Hi, my name is and this is Parkinson's too today. I'm here with uh Bob. Thank you so much for being here
with us today. Um And um so can you tell us a little bit
about where did you grow up? And how was your, your life with
your parents? Uh Well, I grew up in the
Okanagan in a little town called on a dairy farm. Uh I would live there till I was
18. Loved it. It was uh in the, in the mountains. So I did a lot of snow billing
and motor biking up up in the
mountains, played all the sports that you
can play through high school. And then I came to Vancouver to
go to university at, at Simon
Fraser. So that was in about the mid
eighties. And then I did a
degree in marketing and then went to Alberta to work
for the oil companies and then came back and had a
master's degree in economics and then got involved as a tech
entrepreneur, uh which I was, I've been still,
I'm still involved with as a, as a mentor and an investor. So that was uh that's been the
last almost 40 years. Wow. Um, how was your youth? Can you
take, take us back to the time
when you were your youth? Uh, my youth, well, growing up
on a farm it was, there's a lot
of work. So, unlike kids who didn't grow
up on a farm, uh, I had to get
up early in the morning. I get up and work on the farm
for a couple of hours and then
go to school and then after school, come home
and do some more chores. And
then I had a, a big family, there was four brothers and a sister. And so my parents and I would
all get together and have a big
dinner and, uh, around the family
table. And, um, it was, uh, a really close
family, uh, environment that I grew up
in, on the farm and it was, it was really a, a
great way to grow up. I was the youngest brother
though. So I got the trickle
down of the older brothers. So I got, I
got picked on a little bit but I survived. Yay. Yeah. Uh, I was probably in my
early forties. I was diagnosed when I was 46 in my early forties I had
trouble sleeping and I had AAA twitch in my left
thumb. So, uh, which was the beginning
of a tremor and it took a few years until I
saw a neurologist to get
diagnosed. But, uh, so the first thing I noticed
was the, the, the twitch, which
didn't, I didn't think anything of. And then when I was exercising
I'd be running, running and I
dragged my left foot, which was something I hadn't
done before. And I thought that was my back. So I, I got all these things
checked out, but I hadn't seen a neurologist
yet. It was only when I saw a
neurologist that he connected
all the dots and diagnosed me. It was a bit
of a shock. At first, I was in denial for a
couple of years, tried to hide it from everybody.
Like I know that's a common
story. But, um, no, once I accepted the fact
that I had it, uh, my care improved and my, uh,
the uh condition improved as
well. So, uh, coming to grips with it was
probably the best thing that
happened to me. Well, I take Cinemet the carbo dopa, levi dopa, which is what a lot of
people take. It's synthetic le dopa, which provides dopamine in the brain.
So it improves my symptoms quite
a bit. Um, and then exercise, I, I exercise as much as I can
because through exercise you can produce
more natural dopamine. And so I exercise intensely, uh,
every second day, including today actually, um, which with Parkinson's, it
can be a little challenging to,
to, to do that often. It kind of wipes me out. But, uh, on the non exercise days, I
feel a lot better. I have fewer
symptoms because of it. Um, how is for you to travel, like
long haul flights these days? Oh, yeah, I'm not, I, I've traveled quite a lot
through my work and so I'm not
crazy about long haul, uh, travel so it's not very easy. Uh, there's been a couple of
occasions on when I was doing
business travel where I get off the plane
and then I have trouble walking because of my symptoms would get
thrown off because the, the time zone changes and the
disruption to the, to my medical or my medicine
routine. So long haul flying is not easy
for me. Also, one of the things I swear
by is, is hydration. And so the last thing you want
to do is over super hydrate and then be
stuck on an airplane. Could be a bit of a hassle.
