Get up!

I go a million miles a minute in my head… Not so fast in real life. Things that used to take just seconds now take minutes, hours turn into days. I’ve got so much I want to be doing, but barely anything seems to get done, and what does is extremely difficult. I’ve started to have to prioritize the simplest of things and take more breaks during the day. Life has gotten so much harder now than it used to be and I’ve been knocked down by several fortuitous blows! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven… Get up Daddy get up, I hear faintly in the back of my head. I am living a scene from the movie, “The Champ.”

It’s so very hard and honestly right now I am just trying to survive. I really needing help for the first time in my life. This time the Rollercoaster has almost come off the tracks, is this rock bottom?

Everything was really beginning to make sense things had been really working for me spiritually mentally and physically and than just like that my world crashed. I have felt I have a calling to help people living in physical pain, nobody should have to live in pain. My story now has a different type of pain, emotional. I can remember being a little boy and constantly asking my parents what if, what if, what if and they would always say; Danny what if’s never happen. Looking back at one of my recent Blog Posts ironically titled “What if it’s not Parkinson’s?” My parents were unfortunately right again.

In late November 2008 I undergone cervical disc replacement called Pro Disc C between C4 C5 due to
loss of fine motor skills in my right hand. A Washington hospital had made a major medical campaign out of it as I was the first person to have this surgery. I had been told it just had been approved by the FDA and I could return and do all things I loved again. I am aware of a lawsuit claiming FDA approval was falsely obtained. The hospitals slogan was “Life is Better Pain Free”  which is very ironic as I never reported being in any type of pain prior to the surgery and now live in constant pain. The Hospital put me on the cover of a medical magazine, billboard and shot TV commercial. While filming the commercial I experienced my 1st tremor in my hand. I was just positive that something had gone wrong with the surgery to cause this new tremor. I had also been told to say something’s during filming that were just not true about my symptoms, I do admit I had gotten caught up in the production of a film crew, but this made me very uncomfortable.
My Neurologist at the time said I’d developed an essential tremor and later a different neurologist diagnosed me with Parkinson’s. I’ve been on numerous medications but nothing seems to help the symptoms or constant
pain in my neck and arm/hand or slow the progression of my tremors. I’ve looked for relief from chronic
neck pain and tremors by Botox, steroids Hyperbarics, therapeutic massage and acupuncture and as a result lead me to believe I had experienced nerve damage.

This has been by far the most difficult month I have faced living with this disease. I really enjoy going to Church and my Pastor has announced he will be moving on he has been a huge influence on my mindset and it will be very sad for me to lose him.

Late February I had gone over to Boise to a specialized upper Cervical Chiropractor at the end of February and it has turned me upside down. I had asked for and seen some recent X-Rays visibly noticing my head was not sitting squarely over my chest.  After the upper Cervical adjustment and I’ve been unable to drive or exercise for the last 6 weeks; getting dizzy if I’m upright for too long. The chiropractor calls it subluxation  and others have called it something else. Regardless, it really has done something to me I just don’t know currently if it is more bad than good.

My confidence was beginning to come back and my body and mind were physically changing and I was feeling so much stronger than I have felt in a really long time.  After the chiropractic adjustment I had gone to Dealership in Boise and purchased a new/used car for my family’s needs. Driving myself the 120 miles back home was a mistake, I drove in darkness during a snowstorm and the tension that grew in my neck absolutely melted me down neurologically. Thinking if I were to pull off onto the side of the road on a 2 lane highway I would more than likely be rear ended by the next vehicle trying to navigate through the obscured darkness, so I pressed on. I made it home but haven’t seemed remotely healthy ever since.

My wife took the car back over to Boise the following week to catch a flight for a family vacation. I was unable to attend in my current state adding insult to injury. She broke down half way needing extensive mechanical repairs. Barely through the first tank of gas the first thing I was told is it would require a new engine as it would not hold oil pressure. Stress is a killer, and for a person with Parkinson’s it really it really destroys. The dealership refused to make any kind of concessions and financially and physically I had made a HUGE mistake! I asked the dealership asking for some sort of business ethics but was basically told I was S.O.L. Needless to say, if you’re looking for the stereotypical used car sales Peterson Lexus in Boise won’t disappoint. My blog is about fighting Parkinson’s not a dealership, I currently just don’t have the strength.

Just last week I showed my X-Rays of my neck to a recommended neurosurgeon and the first thing he said was the artificial disc in my neck appeared to be too big. I was positive it would need to be removed. He immediately scheduled me for a MRI, MRA, CAT and Bone scan all in one day and the results were not as expected. I was told taking the disc out would do more harm than good as the surgery would be very risky and would not be recommended. Physically and emotionally it was excruciating painful, I am broken.

There is not a disease my God cannot heal there is not a soul he can not save or a heart he can not mend. There is nothing that my God can not do and because there is nothing my God cannot do I can do all things through Christ Jesus. I thank him for the continued healing in my body. The price has been paid the curse has been lifted, through his stripes I am healed. My testimony will be great and the love of my family drives me. Ding, ding.

It is officially Easter Sunday as I post this, he has risen! It’s Parkinson’s awareness month, have compassion.