With Parkinson’s disease, sometimes it feels as if I’ve been carrying a ball and chain around for years. Those chains have the ability to pull me down into shades of darkness if I let them. I admit, sometimes I allow access because my reserve gets low — I don’t have…
It may take a while to get a diagnosis for Parkinson’s disease. You may see several neurologists, physicians, or movement disorder specialists before receiving correct results. It’s easier to diagnose Parkinson’s when a patient has the classic symptoms: tremors in one or both hands, changes in handwriting, or a…
Ever since I can remember I have kept a journal. People use journals to record their dreams, prayers, activities, and even the weather. In the end, our journals are thrown away, burned, or lost. Our thoughts, dreams, and prayers disappear with our last breath. So why keep a journal that…
Ashen faces stare forward, their lifeless eyes fixated on the pine box before them. Some weep, while others watch with blank expressions void of emotion. Both represent the grief that hangs heavy in the room. Death does not hold the rights to grief. Some might say that grief…
I sit at my desk in the window watching as cottonwood trees release their fluffy snowballs of spring. A car passes at a snail’s pace, yet fast enough to set this phenomenon into motion like a soft, harmless tornado dancing in circles. It reminds me how Winnie the Pooh…
The other day, my husband and I were discussing the decisions we’ve made in our lives. We also talked about dreams and goals, and in my case, the dreams and goals I thought I never made. I haven’t usually been one to dream. I’m not sure why. Perhaps I’ve convinced…
The clouds hover overhead this afternoon. It echoes my emotional state of mind as of late. I wake up to sunshine and clear blue skies. By noon there is a scattered mantle of white. By dinner time the sunshine toys with me. There will be no oohing and aahing…
Crazy. That’s what yesterday was. Crazy. And that’s how Parkinson’s can make me feel. Crazy! Today was the first gorgeous spring day of the year. It was clear, blue skies as far as the eye could see. I walked into the kitchen and took a detour, pouring myself a glass…
Resiliency. It’s not a word you hear too often in relation to Parkinson’s disease. You hear words like courage and strength. But resiliency? Not often. What is resiliency? You might say it is having the ability to bounce back quickly from difficulties. Or having a toughness of character, a…
She was nine years younger than his 37 years of age. Two months into their relationship, a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis was inevitable. She had a decision to make. A choice that would affect the rest of her life. Should she continue seeing him? Invest her life in something that…
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