Yeah. So, so I'm not crazy about long
haul flying. Uh, the vacations that my family and
I take now tend to be closer to home down the
west coast, which is beautiful. Yes. Well, I, I, I'm lucky that so
far it's been nine years with
the medication. I don't have a ton of side
effects yet. My dyskinesia are
fairly under control, but I do notice them about a
half an hour after I take my
medication I like, which is actually right now, I notice uh a twitch like the dyskinesia kick in which are not, not super uncomfortable
but they're noticeable. Um, I figure it's probably the, the
sign of more to come in the
future, but we'll try to hold that off
as long as possible. Mhm. Dyskinesia is an uncontrollable
movement. Um, most people recognize what, uh,
that when you talk about Parkinson's,
they, they know who Michael J
Fox is and Michael J Fox would do a lot of
interviews where he'd roll his
head. That, that's a dyskinesia That's
an uncontrolled, uncontrollable
movement that your, your body has. Uh,
because of long term intake of LEVI dopa, uh, the synthetic medication that we take. Um, so you can, there really isn't a way, the
only way to avoid it is to take
less synthetic do, but then if you take less, then
you have more symptoms. So there's symptoms and side
effects and to try to, you wanna
try to balance the two. So, right now, my side effects
are fairly minimal, which is hopefully I'm gonna try
to keep it that way by not overtaking my medication. Right. Did you ever took, uh, you over
your medication? And you took
too much or too? Yeah, actually, um, and I took, it wasn't a
medication, it was a natural
supplement called, which is a natural source of,
uh, Levi. And I, I took way too much
because I was taken under, under
the care of a neurologist. I was taken under the care of a naturopath who wasn't an
expert in Parkinson's. So I was taking about eight or
10 times as much as I should
have been taking. And so I had pretty extreme, uh,
disks. Um, and, uh, but the good news is, is that
after I stopped to phase that
out, uh The Dynes went away, which was
lucky. Right. Man, we need to dream over. Yeah. Go for it. Yeah. Remember last time we
talked about this, right? Your uh, experience that you had
with a naturopath and the dosage that uh the dosage
that you weren't that you
weren't really clear about. Yeah. Yeah. So the naturopaths that and my
story is the same as uh are similar to other stories I've
heard for others who've tried
this. So what they recommend to you is
they ask you to uh by yourself. Uh So take more
to basically, you're trying to
figure out what level of, of this you should take to minimize
your, your symptoms. But when you're, you're starting
out with Parkinson's, you don't really know what's
possible, like what kind of symptom
reduction is possible. So in my case, I wanted zero
symptoms. So I just kept on
taking more and uh unbeknownst to me, I
didn't even notice uh the dyskinesias I was having. So it, it was quite pronounced. I actually did uh the job I had
previously involved in the interviews on television and did a national interview
where I was rolling my head and, and uncomfortable like doing all the
classic dyskinesia movements, uh which uh after it was after
that, that, um, that I had, that
I actually came out and uh stop keeping it a secret because
it was obviously not a secret
anymore that, that I'd had Parkinson's. So when you are having uh those
episodes of dyskinesia, um do you feel anything, do you
feel uh when it is about to happen or
is there not those, not the, the really
obvious when you're, when you've got pretty extreme
dyskinesia, uh, you don't really notice it
when, when you have minimal ones
like I have now, I can feel when they kick in, I can feel the, the turning of
my wrist, uh, that I want to roll my
wrist. Uh, so I can kind of feel it but it, it's not painful. I know
other people who have Dykas, it can, it can be painful. I haven't had that yet. Um, hopefully I won't have. But, um, no, it's, it's, it's hard to
notice. Mostly other people notice it
more than, than I notice it. Uh, I think for me, the good
thing, good part of Parkinson's
is if, if there was a reason why I got
it, which, um, I hope there isn't but, um, for me it's slowed, it slowed,
it has slowed life down. I, I think I was traveling
through life. Uh, way too
quickly. I had, uh, a couple of busy jobs and, uh, I, I needed to slow down. Uh, both to center myself, but
also to spend more time with my
family. And now that I'm, I'm, uh,
retired because of Parkinson's. Uh, I get to do those things. So
that's the upside. And plus I get to meet great
people like you and Richard and, and other people in the
Parkinson's community. Oh, yes, of course. He's getting
a commission for that. Um, um, do you have any family
history of Parkinson's? No, no.
