No Doorway Wide Enough
It was just about three weeks after his 45th birthday in 2000 when Bill Schmalfeldt was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In 2007 while working at a federal agency as a writer and podcaster, telling other people about the importance of clinical trials, Bill heard about and volunteered for an experimental brain surgery to determine whether or not "deep brain stimulation" could be done on patients in the earlier stages of the disease. This is the story of Bill's "Parkinson's Decade" from being diagnosed in 2000, to having the surgery in 2007, through today. The story is told in a humorous, satirical, almost jovial style considering the fact that Bill's motor skills and cognition continue to degenerate.
This is an audiobook that should be heard by anyone who HAS Parkinson's, anyone who knows and loves someone with Parkinson's, and anyone who is considering deep brain stimulation surgery.
Bill has promised to donate 100 percent of the author's proceeds from the sale of this book to the National Parkinson Foundation and the Charles DBS Research Fund at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
You can read Bill's blog at http://parkinsondiary.com.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 29 minutes
- Episodes
- 17
- Years Active
- 2010
NoDoorway 17
In this FINAL EPISODE of "No Doorway Wide Enough, I'll explain how this book came by its name. I'll serve up, perhaps, the WEIRDEST dream I've had so far, I'll share a poem I call, "Ode to an Adult …
NoDoorway 16
In this, the pentultimate episode, I start with the speech therapy. I share my toughts on whether or not drowning in iced tea is a good way for a man to die. Then I share some of the untold benefit…
NoDoorway 15
In Episode 15, I talk with blessed assurance about what is going to happen to me after I die... and it has NOTHING to do with religion. I cause a little kid to be terrified of old men and their walk…
NoDoorway 14
In THIS episode, more bizarre dreams in which Evil Nurses call me a FAKER! In addition to all my other difficulties, I start having trouble... talking! It's time for another visit with the neurolog…
NoDoorway 13
In this episode, we'll discuss life immediately after my sister's untimely passing, more falling, more vivid dreaming, some of the more disgusting and gross aspects of Parkinson's disease, and why it…
NoDoorway 12
This is No Doorway Wide Enough, the story of my Parkinson's Decade from getting the diagnosis in 2000 to volunteering for experimental brain surgery in 2007, to the mixed results I'm experiencing tod…
NoDoorway 11
Welcome to Episode #11 of No Doorway Wide Enough on Podiobooks. In Episode #10, we saw how Parkinson's disease has begun to affect my driving skills and my ability to get to and from my job in mid-2…
NoDoorway 10
In this episode of No Doorway Wide Enough, we see how Parkinson's disease begins to affect my driving skills and my ability to get to and from my job in mid-2009. And we start delving into the world…
NoDoorway 09
Episode 9 begins with me falling in the shower. I get to yell at God a little bit when I learn that my sister has terminal cancer. I'm slowing down, dragging out, falling down and bleeding all over…
NoDoorway 08
In Episode 8 of "No Doorway Wide Enough", pull up a chair and join me for a delicious "Lump o' Egg" as we sweat our way through Droolfest II -- that 8-day period at the Vanderbilt University Medical …
NoDoorway 07
All the deep brain stimulation hardware is in place. Now it's time for the programming. Unfortunately, I live near Baltimore and the guy doing the programming is in Nashville. This makes for som…
NoDoorway 06
The first two surgeries are done and over with. There's one left, the one they said was "piece of cake, in and out, two hours, no problem." So why did my neck hurt so bad when it was all over wit…
NoDoorway 05
In this episode, I take you with me into the operating room for a seven-hour surgery to place electrodes deep into my brain. But first, I have to deal with some jagoff at a bar, try to get a good ni…
NoDoorway 04
At Vanderbilt, they do DBS surgery in three stages. In this episode, I have the first stage done... the placement of four bone markers that are screwed into my skull. I walk around with these thing…
NoDoorway 03
Once I was accepted into Vanderbilt's clinical trial, I had to undergo an 8-day stay at their General Clinical Research Center during which my Parkinson's medications would be withdrawn and I would b…
NoDoorway 02
A big part of my job as Production Manager at the National Institutes of Health Radio News Service was to write and produce podcasts informing the public about the importance of clinical trials in th…
NoDoorway 01
Was it karma that caused my Parkinson's disease? Well, I was less than kind to an old farmer I worked for in high school (behind his back, of course) who suffered from the disease. So who knows. T…