The seed of the idea for this post was planted several months ago when I was at a podiatrist’s office. My tremors were really acting up that afternoon, so the doctor noticed them immediately. He asked me what was wrong. I explained that it appeared that I was in the beginning stages of Parkinson’s.
As he was examining my feet, he asked me why there was a small chunk out of the end of one of my toes. I sheepishly explained that I had done that while trying to clip my toenails. He stopped his examination and in a stern voice, with an even sterner expression on his face, he said, “Don’t you ever try to clip your own toenails again.” With a somewhat more friendly voice, he asked me how I trimmed my beard. I told him that I used an electric trimmer. He smiled and almost with a laugh said,”I wouldn’t recommend a straight razor or even a safety razor for you.” I thanked him for his concern. However, the seed was planted.
It didn’t break into bloom until this past week, when I spent two days in a hospital getting a pacemaker implanted into my chest. I am very fortunate to have received one of the new MRI compatible pacemakers, because with my history of brain problems, I will have many MRI’s in the future. In fact, one is scheduled for June. The doctors and nurses went over the big items on how to care for the new type of pacemaker before I was released—like don’t go through the airport security scanners, or even let the TSA workers pass a hand scan over the implant area, or don’t carry my cell phone or pda in my left front shirt or jacket pocket. I am not supposed to lean up against a microwave oven when it is operating and I am not supposed to operate a chainsaw, which I had stopped using before the pacemaker implant. I had also been somewhat uneasy about using my table saw or jigsaw, not knowing when a tremor was going to appear.
The pacemaker instruction booklet said that I am not supposed to be anywhere in the vicinity of a large magnet. I guess that takes away the possibility of me getting a job in an automotive salvage yard, picking up wrecks with the large magnet and dropping them into the crusher.
When my wife and I got home and we started reading the fine print in the instruction booklet, we were taken back at some of the instructions. They said to keep anything that used a base charger (magnets with no direct contacts) at least six inches away from the pacemaker site. It sent my wife scurrying to get a tape measure, because my cell phone, tooth-brush and rechargeable electric beard trimmer are base charged. If I hold my head up, and don’t droop it while I am brushing my teeth, it appears that I’m safe there. I will have to remember to use my cell phone with my right ear, which may complicate matters somewhat when I need to take notes since I am right-handed.
The beard trimmer is another matter. The neck line of my beard is much closer than six inches from the pacemaker site. If I have to give up my current beard trimmer, what am I supposed do? I then remembered the helpful suggestion of the podiatrist. I quickly decided against a straight razor or even a safety razor. It looks like my wife and I are going to have to go shopping for a plug-in razor-trimmer (not the rechargeable kind). In the meantime, the stubble on my neck and cheek has started to re-grow and it itches.
Leave a Reply