Our World’s Been Shook Up
December 10, 2025
This summer, while driving in France, Jim noticed his hand shook as he gripped the wheel of our rental Peugeot. Seemed odd. When we got back to Davis, Jim checked in with his primary care physician who suggested he keep an eye on it and let him know if it intensified. He did, it had, so Dr. Ho referred him to a specialist.
Three weeks ago (on November 20th), Jim and I saw Dr. Mense, a Kaiser neurologist. He did some simple in-office, observational diagnostics and concluded Jim has Parkinson’s.
Not the diagnosis we were hoping for.
So that is the bad news. The more positive news (it’s all relative) is that he’s got a subtype of Parkinson’s called tremor-dominant Parkinson Disease. The neurologist was quick to say that Jim would live a long and active life and that PD would not be what gets him in the end. His subtype is characterized by a resting tremor (as opposed to a tremor that activates when engaging one’s hand or arm, for example) which is annoying, but largely addressable with a medication called levodopa. He will not experience the other symptoms of PD.. rigidity, bradykinesia (slow movements), loss of balance, dementia. At least not anytime soon.
For the last three weeks, he’s been titrating levodopa, and is close to arriving at a dosage that will settle his jiggling right forearm. Aside from taking this medication a few times a day, and dealing with a mostly manageable tremor, it’ll be business as usual … we hope for a very long time.
Nothing in life is certain (how’s that for a platitude!), but we are feeling generally optimistic as we feel our way along this new path.
Here’s my otherwise healthy, fit, good lookin’ guy chillin’ on a Dolomite mountainside a year ago this past summer:
We’re Positive
October 3, 2025
Been outa the blog scene for a few weeks (I hate that, and miss it). First there was the 13-day trip to the PNW (which I’ll be back-blogging soon). That was followed by a bout of COVID… a bout I’m very much still in the throes of.
We got back from our trip on Sunday night. Jim had started sensing some cold symptoms forming on Saturday, but nothing big.. he gave it a few days and tested on Wednesday. Bright test line: COVID. Started Paxlovid that night.
I started to feel terrible Tuesday, so also tested Wednesday: nada. Prob too early, not a critical mass of viral load.
Was miserable all day Wednesday, though, and retested on Thursday (yesterday). That is one faint test line.. but faint qualifies. So now I’m on Paxlovid, too. Jim has remained largely asymptomatic, while I’m having the full, immersive experience. Go big or go home. The works. The whole enchilada. In for a penny in for a pound: fever, chills, aches, fatigue, sore throat, headache, chesty chest.
Canceling stuff right and left. By today, though, most of the symptoms have eased, so I’m feeling a bit better. What remains are fatigue and goop in the chest. Eager to be on other side of this Pax-induced metallic taste thing.
Notable: we’d gotten the flu and COVID vaccines prior to leaving on Sept 16. Hm. Grateful the virus held off until we got home.
Back At It
August 12, 2025
Since returning from Europe 7 1/2 ish weeks ago, I’ve been super motivated to return to my full regimen of aerobics, stretching, strength and walking. Fitness has always been a priority in my life, but the routine’s fluctuated wildly over the decades — sometimes it’s uber disciplined, sometime less so.
When we visited with Marty in France in June, I learned that he is focused on a great goal: to be his most fit self as he turns 70 at the end of this year. Not fit like the 20-year-old version of himself, but the best he can possibly achieve as he turns 70. He totally hooked me on the idea! I love a goal. As I turn 70 two months after he does, we made it a joint challenge (not a competition). And, excitingly, we decided to celebrate the birthday milestone — and our success in achieving max fitness — in France sometime in early 2026.
We floated the idea among all the Frame cousins — many of whom also have 70th birthdays coming up or just past — and there was general enthusiasm. Not sure that’ll all come to pass (it’s going to be hard to get all the cousins’ schedules to line up), but celebration or no, I think it’s a super worthy goal.
Anyway, the very next day following our return, I recommitted to my daily practice. I have a fairly elaborate and carefully crafted set of routines that I’ve honed over the years. These routines vary day-to-day (that keeps it sorta fresh), but the week, taken as a whole, satisfies all the requisite levels of strength and aerobics (stretching and walking happen every day). And hip hip hooray for me, I’ve not missed a single day (minus the 8-day trip to Ann Arbor/Vermont a month ago… strict routines are hard to maintain on the road).
At today’s PT appointment with the brilliant, spunky Shanette, I learned that a strong back was especially helpful in maintaining healthy shoulders (she’s been chipping away at my stiff right shoulder for a few months). I do a whole bunch of exercises that target my back, but I decided to do a little bit of research to see if I was missing anything good… and found an article that suggested three exercises that are particularly effective in building strong upper backs. I tend to futz a lot with the exercises in my routine and may just experiment with these, or variations thereof. I won’t go into detail here.. I mean, TMI. But check out this photo.
I can’t take my eyes off those deltoids. My lord.
Let me just say.. this is not my goal (I’m a near-70 year old lady!). But let me also say wow.
Life of Wry 