WELCOME. Thank you for stopping by the Parkinson’s and Us community, a blog that provides encouragement and support for care partners. I am so glad you are here!
Meet Dawn from Parkinson’s and Us
Parkinson’s and Us is an encouraging blog to support care partners managing LIFE, while also caring for their loved ones with chronic disease.
A place to find nourishing recipes, joyful living tips, and support for care partners everywhere.
Hi I’m Dawn
Welcome to Parkinson’s and Us, a blogging site where I provide support for care partners everywhere. A place where I passionately share information to help us, as care partners, best take care of ourselves while also caring for our loved ones with chronic disease.
I was born in the midwest, raised my 3 children in California, and now live with my beloved Doug, who has Parkinson’s, on beautiful Cape Cod.
We moved here because well… it is just gorgeous but also to be closer to Doug’s family. Living and caring for a loved one with PD takes a village, and my guy has a pretty amazing village.
I feel like I’ve lived many lives…
My main career was raising 3 beautiful children. Truly the best job I’ve ever had. They are all grown-up now so I guess I am what you call an ’empty nester’. I do miss them but I love watching my children carve out beautiful lives of their own.
Years ago I worked as a professional dancer, which is how I ended up living in California. When I became too old to continue my dancing career, mid-20’s – ha!, I hung up my dancing shoes and worked as a physical fitness trainer. That was the start of me really learning how to take care of my body and physical health.
Today I am a nurse and hold licenses in both California and Massachusetts. When I lived in Cali I worked as a pediatric hematology oncology nurse, and a lifestyle medicine practitioner. Here on the Cape, I still work in lifestyle medicine, but I also care for my guy with PD. I created this blog to support care partners, and not just those taking care of Parkinson’s but for all care partners taking care of loved ones with chronic disease.
The kitchen is my favorite room in the house…
In some form or fashion, I have been in the healthcare industry all my adult life. My passion is health, and that includes nourishing, nutritious food, and learning to live joyfully in all areas of life – mind, body, and spirit.
The kitchen is my favorite room in the house, and inevitably you will find me working and experimenting on some nutritious recipe, such as my delicious mushroom marinara pasta, or this decadent hummus that is out of this world!
Also, and I think this is because of my nursing background, I tend to nerd out on health research. I will most definitely go down the rabbit hole on PubMed for any health related topic. Such as my blog post on sleep to beat disease, or how to crush feeling lonely as a caregiver.
As support for care partners, this blog is your touchstone…
Follow along for simple, nourishing recipes that you can make quickly and easily for you and your family, joyful living tips and ideas to help you thrive as a care partner, and for loving support and encouragement to help you along your journey.
I share a new post and video every week documenting recipes, tips, support, and my care partner journey right here on the blog. You can also follow my Cape Cod life on my Instagram page @parkinsonsandusons_and_us.
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This is us…
A few FUN FACTS about me and Doug, my guy with Parkinson’s
Dawn
- Dawn is a true homebody and would be perfectly content holed up in her house reading, writing, baking, or sauna-ing (yes, she has an infrared sauna in her home that was a non-negotiable when she moved to Cape Cod).
- Dawn learns by asking questions and it drives her family nuts. You can hear her asking “why” at least 10x per day.
- Dawn loves cookies so much that she bakes them almost every single week. Healthy and homemade is far better than store bought!
Doug
- Doug is NOT a homebody. He prefers the outdoors, and if you cannot find him, just look to the water. There is where Doug feels most at peace.
- Doug worked as a commercial fisherman, and got caught in the Perfect Storm…yikes!
- Doug used to walk on his hands, and let the change fall out of his pockets so his daughter, and her cousins, could run around picking up the change.