Boario. Take 1. (May 2023)

Just before Christmas I heard (from a friend of a friend of my wife) about the European Parkinson's Therapy Centre.  The Centre is in the spa town of Boario Terme just north of Lake Iseo and at the entrance to the Val Camonica in Lombardy.   

Room with a View

The reports I had about the Centre were very positive, so in April we set off by Eurostar for a walking holiday in the Italian Lakes which just happened to include a couple of weeks at the Centre in Boario, after all who's going to turn down a few weeks of Italian food and spa-pampering.

The first week (train travel, eating and walking around Lake Iseo) was splendid - it was so good to be back travelling around Europe again. 

The second week (a mix of pampering, spa time, neurotherapy and learning more about living with Parkinson's) was wonderful too.  I felt better and fitter than I had done for ages, and I was really getting into the PWR moves that form the core of the Centre's therapy sessions.

Then came week three - in any story it's always the third option, or the third person or in this case the third week.   I woke up sweating and with a sore throat, and really not feeling very well at all.  We'd packed one COVID test, just in case, and this seemed like the time to deploy it.  

Over the last three years I always wondered if I was doing the lateral flow tests right - this confirmed that I had been.  When the T line lights up, it really does light up!  

So, Step 1 - tell the hotel (Italian rules say five days of isolation - which means the hotel room and the balcony), and Step 2 - tell the Centre.  Both hotel and Centre were as helpful as could be.  Meals arrived by trolley, replacement bedding and towels were left out side the hotel room door.  The Centre offered extra tests and gadgets to help wile away the days.  

And by week four, I was able (masked up) to catch the train(s) back to Oxford (via Milan, Zurich, Paris and London).

So what was the conclusion about my first visit to Boario? All very positive, and I'm already itching to get back to finish the therapy sessions.  Currently, I've got the therapy centre filed under 'Unfinished Business', and I'm planning another month (autumn would be nice!) around northern Italy.

And yes, I'll be travelling by train again - it might be slower and more expensive than flying, but it is so much more civilised.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Annual Review (March 2025)

Image
 I said (mostly talking to myself) that I'd try and make these updates 'regular', so how am I doing? Well, this is update #15 -  I am managing 4 or 5 posts a year - which seems about right for a slowly evolving (devolving?) condition. Owners of older cars have the annual rite of the MOT. Parkinson's folk (if they are lucky) get an annual meeting with the neurologist. The intention is that I should see (and be seen) by someone every six months (alternating between the neurologist and my Parkinson's nurse). My Parkinson's support (in Oxford) is still OK, the neurologist appointments may be slipping a bit, but the Parkinson Nurse system does spot if the gaps become too long and add in an extra Nurse appointment. The appointments (with either the neurologist or the nurse) are a good prompt for me to review how I think I'm doing and to reflect on what might have changed (akin to checking the tyres, bulbs and wipers ahead of the MOT). My next neurologist appointme...
Read more

Ups and Downs (November 2024)

Image
This (mid-November) seems like a good point to update my PD blog. Since the last posting I've spent a month in Italy (which was grand, two weeks at REGEN and two weeks on holiday in Val Gardena and in the Stubai Valley (in Austria)) and a month mostly in Oxford (which was not so grand). In the Dolomites So why the difference? Aside from the obvious, the weather was better in Italy than in Oxford, the food and wine was better and served at very regular intervals and we were staying in good hotels and were waited on hand and foot, why did 'travelling' time seem better than 'home' time and what's this got to do with Parkinson's anyway? I'm coming to the conclusion that there are two (possibly related) issues.  Firstly, physical health.  I so often feel better when I'm away from Oxford - sometimes (like this autumn) I pick up bugs when I'm travelling and bring them home with me, which means that during the first few days back in Oxford I feel really ...
Read more

Going Public (April 2024)

Image
 I'm not sure why, but I've been reluctant to out myself as a PWP online. However since 11th April was World Parkinson's Day and I was back in Boario for my third visit, it just seemed like the right time. This is what I posted on Blipfoto (which I shared on Twitter/X and on Facebook) and on Instagram.  Some of you may have spotted that I keep pitching up in a rather picturesque wee Italian spa town in the Val Camonica in Lombardy, and I’ve been a bit vague about why. And since today is World Parkinson’s Day, it seems like the right time to say more. In April 2022 I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, and shortly afterwards (via a friend of a friend) I was told about the European Parkinson Therapy Centre in Boario Terme. My first visit to the Centre (locally called the REGEN Centre) was in April 2023, then again in Autumn 2023 and I’m now back again for some more individual neurotherapy, or pampering as I prefer to describe it. Parkinson’s Disease is the fastest growing...
Read more