Uh, of course, they, they can never
really pin down. Exactly. Unless
you have genetic, genetically, uh, caused
Parkinson's. In, in my case, it
was probably, uh, uh, herbicides like, uh, weed killers exposure through either on the
farm or on the golf course where
I, I golf quite a bit. So I, I suspect it was probably
one of those two, uh, sources. Um, are you on any sort of special
diet right now? Yeah. Um, so protein interferes with
the medication that I take. So, I, I've been reducing the
amount of, of meat, protein,
animal, animal protein, which I love it. I love it. But
it totally screws up my, uh, my
medication. So, and also I fast more than I
used to. So the medication works best on
empty stomach. So, on a typical day I'll eat
minimally up until about two
o'clock because by that time I've had three of
my five doses of medication for the day
and I've gotten the optimal, uh, effect up of them and then I eat a little more in
the afternoon and then if I have protein it'll be
later at night. So, yeah, it has changed my
diet. I can't just eat when or what I
want anymore. Which is a bit of a bummer. Yeah. I mean, I think with, with diets
it's like, it's all about really know what
your body gets you. Right. Sometimes, uh, depending on the
day. I mean, I know that a lot of people have
been talking about fasting these
days. Um, do you, do you feel any
difference when you do fasting
on, on your day? Is that any different? Yeah,
totally. Like, like I said, if
your stomach is empty, the medication works better. So, on days where I, well,
actually every day, but especially on days where I
exercise, I, I try to exercise right after
I've been fasting because the medication works
better that way. Oh, wow. I think the other part is, is
that, uh, I drink a lot, way more water than I used to
drink. So, before I started taking the
medication on a typical day I might drink a liter of
water. Now, I drink at least 2 to 4
liters of water every day. And that I think it helps on, on
a number of fronts. It helps to get the medication
into your body and it keeps your
body, uh, regulated because you're, you have more, uh, oh, hydration just works better. Yeah. Yeah. Um, what do you do for your, uh,
mental health, mental health. I exercise. That's the number one thing. Uh, also meditation. And, uh, I read, I play
different sports. I, I still
play quite a bit of golf. Uh, I, I had played, I had played hockey up until the
pandemic but I haven't gone back
to it. Um, yeah, those are the main things.
So, keeping, keeping physically
active, I sit on a few boards and
advisory boards which keeps me
engaged. And then I, I run around to support my
daughter and her education and
my wife and her, her career. So it's, I keep myself busy.
That's, that supports the mental
health part of it. I think it's really important to keep a positive attitude, but to have a positive attitude, I think it's important to have
purpose. So to have a bunch of commitments
like that where you're giving
back, I think is really important. Can you tell us a little bit
about your uh meditation,
routine, meditation? I've tried a couple
of different types of
meditation. Um So meditation, I do breathing
exercises, mindful insect
breathing, which helps calm me down, which I, I think I
do that. I do that every day. And then uh there's also a uh
oh, I'm gonna butcher his name. John Zit. John Sait, he has a hyphenated name. Uh
Anyway, I can't remember his, his name but so I, I uh he has uh an album or
a, uh, uh, some recordings that I, I
bought that I got in meditation
where I, I meditate. I try to do that once a day. Beautiful. Yeah. So, do you take any supplements, um, with, you know, with your diet
or? Yeah, I take, uh, vitamin D and B 12 and, uh, I take
Melatonin before I go to bed at
night. And do you think that helps you
with, uh, some of the sort of side effects of, uh Parkinson's? Yeah, the, the, um, uh, the car, uh causes depletion of B 12 and
vitamin D. And so this is meant to replace
it. So, um, I probably take more than I need
to. Um, I'm, I'm taking the amount
that, uh, that was recommended
to me by a neurologist. So, uh, but when I was tested
recently, I have off the charts,
levels of B 12 and, and D, which is probably because I take
it as a supplement. So I probably don't need it as
much as I don't need as much as
I'm taking. But then you can't really, I couldn't buy a smaller unit of the supplement. So, yeah, well, my career, uh, I, I can't, I just can't physically do the, the, the commitment, the, the grind
required for the commitment of
being a CEO. So I miss that. I miss being
able to, um, realistically take on, uh, a big commitment like that. I can't, so I could do, uh, I can do part time stuff. Um, but the cycle of a typical Parkinson's Day, it's
up, it's down, it's up, it's
down, the, the medication's working, it's,
it's not working, it's starting to work and then
it's working and so on it, it's not conducive to a
business schedule. So I miss that. I miss being
able, being able to have a, uh, a normal schedule. I miss being able to, uh, eat
whenever I feel, like, feel like
it, uh and eating whatever I want. Um So I, I miss so the rigidity
that is imposed upon me because
of the stupid disease. I miss uh the freedom that I used to have from that. Um And I mean, you, you mentioned
that you do uh workout, right?
