As soon as I wake up I know that I have more dyskinesia than I had yesterday. I also seem to be shaking a little less, so let’s see how the day unfolds.
We are having a barbecue in the back garden this afternoon – it’s a family birthday party for my wife’s youngest son, who turned 26 this week. The weather forecast is pretty grim – after the fairly fabulous week we have had, the Met Office have issued a weather warning for today, and it’s supposed to rain heavily from mid-afternoon onwards. We plan to cook and eat indoors in the event of a cloudburst!
I’m conserving my energy for later, because barbecue cooking is a man’s job, so I sit and take it easy while my wife makes a green salad, potato salad, coleslaw, millionaire’s shortbread and flapjack. My tremor rears its ugly head again, and I briefly consider changing my settings over to Group “A” from Group “B”. I decide to stick with Group “B” (at least for today) because I cannot accurately predict what will happen to my symptoms when I switch to Group “A”. The last thing I need at the moment is for my dyskinesia to go through the roof when I’m barbecuing food. All of my other symptoms appear fairly stable at the moment, so it makes sense not to rock the boat. My dyskinesia is marginally worse than yesterday, but I can cope with it and it doesn’t seem to be getting any more pronounced as the day goes by. The flare up of tremor in my right arm has subsided and, although it’s still there (just beneath the surface), I feel I can cope with it.
Our guests arrive, and the promised downpour hasn’t materialised so I light the barbecue and smoke the back garden out. The party is a great success and the afternoon passes in a flash. I manage to cook sausages, burgers and several varieties of marinated chicken without burning anything beyond recognition or poisoning anyone with undercooked offerings. Even the dog approved (because I dropped a burger on the ground). By the time we have cleared up and everybody has gone home, it’s almost 9pm and I’m absolutely cream crackered.
An early night is in order!