Shhhhh, Don't tell Bob

SHHHH….Don’t tell Bob, but he is getting better! The new medication for Parkinson’s is working. It has taken three weeks to get into his system, but we are seeing improvements. Of course Bob can’t see any improvements and if you ask him he will tell you he is still the same.

The other night Pat and Tina bought tickets for Rob and Sarah to go and see a concert of their favorite band. It was an early birthday gift for Sarah and a graduation gift for Rob. (He now has a Master’s degree) Anyways, while they went to the concert, Pat, Tina, Bob and I went to dinner. Bob got to ride in the new truck which is very high and very large. Bob stepped up and climbed into that truck without any problems at all. Tina and I both dropped our lower jaw and stared at each other.

He is also standing much better. He used to have to rock three or four times in order to stand; and now he is grabbing the bars and pulling himself up with the first try. He still has tremors and is slow moving, but he is moving a lot better. Exercise helps him a lot, but Bob doesn’t like to exercise at all. He will if we make him come out and do them, but volunteer….no way! I find that after he has been on the recumbent bike, worked with his weights, and played a few games of bowling on the Wii, that he is able to walk and stand a lot better.

He doesn’t see the improvements like the rest of us do. He wants to be healed immediately. He wants to run around the block like he did in his 20’s. That unfortunately, isn’t going to happen. He does sometimes uses that dirty word, “can’t” while we are trying to exercise. I have told him for now on, that word isn’t allowed. He has to come up with some other kind of vocabulary to express himself other than the word ‘can’t’.

We have started to slowly take him off one of the Alzheimer’s medication and it hasn’t made a bit of difference. I think one of the reasons he was having so much trouble is one of the medications the doctor’s prescribed was making him nutty. Once we took him off of that, he has slowly gotten it out of his system and is so much better now.

Christina, one of his granddaughters is coming this week for a visit from Louisiana, and his other granddaughter, Nancie, is having her first child this week. It will be an exciting week as Bob waits for photos of Nathan his great-grandson, and seeing the rest of the family for a cookout this coming weekend. Bob still had cards coming in this last week from his birthday. He so enjoyed each and every one of them.