Latest / Living with Parkinson’s | Bryce Perry / Parkinson’s Superpowers Part 3 – Funny Stuff & Everyday Wins

Transcript

Parkinson’s Superpowers Part 3 – Funny Stuff & Everyday Wins · Living with Parkinson’s | Bryce Perry

• 0:01
  They told him he had five good years left.
• 0:04
  That was 15 years ago. He's still standing, still
• 0:08
  speaking, still living. This is living with Parkinson's,
• 0:12
  The good, the bad, and the reality.
• 0:15
  A podcast about what happens when life throws you something
• 0:18
  incurable and you fight back anyway.
• 0:21
  Hosted by Bryce Perry, diagnosed at 4015.
• 0:25
  Years into the battle, This is the truth behind the tremor.
• 0:29
  Let's begin. OK, let's be honest, Parkinson's
• 0:34
  is frustrating, but it can also be hilarious.
• 0:37
  All right, today is part three of our Superpower series and
• 0:41
  we're talking about weird, random, and the hilarious things
• 0:45
  that we've gotten surprisingly good at.
• 0:47
  I'm not even going to try to play the, the intro today.
• 0:49
  I'm just want to get right into it.
• 0:51
  So if you're new here, my name is Bryce.
• 0:53
  And if you're not, hi, welcome back living to welcome back to
• 0:57
  living with Parkinson's, the good, the bad and the reality.
• 0:59
  I'm not a very good salesman for this podcast.
• 1:01
  I don't think I always forget what it's called.
• 1:03
  I, I just want to get into it. I'm so excited to, to share this
• 1:06
  with you. But today is all about the funny
• 1:07
  side, because guess if we can't laugh, then why are we even
• 1:11
  doing? Let's wrap this series up with a
• 1:14
  smile and I'm going to give you my superpowers.
• 1:17
  My Parkinson superpowers. Ready #1 I'm a random screenshot
• 1:23
  king. Haha.
• 1:24
  You know, I got, I was looking at myself.
• 1:26
  I'm like a random I'm the random screenshot king.
• 1:29
  I mean my phone is filled with like 97 screenshots that I
• 1:32
  didn't even mean to take. I could print a photo album of
• 1:35
  all of my home screen. I have screenshots of my home
• 1:38
  screen like over and over and over again.
• 1:40
  I go to like find a, a video or a photo that I like and I want
• 1:43
  to show like my kids. Hey, guess what we saw the other
• 1:45
  day and I got to go through all these things of just like my
• 1:47
  home screen. Why the heck am I taking
• 1:50
  pictures of my home screen? I've got pictures of my feet.
• 1:55
  I was travelling the other day or a couple weeks ago.
• 1:57
  I used the other day, a couple weeks ago, I was in in Toronto
• 2:00
  and I came back and I'd taken some shots to show my wife some
• 2:03
  things and I came back and I'm like, hey, check this one out.
• 2:05
  And and she said, well, here, just give me your phone and I'll
• 2:08
  just whip through it. And I'm like, yeah, that's even
• 2:09
  better. I don't know if they're trying
• 2:10
  to hold the phone there for her while it's shaking around and
• 2:13
  she starts, you know, flipping left and she's like, oh, there's
• 2:15
  a good shot at the what is she goes, what is that?
• 2:17
  Well, that thing that's an ugly carpet, and I'm like, I think
• 2:20
  that's the hallway of the hotel. And she's like, oh, that's nice.
• 2:24
  And then she flips to the next one.
• 2:26
  She goes, OK, so now this is the hallway in the hotel.
• 2:28
  What, closer to the elevator? And it was just full of these
• 2:31
  random shots. That's an amazing superpower.
• 2:34
  I mean, who can say that they can do that?
• 2:36
  I can do it. I can do tons of I can do it.
• 2:38
  I can do it more than I even think I can.
• 2:40
  But anyway, that's my superpower #1 right #2 my superpower, my
• 2:47
  Parkinson's superpower #2 is my voice to text adventures.
• 2:53
  And let's just say that autocorrect and Parkinson's
• 2:55
  tremors make for some really creative messaging.
