Anyone up for a "Way we were" day? If yes post a pre PD profile picture and some info about you self.

[Jerebet]

[LizaJane]

just send you a message, im new to this, joined last night and not sure what your asking but interested..

[Jerebet]

Hi Liza Welcome, I am trying to get people to open up and connect on a more personal level. i was hoping people would share things about them selves that had nothing to do with PD ad that they might change their profile pictures to help people to get to know them.

[Jerebet]

I will kick it off.For today my profile pic is the pre PD me at age 35. I have three fantastic adult children.Live in colorful Colorado . My passion is studying Archaeology. I had hoped to go on digs when I retire. I'm happily single. I love all kinds of music and art and I write books that I will never publish. I am anxious to learn about other posters.

[tlongmire in reply to Jerebet]

I lived in CO from the age of 3 - 60. I love and miss CO. We moved to AZ for my husband's health and 6 months later came my diagnosis of PD. Our children and grandchildren still live in CO. Our daughter is an Engineer with the Littleton Fire Department.

I worked for the US Department of Health and Human Sevices (Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services) for 20 years. I was the Adminstrative Officer followed by the Executive Officer. I was a workaholic in a very demanding and stressful job. In some ways I regret that I gave so much of myself to the job but in other ways I had a fulfilling career.

I am now retired and living in Arizona with my husband of 44 years. We are living the best life that we can and hoping for more good days than bad at least for the foreseeable future.

[Jerebet in reply to tlongmire]

Hi t,glad to meet you. Small world in 1990 I was a Provider seminar trainer for the Medicaid contract at BCBS. We may have met,

[shasha]

dont you think it may prove to be a tad depressing ? the way i was is a busy estate agent running a very profitable office - all i do now is sit nd watch the tele or go on my computer - i do some cycling but cannot walk now without my husband helping me --

[Susie01]

Ok, thought I would participate. I was probably the last person anyone would associate with PD. I have degrees in Nursing and Health Science. I was a "health nut". I ran 3-5 miles daily, taught aerobics classes and competed in the early days of women's bodybuilding, until the girls started to look like guys in bikinis! I was also a gymnast, it amazes me that I could do gymnastics on a 4" beam and now it would be a struggle to walk a straight line!

Having the education, I was able to a lot of different jobs. All the way from nurse to Diabetes Educator and then into a management position with a health insurance company.

When my son was 2, I stayed home with the kids, home schooled my son and was active in my daughter's school also. I was completely responsible for the interior and exterior care of the home, my ex was never home!

Symptoms were documented in my medical records when I was 43, it was six years before I was correctly diagnosed. Cogitive changes cause me more distress than even the physical limitations. I graduated with honors in both high school and college. Now I have to search for words on a daily basis, cannot remember how to do something I have done a thousand times!

I am now a single mom, I tried to go back to work after my diagnosis even though my neurologist did not feel I could. I am a bit stubborn and had to prove it to myself...I have no medical insurance and am still waiting for approval of my disability claim. We have survived to this point on child support and the generousity of friends...

[Jerebet in reply to Susie01]

Wow Suzie,Impressive to say the least.!! I hope your Disability is approved soon. We have all lost so much. I try to find pleasure in my pre PD memories and hope your memories do not make you sad.

I just want to say that there is no cognitive issue that is apparent in the way you write.

[Susie01]

Jerebet,

Thank-you, I had to laugh when I read your comment on the cognitive issues! My daughter asked why I was laughing, case in point, with the aphasia, I could not read outloud what you had written!

I do ok if I don't have to put my thoughts into words that come out of my mouth! The cognitive issues show up more when I am under stress, when I was still working, I would sometimes stare at the computer not knowing what to do next, when I had completed the same tasks a hundred times...

[muttie]

Hi Susie and Jerebet,

O K You two have gotten me hooked!! I'm one of the 'old fogies!(or rather fogets ) I was born in 1933 .....in Evanston ,Illinois {my Dad taught at Northwestern}, we moved

to Stanford University when I was 13, I grew up on its campus.I went to Mills College for three years and then got my RN at Childrens Hospital in San Fransisco.I was married and had two of my children in California while my husband was finishing Stanford Grad School .We got a job with good ole John Deer and were sent to Moline Illinois, then to Mexico,back to the US,then to Argentina,were I had two more kids ,back to the US;to Germany,to Switzerland,again back to Germany,....where I had my fifth and LAST child....sigh! Back to the US ..for good this time in 1976...... YEAH!!!!we moved to Tucson,Arizona after my husband retired and have been here ever since!!

This all must sound very long and stuffy ....but to be honest with you, I have never seen my life written down before...it brought back so many memories! I found myself laughing and crying between the lines as I very slowly wrote it down . so ,Jerebet ..you got one of your wishes .....memories of pre PD, loud and clear! Oh yes ... I was DX with PD 11 yrs ago by a doc but had it

?years before that.I can relate to your aphasia Susie and I admire your sense of humor... that is a gift in itself!

Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about me,and i do too!God

Bless you both,and all the people that have been or shall come our way on this blog.Tthank you all!!