{"id":687,"date":"2016-12-18T07:10:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-18T07:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/2016\/12\/18\/jean-shepard-and-parkinsons-disease\/"},"modified":"2016-12-18T07:10:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-18T07:10:00","slug":"jean-shepard-and-parkinsons-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/?p=687","title":{"rendered":"Jean Shepard and Parkinson&#8217;s Disease"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t<br \/>\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Jean Shepard\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/FamousDeaths\/shepard2.jpg\" style=\"width: 161px; height: 175px; float: left;\" \/>On September 29, 2016, country music lost one of its all-time greats. &nbsp;Most of you have heard Jean Shepard singing &quot;A Dear John Letter&quot; with Ferlin Husky, the first post-World War II record by a female country singer to become the number one country song and sell more than a million records. &nbsp;It tells of a girl who writes to her soldier boyfriend fighting in Korea that she is going to marry his brother who did not have to go to war.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tIn 1955, Shepard joined the Grand Ole Opry and continued to perform there for 60 years. &nbsp;In later life, she was incapacitated by Parkinson&#39;s disease and the associated heart problems that eventually killed her at age 82.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t<strong>Early Years<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tShepard was born in 1933 into incredible poverty during the great depression, in Pauls Valley, a small &quot;dust bowl&quot; town in Oklahoma where people were starving. &nbsp;Her parents had 10 children to support with no way to earn a real living, so they moved to Visalia, California, about 80 miles north of Bakersfield. &nbsp; Their only entertainment there was listening to the Grand Ole Opry on a battery-powered radio on Saturday night. &nbsp; When Shepherd was 15, her wonderful supportive parents sold their furniture to pay for a bass fiddle so she could sing and play in an all-girls band called The Melody Ranch Girls. &nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>\n\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LMueKWzG0WE\" width=\"420\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tShe met country music star Hank Thompson and told him she wanted to be a country star. He told her, &quot;There ain&rsquo;t much room in this business for a woman country singer.&quot; &nbsp;She recalled telling him that, &quot;There weren&rsquo;t nothing going to stop me doing what I wanted to do, which was singing traditional country music the way it&rsquo;s supposed to be sung.&quot; He was so impressed with her that he called Capitol Records. &nbsp;True to form, they were not interested in her because she was a woman, but Hank pressured them to listen to her sing and they liked what they heard. &nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tHer second record, &quot;Dear John Letter,&quot; a duet with Ferlin Huskey, became her most famous and best-selling record. &nbsp;At that time, she was under age 21 and therefore a minor who could not travel across state lines without her parents. To go on tour to publicize her records, her parents had to &quot;give her up&quot; and make Ferlin Huskey her legal guardian. &nbsp;At age 22, she sang on ABC-TV&#39;s nationally-telecast Ozark Jubilee and at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. &nbsp;At age 31, she came out with her second most popular song hit, &quot;Second Fiddle (To an Old Guitar)&quot;.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>\n\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tRO3ALAU9Sk\" width=\"420\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tA few years before her death, TV singer Blake Shelton said that fans of traditional country music were &quot;old farts and jackasses&quot;. &nbsp;She replied, &quot;We&rsquo;ve got a young man in country music who has made some pretty dumb statements lately that traditional country music is for old farts and jack-you-know-whats. &nbsp;Well, I guess that makes me an old fart. I love country music. I won&rsquo;t tell you what his name is &#8212; but his initials is BS &#8212; and he&rsquo;s full of it!&quot;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t<strong>Marriages and Children<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tShe met fellow country singer Hawkshaw Hawkins and married him in 1960. &nbsp;In 1963, Hawkins died in a plane crash that also killed country singers Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas. At the time of the crash, she was eight months pregnant with their second son. &nbsp;In 1968, she married another country singer, Benny Birchfield, and had another son. &nbsp;They remained married until her death.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t<strong>Her Later Years<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tIn 2011, at age 78, she was voted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Her autobiography, &quot;Down Through the Years&quot;, was published in 2014. &nbsp;In 2015 at age 82, she celebrated her 60th year with the Grand Ole Opry and retired. &nbsp;She was already suffering from Parkinson&#39;s disease and went downhill quickly. &nbsp;She died on September 29, 2016, at age 82.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>\n\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/caMSaIYBX4c\" width=\"420\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t<strong>Parkinson&#39;s Disease&nbsp;<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tI do not have access to Shepard&#39;s medical records, so the following is a general explanation of Parkinson&#39;s disease and its current treatments.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tParkinson&#39;s is a disease that usually starts in people over the age of 50 and occurs more frequently with increasing age. The cause is not known. &nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tA part of the brain called the substantia nigra makes dopamine, a chemical that sends messages from the brain across nerves in the spinal cord to control muscles. &nbsp;In Parkinson&#39;s disease the substantia nigra is damaged so the body lacks dopamine, which blocks messages from the brain to the muscles.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t<strong>Symptoms<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tThe symptoms of Parkinson&#39;s disease come from this blockage of messages from the brain to the muscles:<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Slowness of movement &#8211; a shuffling walk, difficulty in starting, stopping and turning easily&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Stiffness of muscles &#8211; for example, the arms do not swing as they ordinarily do during walking<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Shaking (tremor), primarily while at rest.<\/div>\n<div>\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tA person with Parkinson&#39;s disease may have: &nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Reduced facial expressions such as smiling or frowning&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Reduced blinking<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Difficulty with fine movements such as fastening buttons or tying shoes<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Difficulty writing<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Difficulty with balance, causing falls<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Slowed speech<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Swallowing problems, causing drooling<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Tiredness, aches and pains<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Constipation<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Bladder problems and incontinence<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Hallucinations<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Abnormal sweating<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Sexual difficulties<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Loss or distortion of sense of smell<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Sleeping problems&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Weight loss<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Depression<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Anxiety<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&bull; Compulsive behaviors&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t<strong>Current Treatment<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tSince the problems are caused by lack of dopamine, the treatment is to raise dopamine levels in nerves. &nbsp;At first the drugs that raise dopamine are very effective, but over time, all of the drugs that are currently available lose their effectiveness and the doctor must prescribe ever-increasing doses and combinations of drugs.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tThere is evidence that some of the drugs used to treat Parkinson&#39;s disease (pergolide and cabergoline) are associated with a higher risk of heart valve damage and lesser evidence that these drugs are associated with increased risk for heart failure in Parkinson&#39;s patients (CNS Drugs. &nbsp;Dec, 2015;29(12):985-98).<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jean_Shepard\">Jean Shepard<\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n\tNovember 21, 1933 &#8211; September 29, 2016<\/div>\n<p>\n\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9REzsRh4sYo\" width=\"420\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On September 29, 2016, country music lost one of its all-time greats.  Most of you have heard Jean Shepard singing &#8220;Dear John Letter&#8221; with Ferlin Husky, the first post-World War II record by a female country singer to become the number one country song and sell more than a million records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-histories-and-mysteries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}