Always talk to strangers
Strangers talk to me all the time and, after realizing that most of them have really interesting stories to tell, I make a point to listen. So on the bus ride home, I ended up chatting with this former UBC Biology prof who quit a couple years ago when he developed Parkinson’s. Post-retirement, he put on a lot of weight and developed type II diabetes, and was actually just coming back from his H1C (hemoglobin—it provides an overview of how your sugars have been over a six month period) test.
One of his sons is finishing up his last year of residency at the VGH before he heads down to California for a five year mentorship program with a prosthetics doctor. Once, he called his Dad asking what to do with a man who was, at the time, dying on the operating table. Didn’t go over so well.
His other son is on the VPD gang squad and is “absolutely hated.” Apparently he’s just got a rotten attitude. But one day Dad was getting harassed by these asshole teenagers and who happened to drive by? His son scared the shit out of the two guys, even volunteering to leave his gun/badge with his partner and follow them into an alley.
But the best part is that he has access to all kinds of labs and drugs, and he’s been running his own “trial” to figure out a better way to treat Parkinson’s. I can’t remember the name of it (125mg of something), but apparently he’s having a lot of success with a drug that’s usually used for Epilepsy.
