nothing to do with dogs, but is an example of how the human mind can be made to work. I tend to walk with a limp, my hand are often tense and rigid. It seems that I am prepared to use my hands to balance myself. I heard someone on public television tell a Parkinson's patient to count her steps when she is walking. She did and her steps became more fluid. I have tried this with wonderful results. My guess is that occupying my mind with counting, frees it to walk naturally. My wife thinks this is a miracle. She encourages me to count when I am getting out of bed and getting out of the car. It seems to help. I was walking with the physical therapist a week or so ago. We were talking about rotator cuffs. I was interested and as I thought my way through the conversation, I quit limping. I was walking fairly normally.

I may get a nice surprise today. I have applied for a dog named Bradley. Bradley is a lab mix and seems to be extraordinarily well behaved. I am second in line for him. The other person is visiting with Bradley today and will make a decision later today. It is probably a long shot. It is hard to imagine why the other guy might not take him.

My daughter-in-law Nicole has located another dog I am excited to meet. His name is Dutch. Dutch lost his right back leg after he was hit by a car. If I feel sure he won't become excited and knock me down he may be the dog for me. I'll know later today.

I rode my bicycle to the post office an hour or so ago. I talked to an old friend. Apparently she wanted to talk and eventually told me she has Lyme Disease. I know almost as little about Lyme as I did about Parkinson's. Her balance is messed up, and apparently she is limited in her ability to ride her bike. I wanted to encourage her to just keep trying. I have a hard time getting on and off my bike, but although I am constantly fearful of falling, it has not happened yet.

I am terrified most of the time I am on my bike. I wear a helmet to protect my head, although from experience I realize that I could make better use of knee and elbow pads. If I fall on pavement, I will skin myself up. Most of the time I can force myself to fall on the side of the road. There is grass, and often stickers there.

I keep trying to challenge myself by finding steep hills. If I ride away from my house through Meade City Park and then follow Rainbelt Street there is a very steep hill as I approach the Baptist Church. I have made it up the hill twice this week, but I am sure I would do better if I had another person riding with me. I think I need the competition.

I am excited today. Blake and Nicole will be here tomorrow. It does not get better than that.