Some Progress...

But still some questions.

After forgetting to call Dad yesterday, I spent this morning at the transplant clinic and had major truckloads to check in at the store so it was around noon today that I called. Of course he was just getting back from his neurologist appointment. Oh well! At least it was fresh on his mind. Here's what he had to say:

He likes Dr. Tseng. She is in the same group as Dr. Chen and took over a number of her patients. She also knows Dr. Marder, who worked in the same group. Dr. Tseng is frank, open and easy to understand and listens to what he has to say. He opened the conversation by mentioning the number of obituaries he reads where the death is listed as due to the complications of Parkinson's and he wanted to know what he had to look forward to as the disease develops. She said the deaths are in very advanced cases where breathing and swallowing become impossible and hat he is a long ways away from that stage of the disease.

Her main point to him are that she has two kinds of Parkinson's patients. Most are like Dad, with tremors that are manageable and that the disease can maintain that stage for a long time. The others are the advanced patients who require significant care. At Dad's level, there is very little to do other than medicate to control tremors. The best therapy is exercise and his 'dance' classes are the best thing he could be doing. The suggestion is that he has a good age/Parkinson's ratio. I suggested that it sounded like PKD. You know you have the disease. The doctors treat the symptoms. Other than that there is little to do but watch and monitor. Dad agreed. He seemed to like Dr Tseng and trusts what she tells him.

I don't know whether he asked if his recent neck stiffness is related to Parkinson's. My guess is probably not if it didn't bother him last night or this morning. (He didn't mention it Sunday.)

That sums up what I learned today. Mary can probably use this and pry more information out of him. His next appointment with Dr. Tseng is in six months, which right now seems a forever away.