• 3:00
  See you soon. I tried to do see you soon the
• 3:01
  other day. It was like Caesar sponge.
• 3:03
  And that's a true story. Caesar sponge.
• 3:05
  I don't know where it came from. Seizure like seizure seizure
• 3:09
  sponge. And my wife was thinking about
• 3:11
  my wife and her, she's like, she, Can you imagine being on
• 3:16
  the other side of that? You're just sitting there,
• 3:18
  right? You're just sitting there and
• 3:19
  all of a sudden you get like Caesar sponge.
• 3:22
  And the last time I talked to her, I'm like, I'm at the store.
• 3:24
  I can't find this. That's driving me nuts.
• 3:26
  I was trying to find something that's I'm getting frustrated
• 3:29
  and she's driving me nuts. And I said, I'm just going to
• 3:31
  put my phone in my pocket and I'm going to text you again
• 3:33
  because I just want to get out. I just want to get home, right.
• 3:36
  And so she's like, OK, you know, I love you whatever, you know,
• 3:39
  see you soon and relax. And I'm like, no problem.
• 3:42
  I know. I actually didn't get anything
• 3:43
  back. I put it in my pocket and and
• 3:44
  then I took it out and I was done.
• 3:46
  And I'm like, hey, I was going to say I'm done.
• 3:48
  See you soon. OK, so I have like, what do you
• 3:52
  call it? A basket, basket full of
• 3:54
  groceries. So I'd rather hey, I'll just
• 3:56
  I'll just speak into it really quick, right?
• 3:58
  See you soon. Done right, I'm getting these.
• 4:02
  Are you OK? Are you OK?
• 4:04
  Text, Are you OK? I'm in the car.
• 4:05
  Are you OK? You OK?
• 4:06
  Call me, phone me, phone me. And I'm like, what's going on?
• 4:08
  And I said seizure sponge. Now that's another.
• 4:13
  The funny thing about that is it's like, what the heck did she
• 4:15
  think Caesar seizure sponge meant?
• 4:18
  I don't know. It meant something pretty scary
• 4:20
  in her world, though, I'll tell you that.
• 4:21
  So anyway, crazy superpower, Like crazy superpower.
• 4:24
  Who can do that? Who can have this voice that
• 4:27
  sounds like you're either so drunk you can't even speak.
• 4:29
  I mean, that's us. We're cool.
• 4:31
  It's awesome. How about you any, you any have
• 4:33
  any, you ever, have you ever like spoken to your phone and
• 4:40
  said something completely off base?
• 4:41
  And if you had and it's PG13, throw it in the comments.
• 4:45
  If it's R rated, DM me on Instagram.
• 4:48
  Just kidding. All right, OK, superpower #3
• 4:50
  ready for this. And I think I might have
• 4:51
  mentioned this before, but it's my Parkinson's shuffle.
• 4:57
  It's not fast, it's not graceful, but it's mine, right?
• 5:01
  The bonus, it's quite enough to scare strangers at the grocery
• 5:04
  store. I mean, I can literally fly
• 5:06
  through the grocery store and I can like I'd step and move and
• 5:10
  it's like ninja style, like ninja style.
• 5:13
  Parkinson Canada has a video out commercial.
• 5:15
  It's called, you know, your swagger.
• 5:17
  What's your swagger? And it's like, you know, we're
• 5:19
  all individuals and rather than be embarrassed about this
• 5:22
  shuffle thing that we got going on or whatever, just embrace it.
• 5:24
  It's yours, man. No one can.
• 5:26
  You're an original. No one can copy you, right?
• 5:29
  How about this one? This is #4 and I kind of like
• 5:33
  this one. I am the master of the exit
• 5:36
  strategy and you better believe I know the location of every
• 5:40
  bathroom of a in a five mile radius.
• 5:43
  It's a talent, it's a calling, it's a lifestyle.
• 5:48
  I never really thought that 54 years old, I'd have to know
• 5:51
  where every bathroom is because there's sometimes that if I
• 5:55
  don't know or it's gets a little, it's a little basic,
• 5:58
  it's a little scary. And so I have this unique
• 6:00
  ability to be in a mall or a store that I haven't been in
• 6:03
  forever because I don't like going to the malls, but I can be
• 6:05
  somewhere where I haven't been in a long time and I can tell
• 6:07
  you where the restrooms are and I can get you there.
