I had a little trouble getting off to sleep last night. My mind was buzzing and not ready to shut down. It was gone 1am when I eventually managed to drop off, and then I was awake again (and I mean WIDE awake) just after 6am. Perhaps something to do with my current level of stimulation? Hmmm – perhaps…
I have a little more dyskinesia than I had yesterday, but it is still not such a problem that I’m willing to sacrifice tremor control to rein it in. Balance? Not good, but still not falling. Speech? Variable – it’s quite good this morning, but noticeably weaker by lunchtime. Dystonia? Grrrrr!!! Mood? Pretty good, and definitely elevated due to the increased stimulation. Energy? Some, but runs out too quickly for my liking. Tremor? Not great, but it’s been worse.
I’m expecting my aunt from Australia to visit this lunchtime, bringing my cousin (from London, but an Australian also) and my mother (provided she is up to it – she has advanced Parkinson’s Disease and hasn’t been too good the last couple of days). My wife does her “cleaning the house in an hour” trick, and then disappears off to work.
My visitors arrive (my mum is much improved today), and we have teas and coffees in the back garden. Before we go over to The Vernon Arms for refreshments and some lunch, I decide that some more device adjustments are in order – tremor in my left leg is driving me mad! My aunt and cousin are amazed to see the difference when I increase the voltage by 0.1v on the left (so that’s now 2.05v on the left, I leave the right side at 2.15v – so far I have no regrets about my “reckless” increases of yesterday, but best not to push my luck, eh?) and, indeed, the tremor in my left leg departs completely. 30 minutes later, when we are sat outside the pub getting ready to order some food, it’s back again, but it’s not as bad as it was before. We spend a very pleasant couple of hours eating, drinking and chatting, and then they disappear off back to Stalham to take my mum home.
I take the dog for her afternoon walk, and then decide to tackle the front door, which has become increasingly difficult to lock and unlock because of the alignment of the hinges – it really hasn’t been right since the day I had it installed, and the fitters have been back time and time again to adjust it. By the time my wife arrives home from work, I manage to have got it so that the door won’t even close and I’m stressed, frustrated and dripping sweat. By the time my wife has prepared dinner, I’ve sorted it out, and although it’s still not perfect, it’s a lot better than it was.
Bedtime is looming, and the dyskinesia still hasn’t increased as I expected it to, so maybe it really is just going to go away – one can only hope. I shall self-medicate with a little cannabis before I climb the wooden hill, and hope that will help me get off to sleep a little more quickly tonight.