flatblack

We finally got a diagnosis on my mom. She has Parkinson's disease, which they already knew, but they've decided she also has polymyositis. Its an autoimmune disease that weakens the muscles. This actually isn't such bad news. They will be able to treat this with steroids and she will be able to walk up stairs and get in and out of chairs more easily. This is what they had originally thought she had over a year ago. Then they thought it was ALS (Lou Gerick's disease) which had me crushed because most ALS patients don't make it past a year from the time they are diagnosed. Then they ruled that out and decided on Parkinson's. Now it's a combination of Parkinson's and polymyositis. I'm actually relieved to know what we're up against. My mom is pretty active and now she can get her strength back and go back to doing a lot more of the things she loves. She hasn't even seen the upstairs of my new house. And, they are making advancements int he treatment of Parkinson's. The OB even saved umbilical cord blood from he birth of my new nephew (who is growing and doing well by the way) in hopes of using it in some new experimental treatments for Parkinson's. However, the same legislation that Bush has backed that prohibits any fetal stem cell research also bans this, so there isn't much of a chance of being able to take it out of storage and use it for many years to come...unless perhaps I were to somehow find myself within about 200 yards of W with a clear line of sight for a couple of seconds...but alas, even that wouldn't change anything so it wouldn't be worth it.

All in all, it's good news because now she will be able to treat the weakness which has been the most troubling symptom. On a side note, anyone know what to get a 3 month old for Christmas? Now, I can't stand Christmas, but I will overlook that for my new nephew's sake. I'm thinking he might like a gift certificate to Southside Tattoo!