Today I have volunteered to collect my elderly neighbour from his care home and bring him back to Southrepps so that he can collect some more clothes and personal bits and pieces from his house. It is also the day that I publish my weekly vlog, so it is going to be a bit of a challenge to do that as well!
As soon as my wife has left for work, I resume the script writing that I started yesterday. I seem to have a copious number of words, and I’m worried that my vlog will end up being too long, so I have a test read through of the whole script with a stopwatch running. I manage to time myself at just under 5 minutes, so that’s okay.
I punctuate the morning with a dog walk, and then set up the camera and tripod. I load the script into the teleprompter app on my iPad, and then start filming. I have 30 minutes to get it right, so (after a couple of false starts) manage to get the footage that I require in just 2 takes.
I dash out to the care home, pick up my neighbour and return to Southrepps. I assist him in getting his clothing together, and then load it into the car while he is getting some of his personal possessions together. Then I ferry him back to the care home and carry the bags of his belongings to his room. Good deed for the day, done!
On return to Southrepps, I load the video onto my MacBook and get cracking on the editing, which is almost done by the time my wife returns from work. I load it up to my YouTube channel, publish my weekly vlog and can then relax for the evening.
Symptom-wise, I’m pretty good today – the only thing bothering me at the moment is some tremor breaking through on my left side. Dystonia is there, but under control. My balance and walking are not great, but I’m managing. Muscular stiffness and weakness – I have some rigidity, but it’s not too debilitating. Mood and motivation have improved since last week, and I feel cautiously optimistic. I keep thinking about increasing the voltage on my left side, but I’m worried about provoking the dyskinesia in my neck (which is generally under control). I have a device programming session at the NHNN next Friday, so I will discuss it with the DBS team and see what they have to say…