First of all, I'm very thankful for the "letter to a friend" that
was posted here over the weekend. It really says more than anything else I
could say to family members or friends about this disease that my father has.
I notice the discussion about thyroid problems as they relate to
Parkinson's...I know that both of my parents have had those problems in the
past (for several years before I was born, in fact).
I was wondering whether another thing I'd read was a myth or not; I
know they aren't certain as to the causes of Parkinson's...however, I
distinctly remember someone stating that a study or something had shown that
people who have worked around certain kinds of metals appear to be at a
bigger risk for the disease. I'm wondering if there's any truth to this. For
over 25 years, my father worked as a design engineer for a small company;
his office was near where all the building was going on. You see, he worked
a great deal on the design for automatic door motors (as well as the whole
door in some cases) and the work was going on just outside his office, which
wasn't very well enclosed. In addition, he spent a lot of time out in the
"shop" portion of the company looking over his work.
As the aforementioned letter stated, my father has good days and bad
days. Lately he's had a string of fairly bad days, which cause a lot of
stress. My mother often calls me in tears because she doesn't know who to
talk to. Dad was always handy around the house and the yard (he still is
active in the yard work), but he does a curious thing: he takes the lawn
mower apart in various stages at least 3 or 4 times a summer--his most
recent bout was less than a week ago. Now, in the old days, he'd be able to
put it back together, but now he can't; that very fact frustrates him, too.
Also, Dad has a great deal of trouble eating...no, he hasn't lost his
appetite--I mean that he isn't very coordinated when he does eat. They have
run occupational tests on him at the VA; he usually doesn't do very well on
the eating. I can deal with it most of the time (though it's hard to watch
sometimes, especially when you remember how it used to be), but what I can't
deal with is the stares we get when we go to restaurants. My husband (I've
been married nearly 3 months now!) is gradually getting used to it, too,
bless his heart. But anyway, this bugs me; once I was so irritated, I
quietly told off a table of people who seemed to be facinated by this. I
don't remember exactly what I said, but it worked without me coming off
really rude, like I really wanted to be.
Also, he seems to have really horrible nightmares from time to time;
would this be related to the medication? I can't remember exactly what my
dad takes, but I can find that out.
Sorry for such a long post!
Tamara D. H. Syron
_/_ / / /
/ __ / /_ o _. /_ _ Tamara D. Hicks Syron
< (__/_/ /_<_(_ / <_/_)_ Publications
National Center for Research on Teacher Learning
College of Education
Michigan State University
East Lansing
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/ (. .) \ * There are only two lasting *
/*\ * bequests we can hope to give *
Heidi the * our children. One of these *
wonder * is roots; the other, wings. *
beagle * -Hodding Carter- *
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