My sympathy stick

If you've seen me walking around town lately, you might have seen me carrying my trusty cane, aka "sympathy stick". That sympathy angle, by the way, isn't working. People who don't know me could care less and many of those who do know me come up to me and say, "Congratulations, Arnold. Too many people who need assistance with walking are too vain to carry a cane or use a walker when they really need one. Of course then they fall and seriously hurt themselves. Thanks for being a role model."

I don't know about being a role model but I do worry that I'm going to leave my cane somewhere and forget it. Carolyn convinced me that it was a good idea to have a backup cane. So we picked this one out of the selection at Walgren's. It's lightweight aluminum and folds into a package just slightly shorter than 12 inches and 2 inches in diameter.

We saw my neurologist today who looked at my gait by having me walk down the h all 40 or 50 feet. He also asked Carolyn and me what we had seen or experienced. It's his opinion that is part of the normal progressions of Parkinson's and, unfortunately, can't be helped by additional medication. I feel like I'm nearing a black hole and circling it ever so slowly. Each day I get a little closer to the inevitable fate of getting sucked in.