On Monday, Dan and I drove flowers to my friend Deb’s home. She and her husband Fred lost his beautiful and beloved daughter Marissa to cancer. I asked three other friends from church if they wanted to be part of the sympathy flowers and they all said yes immediately. There are no words to explain how awful it is to lose a child. There is just sadness and grief. We stopped at a Weis market on the way home because Dan wanted to get wood for Olya. On June 2nd, she was planning to have and did have a socially distanced bonfire with her three best friends, Frankie, and Olivia’s best friend Irene.
For some strange reason, I started to feel queasy later that evening. I don’t know why, I think I just picked up a stomach bug or ate something that didn’t agree with me. I still felt sick on Tuesday morning so I asked Olivia to drive Amy’s birthday sign to the cemetery. Olivia stopped at Acme and got flowers for Olya. I don’t know about others, but for me, when I am sick, my PD goes wacky. I was totally off balance and my gait kept freezing. I did go later to the cemetery with Dan because I felt better! I don’t think I could ever not go to see my deceased daughter on her birthday unless I was in the hospital.
On Sunday I told Olya that we were having a drive-by birthday celebration for her on Tuesday, June 2. I was going to keep it a secret but I needed her help to bake the cookies for the “party favors.” I had made the cookie dough batches a few days ago and froze them. My back ached like crazy so I knew I needed her to help me bake the batches of cookies! I don’t know if having PD exacerbates a bad back but it has become so much worse since having PD. Maybe it is just aging! I used a recipe on the back of a Hershey’s milk chocolate mini chips package. They are the best chocolate cookies I have ever eaten. But I am a Hershey’s milk chocolate lover, I don’t think anyone could ever screw up something made with Hershey’s milk chocolate! I found a new sugar cookie recipe online and we made batches of those too! The drive-by celebration was so wonderful!! Some people even decorated their cars!! We had about 15 cars and lots of people beeping and waving. I want to thank everyone who came. Thank you to Christine and Rob, Claudia and Mitch, Nancy, Carol, Jackie and Bill, Joann and Joe, Leslie, Priscilla, Joni and Lee, Kathy and John, Noah, Paige and Debbie and Peyton, Frankie, Irene, Lilly, Nicole and Brad. It was so much fun!! This year we sort of had an old-fashioned birthday party. We had hand-made signs made by family and friends, a home made cake, and Olya wore a birthday hat!! We had ordered take-out from her favorite restaurant and of course, I just had to eat it. I had pasta with delicious red sauce. Stupid me! I got so sick to my stomach again. I went to bed early and slept for 4 hours in a row(wow) and woke up, and went back to sleep for 3 more!! Today I woke up and I feel good! I have so much energy today and had just about zero energy for the few days before! I picked some flowers and filled a vase and didn’t have even one issue with walking. I also cleaned up a bit from the bonfire. The girls cleaned up almost everything so I didn’t have much to do. It was the birthday that went on and on!! We let her open her presents before her drive-by, then she had the fun drive-by party, then we ate dinner from her favorite restaurant and sang to her, then her bonfire with friends and then lots of birthday wishes from friends and family. Adam's brother has two little girls and they sent a Happy Birthday video to Olya! The other day the four of us got new face masks in the mail. They were made by Olya's boyfriend Matt's grandmother. He has such a lovely and thoughtful family.
I have started taking my first dose of Carbidopa-Levodopa at 10 a m instead of taking it at 8:30 a m. I am now so much better during the day because my PD issues get worse as the day goes on. They are not too bad when I first get up and am well rested.
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