• 6:09
  Actually, I can't get you there, but I can get myself there
• 6:12
  pretty darn fast. It's funny, I can't remember a
• 6:15
  word that I've said a million times or I can't remember 5
• 6:18
  minutes after I've taken my pill.
• 6:19
  If I've taken a pill, my meds, I don't know, but I know where
• 6:22
  every bathroom is and it's it's I was going to say it's like
• 6:25
  freaking ninja style. It's really cool.
• 6:27
  I think it's cool. You're probably thinking I'm
• 6:29
  just a it even doesn't matter. I love it.
• 6:33
  And you know what, even if nobody ever watched this video,
• 6:35
  this this podcast or watched the podcast, listen about guys, I'm
• 6:38
  having fun because I'm having a Parkinson day and I'm taking it
• 6:41
  back. Damn it.
• 6:42
  All right, OK, here it is. I love this one.
• 6:45
  Super power #5 the great excuse generator.
• 6:50
  When I forget something or I just don't feel like doing it, I
• 6:54
  hit him with it. I don't know if you know this,
• 6:58
  but I have a neurological condition that makes any task,
• 7:02
  and I mean any task, extremely difficult.
• 7:07
  And they go, I am so sorry to hear that.
• 7:10
  And they go. And rather than let them off the
• 7:12
  hook, like, why not, I go, yeah. And worse than that, there's no
• 7:18
  cure and no sorry, I screwed up that whole thing.
• 7:22
  I go worse than that. It's progressive and it gets
• 7:25
  worse. Stay with us, We'll be right
• 7:29
  back. They're like, Oh my gosh, I am
• 8:15
  so sorry. And I go, it gets, it gets
• 8:19
  better. It really does get better and
• 8:22
  like, what, what, what else? Like, what else could like, what
• 8:25
  else, what, what could, what, what, how much more can one man
• 8:27
  take? Well, there's no cure.
• 8:34
  It's like, it's like the craziest thing ever.
• 8:37
  I, I swear you should just try it sometime.
• 8:39
  If you're having a really bad day and, and somebody's just
• 8:41
  like, I don't know, nagging you or, or somebody's on your, your
• 8:45
  butt about something. I mean, seriously, just hit him
• 8:48
  with it. Just absolutely hit him with it.
• 8:49
  Just remember this, like, I don't know if you know this, but
• 8:52
  I have a neurological condition and it makes that task or most
• 8:57
  tasks extremely complicated. I'm doing my best.
• 9:02
  Yeah. And it's a progressive disorder,
• 9:05
  which means it gets worse and worse and worse and worse.
• 9:08
  And yeah, there's no cure. Like, holy moly, You want to
• 9:14
  make someone feel bad, you make yourself feel really good for 10
• 9:16
  seconds, but then let them off the hook.
• 9:17
  Let's be nice people about it. But or don't, Depends.
• 9:20
  Doesn't matter, I just absolutely love it.
• 9:23
  I love it, my wife hates it. I'll do it, but I do it way
• 9:26
  better than that, especially with around my wife.
• 9:29
  But humor, we need it sometimes. We need it more than we think we
• 9:34
  need it. I'm hoping you're smiling a
• 9:36
  little bit. I'm hoping you're making it
• 9:37
  laugh a little bit. I'm hoping that you can maybe if
• 9:41
  even if you're having a bad day, maybe this is one that you might
• 9:43
  want to share with somebody who may be having a bad day or share
• 9:45
  with somebody, haven't heard him for a while and see if it maybe
• 9:47
  cheers them up or #2 save it. Come back and check it out.
• 9:50
  Like when you're having this crap day, just come back and
• 9:52
  watch it, right? And then when you get yourself
• 9:54
  back in kind of out of the doldrums, then we can get back
• 9:58
  into the serious stuff. But I mean, this is Parkinson's
• 10:00
  is a serious disease, right? I mean, you know, I, we have a
• 10:04
  lot of strategies and a lot of help mates.
