Skip to main content

Gratitude


The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone.  I started it in the kitchen fairly early in the day.  My first thought was, "How come everyone in the house is sleeping and I am chopping vegetables?"  Quickly, my second thought became, "I am so fortunate that I can chop vegetables."  

This season has brought a host of tragedy with it.  In California, there are many who have recently lost family members and  homes in the wildfires and there are many families that lost loved ones in the recent Thousand Oaks shooting.  I am blessed that I have a kitchen and  that my home  will be filled with family and friends this season.

After contemplating my many, many blessings, I decided that my upcoming Christmas season will be filled with giving and not getting.  When I look back over the years, we certainly gave to charities but I never made it a focus  in our home.  I didn't get my kids involved in it like I wish I had.  If I had to do it over, I would find a handful of charities that meant something personal to my family.  I would research them with my kids and have them decide how we wanted to be involved.  Would we  donate money or actually donate our time and talents (or do all three)?    I think kids learn by doing and seeing.

This year, I have personally seen what some non-profits do for people.  I have been the beneficiary of resources from institutions like the Davis Phinney Foundation and the Parkinson and Movement Disorder Alliance.  I have attended their conferences and ordered their materials (at no cost to me).  I am praying that in the future, I reap the benefits of a cure found by the Michael J. Fox Foundation (please let it be soon!)  They could not do what they do without the generosity of others.  Recently, I  learned about the Parkinson's Wellness Fund (PWF).  Parkinson's is an expensive disease to treat.  Fortunately, I can afford many of the available treatments although I know many that cannot.  The PWF helps provide out of pocket expenses to those who can't afford it.  Even better, the PWF has agreed that any donations designated for Orange County, will be spent in Orange County. This is personal to me.  It will be nice to see those funds being used locally.

I hope the upcoming season brings you all health and happiness.  Please consider being a giver and not a getter this season.  Find something that causes your heart to melt and get involved in it.  And don't forget the littles in your family.  You may start a tradition that has benefits for years to come.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Experience in the Clinical Trial for the New FDA Approved Subcutaneous Levodopa Pump

  It took quite a while but the FDA has finally approved a new way for people with Parkinson's to get levodopa. It is a subcutaneous pump designed by AbbVie. The medication is Foslevodopa/Foscarbodopa and they have named the new pump Vyalev.   Back in 2021, I joined the clinical trial. It was time intensive and I had to drive almost an hour and a half to and from the trial site once a week but I was excited to be part of a trial that I thought might make a difference for people with Parkinson's.   In a nutshell, I only got to wear the pump for about a month. The doctor overseeing the trial recommended that I stop because I was having a lot of bruising and swelling at the injection site and the meds were sometimes pooling under my skin instead of going into my system. I was disappointed to have to stop but I was hoping that my experience in the trial gave the researchers some info that would be helpful. Now that it is on the market, I want to try it again. So what w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Good News for Mice with Parkinson's

  Today brought us another exciting headline: "Scientists Discover Drug Already Approved by FDA May Slow or Stop Parkinson's."  Yippee, Yahoo, right? The reality is that it has only been tested in mice and "there is more research to be done." The research results will likely be many years away. I already feel like a lab rat using the current medications and treatments as doctors often admit, "we don't really know how it works." How do we speed up the research process? Too many people are suffering while waiting for treatments to get approved.   #parkinsonsresearch   #parkinsons   #scientificresearch #labrats   #frustratedmouse
Post a Comment
Read more

We Have to Make Wellness Happen

  As I inch closer to the eight-year anniversary of my diagnosis, it becomes clearer every day. If I want to continue to live well with Parkinson's, I must work intentionally at it. I need to figure out (with the help of my care team) what is needed and then do it. That might mean going to speech therapy. It might mean switching up my workouts or adjusting my diet (again). It definitely means that I will have to do some things that I don't feel like doing and if I want to stay well, I will need to continue this for the rest of my life (unless of course a cure comes soon). I have seen the result of hard work in myself and in many, many friends. Those who are putting in the effort are doing better than those waiting for something to happen.  We have to make wellness happen and it is hard to do every day. That is one of the reasons I think it is so important to be part of a community of others with Parkinson's. They are the ones who understand and the ones that can kick you in...
Post a Comment
Read more