You, you golf as well. Um Is there anything else that
you do, like cardio related or
you run? I go, well, I walk but, uh, I, I
cycle when it's warmer out. I try to
do something every day. Uh, but the, the main focus of my exercise is
doing the high intensity running
every second day. So I have a program where I, I
run, uh for about an hour and 15
minutes. Uh, it's a run walk cycle. So I
run for a minute 20 and then
walk for a minute 10. And I do that about 30 times and it adds up to an hour and a
quarter. And I do that every second day
with the goal of trying to get
100 and 50 minutes of elevated heart rate above 80% of
maximum per week. So that, that's the main focus.
But that, that's, I have to
admit it. It's, um, it's a, it's pretty demanding because people with Parkinson's
tend to have lower energy
fatigue is a problem and I have that problem too. So demanding, making that demand of
yourself. You can be pretty
tired afterwards. So I'll often have a, need a nap
after I go for a run, we all do. It's not just you, um, do you notice any difference
when you don't work out? Oh, yeah, totally. Actually, uh,
interestingly, um, I, I recently, uh, wasn't able to exercise for
three weeks. So after a week I started to
notice my symptoms increasing. After two weeks, they were
significantly advanced and then, um, when I was able to start
exercising again, they almost
immediately, uh, reg, uh, progress, regressed, regressed
so that the symptoms went down. Um, I am normally only affected on one
side. So after two weeks of not
exercising, I was starting to be
affected on both sides. I had a tremor on my right side which went away again after I
started to exercise again. So, um, yeah, definitely. It, it
has an effect. I, I think the effect is that
your body produces its own
dopamine, uh, in more abundance if you
exercise. And so that's, that's why I do it. So I can take less medication and hopefully slow down the
progression. Right. So, when you do exercise, you
take the last medication. No,
no, I, I take the same. Me, I don't wanna, because as the disease progresses, you
need more medication, I don't want the disease to
progress. So, and then, and the more
medication you take, the more
side effects you get. So, I'm trying to hold all that
back with exercise. That's the, the objective,
that's why I consider exercise
medication. Right. How often do you see, uh, your
neurologist to check about once a year? Once a year? Yeah. Is that the requirement? Is that
what they, uh, they, they don't require it?
I think, uh, depending on your neurologist
you, you could see them more
often. Um, luckily my condition has,
doesn't change very much or hasn't. So, I really haven't
needed more than that. Um, I, I like my neurologist
but, uh, and I see him in other
contexts, uh, but I, I, I only want to visit his office
once a year if I can help it because if I'm there more,
there's something not going. Right. I think, uh, I think what a lot of people
don't understand is the, the, the, the cycle that we go
through in a given day as we try to stick on our, our medications
and how we, we're on, we're off,
we're on, we're off and how, um, if you see a person with
Parkinson's in any given moment, you can't generalize about what
life is like for them all the
time. It could be either a very good
moment or a very bad moment. So, don't, don't generalize when
you meet a person with
Parkinson's that, that you, you know how they're doing
because you, you, to be able to know how a person
with Parkinson's is doing, you have to spend time with
them, spend a day with them to, to, to
really see what life is, how life is going. So, I guess that's what people, I think if,
if I were to pick one thing is people need to know that, uh,
you, you can't, uh, you can't know what it's
like for a person with
Parkinson's just by, uh, you know, a short
interaction, right? I guess the unpredictability, if I can
pronounce that. Right. It is what I guess, uh, is the most
concerning unpredictability. Yeah. Yeah. Lack of predictability, right. That's right. What the fun, um, what do I do for fun? Uh, try to get out to watch a
hockey game, um, uh, watch sports on television. Um, it's pretty boring. Uh, get out to a movie, uh, visit with family. Um, a lot of the volunteer
commitments that I have, I
consider fun, which is, it's
more, I guess, professionally
oriented. But, uh I'm on a board for AAA not
for profit that promotes tech
entrepreneurship. So, through that I see a lot of
technology company pitches so I really enjoy that. That's
fun. It's sort of like the, the
dragon's den only in real life. So I find that rewarding and
also a lot of fun. That's great. Well, thank you. I appreciate it and uh, check more of, uh, this
is Parkinson's too. Thank you. Have a good day.