• 10:05
  I get it and I'm all over it and I live my life, like I said,
• 10:08
  live my life like I'm going for it.
• 10:10
  Like I really want to live it. I mean, I'm living hard.
• 10:13
  I'm living my life harder than I did when I thought that I was
• 10:15
  some crazy kid that had no worries in the world and I was
• 10:18
  just going to do and never, you know, nothing could touch me.
• 10:21
  That's the way I'm living now because I want to live it.
• 10:24
  I want to experience everything I can experience while I can
• 10:26
  experience it and I want to live it to the best I can and I hope
• 10:30
  you do too, because that's the type of people I want to roll
• 10:33
  with. That's the people that I want to
• 10:35
  talk to. That's the people that I want to
• 10:37
  be around. I don't want to be in some
• 10:38
  depressed group that it's well with me and and, and feeling bad
• 10:42
  and feeling sorry. I'm not saying we don't have
• 10:44
  days like that. And I don't know if you heard my
• 10:45
  Alexa just went off and said that it's supposed to snow.
• 10:50
  What it's March. The doesn't matter what day it
• 10:53
  is, but it's the end of March. I don't know where you live and
• 10:57
  I don't know anybody else getting snow today at the almost
• 10:59
  April I am. Yep, I am.
• 11:02
  But you know what that does? It kind of makes my like walking
• 11:06
  even better. So I've always had this thing
• 11:09
  and I don't know if it's a Parkinson's thing or not.
• 11:11
  I'm not sure and no one can give me an answer, but people used to
• 11:15
  always make fun of me about like trip over things.
• 11:17
  I'd bang into things and and and for years, like I mean like a
• 11:22
  long time. And they were always like, Oh,
• 11:24
  you know, there was a big my parents used or somebody used to
• 11:26
  make a joke that Bryce can trip over a baseboard, right, and or
• 11:31
  a bang himself a baseboard. I can play sports like crazy.
• 11:33
  I can skate like the wind. I can I could do all these
• 11:36
  things, but try to walk through a room.
• 11:40
  I'd I'd hit every coffee table. I'd bang into things like I'd
• 11:42
  hit stump my toe all the time. And, and now as I look back, I'm
• 11:46
  kind of thinking like, you know, probably had something with
• 11:48
  Parkinson's because maybe I wasn't lifting my feet, maybe I
• 11:50
  wasn't doing, you know what it, you know, and it's pretty
• 11:53
  interesting to, to, to throw that out.
• 11:55
  So I'm going to tell you something I'm working on right
• 11:57
  now and, and, and, and you can maybe help me out.
• 11:59
  I'm going to ask you for your help.
• 12:01
  So, you know, last night I ended up having, I've been having
• 12:04
  trouble hearing for a, a few years.
• 12:06
  And when I was about 45, I had tinnitus in my ears.
• 12:11
  And so now it's like this, it's not a roar, it's not a, a
• 12:16
  ringing, but it's like this constant buzz in my ears.
• 12:20
  So obviously when you have this constant buzz in your ears, it's
• 12:22
  kind of OK, what else, right? Like everybody's saying, I'm
• 12:24
  like, I'm like, well, I just ignore the tremor.
• 12:26
  This is, you know, I ignore the tremor or I, I can fight the
• 12:29
  tremor or I do this with the tremor.
• 12:30
  And then also now I've got this thing in my ears.
• 12:32
  So now I'm like fighting tremors and trying to not get dizzy or,
• 12:36
  you know, flip out or freak out or whatever you want to call it.
• 12:40
  And God, what was me, right. And so anyway, I had, I went to
• 12:44
  the doctor. I was, I went, I was actually
• 12:46
  going to take speech therapy. And so at the same time I'm
• 12:48
  like, hey, we'll check my ears and, and all that kind of stuff.
• 12:50
  And, and it, it turns out that what I was told was that it was
• 12:53
  just old age. I think it was 45 or no, just,
• 12:57
  yeah, 45 S Oh my gosh, man, that was like 9 years ago.
• 13:01
  Wow. I thought it was just yesterday.
