5/8/2009

Yesterday and last night was a heck of a lot of fun. Before I went to Brian's house I did some stopping at the University. I spoke to a contact lady for the University and I met this Wanda lady. Both were people I never met before, and I love to make new friends. I know she is actually older than my new friend Amy, but for the sake of argument, I'll say that they are about the same age. Wanda's youngest (I think) child is 31, and she has cataracts very bad. I'm sure Amy will develop cataracts in her eyes soon enough. The eyes are some of the first things to deteriorate with old age (if I was Amy's age I think an optometrist would be receiving my call like tomorrow:-). Anyhow Wanda's son, Andy, has tourette syndrome. Tourette Syndrome (TS) is a neurological movement disorder that is inherited. It affects between 100,000 to 200,000 people in the United States. About 1 million Americans may have very mild symptoms of TS. A person with TS makes involuntary and repeated body movements, called "tics." The tics are not always present, but may worsen with fatigue or stress. I yearned for some knowledge of this variably complex condition so I searched the internet to find facts. Perhaps the most well known symptom of TS is the vocal tic. Vocal tics include everything from a simple clearing of the throat, sniffing noises, grunting or barking to the verbalization of words and nonsensical sounds. I do not know Andy so I, too, do not speculate whether he has a mild or severe case.