I have been fortunate since entering into private practice in 2018, to forge a relationship with Swallowing Diagnostics, Inc., a Mobile provider of modified barium swallow swallowing studies (MBS). This collaboration allows me to view any modified barium swallow study...
A patient of mine — I’ll call him Frank — fell in his driveway last spring. Within a week he had a physical therapy referral in hand, a fall-risk assessment scheduled, and a home exercise plan taped to his refrigerator. It took another eighteen months, and a...
He was adamant. “I don’t have a swallowing problem.” This from a patient who had just coughed his way through half a cup of water, gasping for breath between spasms. It wasn’t until we sat down together and reviewed his video fluoroscopic swallowing study...
“I’m too busy.” “I’m too tired.” “I have too much company.” “I have too many doctor’s appointments.” These are just a few of the “too’s” I hear from my PD patients when I ask: “Did you practice your speech this week?” Some of these excuses sound familiar — they’re the...
In 2023, I wrote a blog post about a diagnosis I hadn’t expected: scoliosis. (Read it here.) At the time, I didn’t fully realize how much that story had to say about my Parkinson’s patients and others with degenerative diseases. But looking back on...
