June 6, 2018. Madison, Mississippi. This Summer.

Many people think we are nuts to be leaving our lovely hime and wonderful helpers to spend our summer in Nova Scotia. But Ken wants to go and son David agrees with Ken. Better for Ken to have something to work towards than deteriorating here in one place. So we are going and bit by bit we are putting together the puzzle pieces. Ken has already had three of the sessions with the therapist at the clinic. The exercises are specific for Parkinson's patients and the therapist spends all her time with them so Ken is comfortable doing the exercises. As part of the package, he is supposed to repeat the same exercises at home in the late afternoon. For three days he has done his exercises at home. He wants to go to Nov Scotia this summer. Our plan is ambitious. We will stay in Nova Scotia until October 7, when we have booked flights to St. Paul, Mn. where we will stay 2 nights until we leave on a cruise down the Mississippi River to celebrate our 60th anniversary. On October 23 we get off the boat in New Orleans, where we will stay until Christina and Molly arrive to enjoy the city for 2 days before they will drive us back to Jackson on October 27. Today I arranged to meet a lady from Earth Angels, a company that provides helpers for people like us. She is coming on the day after our arrival and will evaluate Ken's needs. And we must figure out how many hours a day Ken needs a helper. Our helper here, Kendria, thinks we need someone just we have here, which is 12 hours a day. We have had no trouble without our night helper. In addition, in a conversation with Ivan, the artist who has made a new sculpture for our yard, he mentioned a new doctor in town, who has established a new clinic treating Parkinson's patients using light lasers. I chatted with his wife today and Ken is busily reading up on the technique, which has is still in clinical trials. I feel sure that Ken will meet with this retired doctor from Moncton, who now lives at Summerville Beach. Our plans are ambitious but we are going to try. Our first step is to get on a Lear Jet July 19 and fly non stop to Halifax. Pretty nice. But expensive. Whew.