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hi all murray the plausable parky wrote: > The Tacoma News Tribune, WA > Monday, June 16, 2003 > Gardner's schedule worries loved ones > Former Gov. Booth Gardner says keeping busy helps keep him alive. > But friends who have watched his fight against Parkinson's disease > are concerned that his packed schedule might be having a less > salutary effect. > Gardner has had the disease for perhaps a dozen years, but it's > progressed dramatically in the past three months. > "It's a progressive disease, and it's gotten worse", Cynthia > Gardner, his wife of two years, told the Seattle Post- > Intelligencer. "I'm not sure his thinking has adjusted to that > yet." ... > Gardner, 66, served as the state's 19th governor from 1985 > to 1992, and his love of policy-making has kept him active > since then. He's drafting legislative proposals for > higher-education construction with fellow former Gov. Dan > Evans, teaming with King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng on > an antigambling campaign, chairing the state presidential > campaign for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and heading > a program to stem child obesity. > This past winter, he was executive director of Municipal > Golf of Seattle until the city parted with the management > group. > At Northwest Strategies, a local public affairs firm founded > by his former campaign manager, Ron Dotzauer, colleagues > sometimes send Gardner home early. > "It was, 'How are you doing?' and, 'Oh, I'm fine,' and he > can barely keep his head up" , said Gretchen Aliabadi, an > account manager who has the office next door to Gardner's. > "So I sent him home." > Dotzauer, Northwest Strategies chairman and chief executive > officer, has resorted to cue cards in an attempt to lessen > the former governor's workload. > Every 60 to 90 days, he urges Gardner to list his projects > by importance on these cards. So far, the list hasn't gotten > noticeably smaller. > "I ask him how he's doing, and he still looks up sheepishly; > he doesn't say no to people," Dotzauer said. "A week and a > half ago, I asked this question again, 'What can we do to > slow this down?' The staff is under orders to give him space." > Gardner has promised to pare his workweek to three days and > to give up hamburgers, milkshakes and chocolate. He says > he'll start walking two miles each morning. He just hasn't > said exactly when this will happen. > Over the weekend, he and Cynthia moved from Seattle's > Madison Park neighborhood to Vashon Island, with the idea > of putting a moat between him and his commitments. > "You catch me at an interesting time," Gardner told the > P-I. "I've got to make some hard choices." > Why not really retire? It's not his style, he said. > "I love making policy and being a public person. It keeps > me alive," he said. > Gardner doesn't deny that he'd like to ignore the disease, > which afflicts 1.5 million Americans. > "I have a friend who's eight years older than I am and has > the same strain of Parkinson's," he said. "As much as I like > him it's hard to look at him, because I see myself eight > years from now." > Though he wasn't diagnosed with Parkinson's until 1995, Gardner > now suspects he had the illness during his final year > as governor - and that the disease was responsible for driving > him out of his coveted position. He was finishing up a > successful second term and was projected as a landslide winner > if he ran a third time. > But he was absolutely miserable, if not unpleasant to be around. > "I never had any trouble making decisions, other than agonizing > over personnel," Gardner said. "The last year in office, I hit > a wall. I was in depression. I stopped making decisions. I > started delegating everything. I got tentative. > "I had seven great years, but the eighth year wasn't fun. > I didn't know I had Parkinson's." > Had his health not taken such a turn, Gardner said, "I probably > would have gone for a third term." > He eventually went public with his disease, spoke about it and > even lent his name to the Booth Gardner Parkinson's Care > Center, which opened at Kirkland's Evergreen Health Care Center > in 2000, and which he regularly attends for checkups. > Yet Gardner has trouble slowing down and following the rules. > "A year ago, I told the doctor I felt there wouldn't be a > relapse and I wanted to get off the medication," he said, > looking guilty. "She said, 'I read the paper. I know what > you're doing. I want to double your antidepressant.'" > His wife and friends wish he would start easing up. > "I'm working real hard on stepping back and letting him take > full responsibility for this and how he wants to handle > it," his wife said. "After all, it's his life." > (Published 12:01AM, June 16th, 2003) > SOURCE: The Tacoma News Tribune, WA > http://www.tribnet.com/news/local/story/3305040p-3336070c.html the words jump out at me - *** progressed dramatically in the past three months *** and alarm bells go off pd does not progress rapidly all of a sudden after eight or more years of 'normal' deterioration i will bet a dozen dollars to donuts that that three month figure is highly relevant to mr gardner's current ill health a change in stress, diet, meds, life-style, household or environmental chemicals, something (maybe even 'doubling the anti-depressant') happened to trigger this sudden downswing my concern is with booth gardner my fellow parky (he is my senior by 10 years age wise but i am his senior by 8 years pd wise!) 'ignoring the disease' is simply another aspect of acceptance or should i say non-acceptance - and so is busy-ness for the sake of busy-ness - been there - done that! right now this is precisely where the finesse and fine-tuning (don't use a sledge-hammer to tune a maserati!) and detective work and hour by hour symptom charting (see my can-can chart on my website) can start to reverse the slide and get some control back this is absolutely critical in pd where clinical depression is a factor (50%) booth gardner's voice has been heard here previously in re pd (check out my website's search engine) i don't want to hear of another tale of woe such as joe bruckbauer's, greg leeman's or karen bardo's (whose pd med mismanagement stories are also on my website) janet awareness = education = knowledge = power janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit primarily perky, parky pd: 56-41-37 cd: 56-44-43 tel: 613-256-8340 email: [log in to unmask] my newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newvoicenews/ my website: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn