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Marsha, It is good to hear from you and believe me I hear you. Thank you for your kind words. I think anyone who doesn't get depressed needs to have her head examined. I too worry about my end days, and maybe it is denial but you just never know what might happen. This uncertainty is what I hate about PD; however I must admit I never thought I'd be without tremors. After my DBSs in 2003 my voice started to go. Something weird has happened. When I had surgery last Monday to replace batteries my neurosurgeon supposedly reprogrammed me. When I came to I couldn't speak at all hardly and I felt awful. However when my neurologist's associate doctor came to hospital to program me because of my bitching, he said left NT was perfect but right one was OFF. When he programmed the right NT my voice was immediately better than it has been in a long, long time. My parents died painful deaths as did my grandparents (papa had PD) but my paternal grandmother's twin sister died sitting in her rocker one morning at an old age. I hope I will be like Aunt Gertie but you just never know. In the meantime I feel lucky to have such fine people as yourself and others to share this journey. Ray Rayilyn Brown Board Member AZNPF Arizona Chapter National Parkinson's Foundation [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marsha Lance" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2007 3:30 AM Subject: Re: Optimism >I have been lurking in the shadows, listening to what everyone has to say. >I sometimes get very depressed hearing that is cure or drug will help but >not now maybe five ten or twenty years down the line. I try to remain >hopeful but sometimes it is hard. I remember two years having to put dad >in a nursing home after promising him I never would. It was there that he >was dx with Parkinson's, cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimer's, He died within >5 weeks spending only one week there and the rest in the hospital and then >the last 4 days at home. Thanks goodness for Hospice. I was dx two months >after his death with Parkinson's. I have seen what Parkinson can do to >you. It isn't pretty. And I have it to look forward to the rest of my >life. But I try to remember the good and positive things in this world. >Children, grand children the changing seasons and the love and service >people give each other. > When I was 15 yrs old I heard a saying that is my motto today. > "Attitude is the thing that counts" . I am not yelling but I need it this > big to see. we can all be heroes just by being there for each other. > Thank you for the words of of love so many of you share on this email > exchange. Especially Rayilyn. > MARSHA > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: rayilynlee <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: Friday, July 6, 2007 4:16:56 PM > Subject: Optimism > > > Friday, July 6, 2007 > Christopher Reeve wasn't Superman > Far from flying, he probably knew he would never walk again. > Reeve, who died at 52 of a heart attack, was one of Hollywood's best-known > actors when a 1995 equestrian accident rendered him a quadriplegic. With > eloquence and determination, he became a spokesman for the optimism that > can > transform the lives of people with spinal column injuries. > > But that transformation is of a limited sort. Optimism has its limits. > Here's what it can and can't do. > > Optimism can help organize people, money and resources to seek new > treatments. And Reeve did. He created foundations, raised awareness, > addressed Congress. Thanks to him, more people became aware of spinal cord > injuries, and more scientists studied them. > > Optimism can help injured people take control of their post-injury lives. > In > those very different lives, these people can teach themselves ways to > endure, to thrive, to own every new second. Optimism can light the hard > road > to healing, on which each step is a triumph of the human will. > > Reeve was the ultimate symbol of such triumphs. In films, commercials, > television shows, he was active in more ways, in more venues, than ever > before. He was a leading, and damaging, critic of curbs on federal funds > for > stem-cell research. He reminded those with spinal cord injuries that they > can live lives with passion and impact. > > But optimism cannot cure. We are nowhere near a cure for what happened to > him, nor are we likely to be for many years. Reeve often spoke as though > he > expected to walk again, but he probably knew he wouldn't. Survivability > rather than recovery is the word. We are far from the operation or the > drug > that can reverse paralysis; we don't know enough. > > It would be terrible to mislead anyone, especially the 250,000 to 400,000 > people a year who are paralyzed by spinal cord trauma, 30 new cases each > day. It would be irresponsible to hold out a hope that does not exist. > > Scientists have begun to make strides, especially in animal-based > research. > But what our children's generation will see, is a mix of therapies, each > aimed at increasing function a certain amount. Perhaps this mix of > therapies > will make heartening differences for thousands of people. That is > wonderful, > but that is far as anyone's prediction should go. > > Too often it takes a Christopher Reeve or a Michael J. Fox, some stricken > celebrity to put a medical condition on the map, to attract attention and > dollars. Such is the paralysis of a health-care system in which the dollar > speaks louder for some conditions than for others. > > People can't fly. They are bound to their bodies and their world. Yet even > when they cannot deny their limitations, they can defy them. When they do, > as Reeve did, they fly high indeed. That's the superhero in us all. > > Rayilyn Brown > Board Member AZNPF > Arizona Chapter National Parkinson's Foundation > [log in to unmask] > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go > with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > http://mobile.yahoo.com/mail > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn