Downtown Raleigh and BOB

I keep forgetting to write about St. Patrick's Day. I had won 2 free tickets to the Titanic Exhibit from the N&O. The Titanic Exhibit ends at the end of April, so we'd been looking for a good weather day to walk down to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. We hadn't been since they built the additional building with the globe out front. We enjoyed the Titanic exhibit and got to touch a piece of the hull that was recovered. That was cool because in a month or so, we'll be at the Titanic Museum in Belfast where it was built. Anyway, we went to the new section of the building by walking through the pedestrian bridge over the street and that was weird. But, here is the special part. We didn't take Bob! He is still holding a grudge because he missed a great photo op. And because, you know, Bob. Here goes. There is a whale skeleton in there called Stumpy. Underneath her is a zodiac carrying a black dog wearing a life vest. The dog's name is Bob! He is a "whale scat sniffing dog". Can you believe it? The sign said he could "smell floating whale scat for a mile". Clay's comment was, "It floats?" I know! But, seriously, a mile?! What I was really thinking was, BOB? I mean they named a floating scat smelling dog, BOB? Is that a joke, like did they mean it to be a pun? I think I snorted. It was a busy day in the museum. It was Reptile Day. Way too busy in there and not in any good way. I was a little overwhelmed and failed to notice if there was any reproduction scat in the display. Since it wasn't real water, it couldn't have bobbed! Anyway, our Bob was not amused when he heard about it. I snickered every time I said Good Morning, Bob for at least a week. Then we all got over it. Still, though... Funny right?

Clay took some photos, but he never shared them. We also went to the St. Patrick's Day parade. It was a good day except for leaving Bob at home.

Here is a link. At the photo sequence, scroll down to Investigating Right Whales and then click the photo labeled to enlarge it. You can see Bob the scat sniffing dog under there. Enjoy!

Tremor update

Yeah, no this has nothing to do with road trips! I plan to post here about our trip to England, Scotland and Ireland too later and I guess it is a stretch to call that a road trip either. So much for my sticking to the theme...

First off, I should update by saying that about a week after stopping carbidopa/levodopa that the left leg kicking had stopped. So, that was good news. Clearly, it was a side effect of the drug and not a progression of my disease. It wasn't as bad as the first drug, generic Mirapex or Pramipexole. That one made me exhausted, headachy, gave me extreme sweats, visual hallucinations of fire at night and dangerously constipated. It did though the most to relax my right toes. Dr. Carnes pulled the plug on that one though.

I saw Dr. Carnes on 3/11 and he prescribed Ropinirole or generic Requip as the next drug to try. He said he has dozens more! I am not sure I am up for all that! I stopped taking Ropinirole today with permission from Dr. Carnes' nurse. I had been taking it for just over 3 weeks. It made me really tired at first, but the Pramipexole did too at first. So, I just kept taking it and by the middle of week 2 I had muscle burning. I felt like if you've been running and your leg muscles start to burn and you cannot get enough oxygen to them. Except this was all over my body, literally every muscle in my body, not just the muscles affected by the tremor but my entire body. By this week, I started thinking I was going to die from this. I mean I could not exercise for 3 weeks. I could barely get up the stairs or through the house, etc. Clearly, this wasn't going to be a long term solution and like the other drugs Ropinirole wasn't reducing the tremor.

I will go drug free at least until my next appointment on 4/23. Until then I have to say that the knitting I have taken up stops the hand tremor. I just wish something could stop my right foot from fisting under. It is the most painful part of the symptoms. Dr. Carnes' nurse today asked if I'd like to be referred to a movement specialist. I declined. Unless there is some holding still specialist... Anyway, she said I should be journaling to keep up with my medications and reactions and symptoms. I have loosely done that here and I will continue. I can use any good wishes. Thanks.