• 13:03
  So he said, because I remember him saying, you know, and you
• 13:05
  get over 45 and into your 50s and you know, it's just old age.
• 13:08
  Do have you worked in factories? I'm like, no, Do you listen to a
• 13:11
  lot of loud music? I don't think so.
• 13:14
  So you know, whatever. OK, old age, I'll take it.
• 13:16
  Right. Throw it on the list, Like throw
• 13:18
  it, throw it up on the list. And anyway, but progressively
• 13:23
  over the last like 4 years, I, my hearings gotten worse and
• 13:26
  worse and worse and worse and worse and I'm like, what in the
• 13:29
  world is happening to me? Like what, what?
• 13:32
  I don't know what's going on. And so I went for a hearing test
• 13:35
  yesterday and Oh my God, my hearing was awful.
• 13:38
  But he completely it was gone. It was, I think it was like
• 13:42
  like, I don't know, the graph is supposed to look like like
• 13:45
  straight across this way or whatever.
• 13:47
  And it was a big swoop down. So I can't hear like high sounds
• 13:50
  and missing half the words and all that kind of stuff.
• 13:52
  And I'm kind of like in my head, I'm going, well, I'm kind of
• 13:54
  glad because I thought maybe it was just me and now I know it's
• 13:57
  my ears. So I had to get hoarded hearing
• 13:59
  aids last night. I didn't realize, I don't know
• 14:00
  how the process worked. A process worked.
• 14:02
  I didn't know it was just kind of like walk in and boom, spend
• 14:06
  thousands of dollars and have hearing aids.
• 14:08
  And so anyway, it was crazy because when the audio the it's
• 14:12
  an audiotation audiotician, there's another word, you know
• 14:16
  what, throw it in the comments for me.
• 14:19
  Anyway, they were looking at doing all the tests and
• 14:20
  everything and, and they put something on the back of my neck
• 14:24
  like the steel bar thing and something on like a thing around
• 14:26
  my head and on my neck. Anyway, she said it was a neuro
• 14:30
  something neuro, right, had something to do with my brain.
• 14:32
  And I said, well, isn't that interesting, This great brain of
• 14:36
  mine? And she, and, and she said, I, I
• 14:39
  asked her, I said, do do you know anything about Parkinson's?
• 14:42
  She goes, well, yeah, I know of Bob Parkinson's.
• 14:44
  I know Michael J Fox. And I'm like, oh, you know him,
• 14:46
  like, say hi to him for me. But she said she's like, no,
• 14:48
  well, like I know of him. And I'm like, of course, so
• 14:51
  that's good. And I, and I said, so that's
• 14:53
  what you know about Parkinson's. You, you know, of Michael J Fox,
• 14:56
  like the, the kid from Family Ties, Back to the Future.
• 14:59
  And she's like, yeah. And I'm like, OK, I said and,
• 15:02
  and she said, yeah, so I don't know if it's tied to Parkinson's
• 15:05
  or anything like that. I'm not sure.
• 15:06
  That's not my thing. I just, I've never studied it.
• 15:09
  But she said, you know, it's a, it's, I said it's a neural
• 15:13
  thing. It's a brain thing.
• 15:14
  It's like my brain is not hearing the words.
• 15:17
  I'm sorry. Like my, my, it's not
• 15:20
  transmitting. My brain's not transmitting to
• 15:21
  my mouth. My ears aren't Oh my God, right
• 15:25
  now my brain's not transmitting anything.
• 15:27
  I'm completely done anyway. No, it's just it's slow.
• 15:30
  It's something happening neurally, neurologically.
• 15:32
  So I thought that was an interesting tie.
• 15:34
  So I'm going to get into this. I'm going to study this thing
• 15:36
  out. I've got a couple calls, I've
• 15:37
  got a three, a couple of my movement disorder buddies across
• 15:41
  the country, some of the leading ones in Canada and one in the
• 15:44
  United States. And, and, and I just don't say
• 15:46
  that braggingly and thankful that I have connections like
• 15:49
  that, that I can call up and just ask questions because they
• 15:52
  know what I do and post them events, they've interviewed them
• 15:55
  and, and dinner things with them.
