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One of the most disruptive aspects of a disease like Parkinson’s is the lack of predictability, which shows up in many ways. In the long term, there is the unpredictability of how quickly and in what ways the disease will progress. There is the shorter-term uncertainty of how…

Live with Parkinson’s disease long enough and you start to notice patterns — micro-misfires that add up to lost rhythm. A foot hesitates at a doorway. A hand reaches, then forgets what for. The world is the same, but it feels misaligned — as if a few coordinates in…

“Fear does not stop death. It stops life.” — Vi Keeland My husband, Arman, and I enjoy babysitting our great-nephew, who is 1 year old. We used to babysit his dad, so it’s an extra-special kind of full-circle joy for us. The sight of our great-nephew’s gummy smile, with small…

Last in a series. Read part one. Recently, I had terrible abdominal pain in the middle of the night. It was so bad that I was doubled over and couldn’t sleep. I thought it was appendicitis, or kidney stones, or maybe diverticulosis. I tried to walk it off and…

October is a busy month in my household. We celebrate both my husband’s birthday and our wedding anniversary. It’s been 19 years this year, and I can say that we never imagined where we’d be now when we said “I do.” When you plan your wedding, you don’t always think…

If you are at all familiar with Parkinson’s disease, you’re probably aware of the importance of medication. It’s used for symptom control only, as there is no known cure or disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson’s. Most Parkinson’s symptoms are caused by a lack of dopamine signaling in the brain.

When it comes to weird and unexpected symptoms, Parkinson’s disease is the gift that keeps on giving. My grandfather had Parkinson’s, yet when I was diagnosed with it, the only symptom I’d heard of before was tremors. As I eventually learned, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

First in a series. We were careening down our gravel road at breakneck speed. “Can you go any faster?” I yelled at my husband, John. Gravel flew out from under the car tires, squirrels scattered, and my eyeballs were sweating. We live on a peaceful farm that is accessible by…

My dad has always been my superhero. When I was a child, he was the person who would rush home with pizza, sugary drinks, and laughter to break the tension of the day. As I grew older and began navigating the complexities of high school, I knew I could pour…

Parkinson’s disease is not only degenerative but incurable, which means it gets worse, to some degree, every day. While we still don’t have any proven disease-modifying treatments — those that will actually stop, reverse, and cure Parkinson’s — advances in technology have helped to control symptoms. And as I’ve…