• 15:56
  So I'm gonna get some answers tomorrow.
• 15:58
  And, and, and you know, maybe I'll make a video about it.
• 16:01
  And, and if you don't mind in the comments.
• 16:03
  Any trouble hearing? Do you have trouble hearing?
• 16:05
  Do you hearing aids? Has it gotten worse, you know,
• 16:07
  with their diagnosis? Has it progressed, progressed.
• 16:10
  Are your ears perfect? I don't know.
• 16:12
  I mean, again, we're all different.
• 16:13
  As an example, I can still smell a lot of people can't.
• 16:17
  But if you do, are you know, either you if you just could let
• 16:20
  me know, please. Like, hey, I watch the don't
• 16:21
  even want to say watch the video say, yeah, I can hear.
• 16:23
  I mean, here's the hearing spine or hearings the same or no, my
• 16:27
  hearings gotten worse or it whatever, whatever it is, just
• 16:30
  throw it in there. I just want to know how many
• 16:32
  almost like a straw poll and I don't want to run another poll.
• 16:35
  You know, I don't really like doing that all the time, but I
• 16:38
  would just like love some feedback because it'll help me
• 16:41
  in my investigation tomorrow. And, and as I go through this,
• 16:44
  and I'm hoping to get some real answers real fast because I just
• 16:47
  want to know. It's not a big, I mean, it
• 16:48
  doesn't matter. I still can't hear, but I'd just
• 16:51
  like to know. So, and then if it's, if enough
• 16:54
  of you are having trouble hearing or are interested to
• 16:56
  hear about whether there is a connection with Parkinson's and
• 17:00
  hearing, I'm, I mean, and maybe, you know, and I, I, you probably
• 17:03
  do, I'm probably the only one who does.
• 17:04
  And you're all going like you're all going to give me links to
• 17:07
  videos and, but don't send me any links because I really want
• 17:10
  to just get my, I want to, I want to get my own opinion on it
• 17:14
  before I get swayed either way, you know, and I'm going to do
• 17:17
  that tomorrow. So let me know if that's the
• 17:19
  video that might interest you. And if it does, I'll make a
• 17:21
  video about it once I have the answers, once I know and I get
• 17:24
  again, I the only thing I can promise you is that I don't
• 17:27
  guess that stuff. I have real experts and real
• 17:29
  people that that I talk to and I make sure it's, it's there's,
• 17:32
  it's research backed or it is life experience backed, right?
• 17:38
  But it's, you can, you can trust me.
• 17:40
  It's something like a use card. You can trust me anyway you can.
• 17:44
  But anyway, that is sort of where we're going.
• 17:46
  But you know what the truth is? Here's the truth.
• 17:49
  We've all had to adapt, haven't we?
• 17:52
  You've had to adapt and I've had to adapt.
• 17:56
  But sometimes we can adapt in a really funny, creative and a
• 18:01
  clever way. And honestly, I actually think
• 18:04
  that's something to celebrate. I do.
• 18:06
  I'd love to hear your funny Parkinson superpower.
• 18:09
  Drop it in the comments. Let's all have a laugh together.
• 18:12
  And hey, if the series made you smile, consider sharing with
• 18:16
  someone who could use a laugh or smile or two.
• 18:19
  Or maybe it'd pick me up. I really love this.
• 18:22
  I love doing this, and I love the community we're building and
• 18:25
  I love being with you. So thanks for watching and I'll
• 18:27
  see you on the next one. Parkinson's may be part of your
• 18:36
  life, but it doesn't get to define it.
• 18:38
  Thanks for listening to Living with Parkinson's, the good, the
• 18:42
  bad, and the reality. If this episode moved you,
• 18:46
  helped you, or reminded you you're not alone.
• 18:48
  Share it with someone who needs to hear it.
• 18:51
  Want to go deeper? The Inner Circle is waiting.
• 18:54
  Monthly Zoom calls, 24/7 community, and a Direct Line to
• 18:57
  Bryce. You'll find the link in the show
• 18:59
  notes. Until next time, keep showing up
• 19:03
  and keep doing life today.