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The warm and comforting scents of Christmas infuse my memories. Yes, these smells are only memories since Parkinson’s disease snuck into my life and took away my sense of smell, like the Grinch that stole Christmas. It can’t take away my memories, though. One of my favorites goes…

“Hi, Mom,” I say after hitting the green button on my phone. “How are you?” “Hi, honey. I’m doing well,” she responds. It’s an early Sunday afternoon and she sounds chipper. We don’t connect often, so I’m grateful to hear her voice. But I’m curious about the call. Is something…

Some days when I look at our bathroom closet, it resembles a miniature pharmacy. While my husband, Arman, takes significantly fewer oral medications since his deep brain stimulation surgery in 2017, he still averages about 30 pills a day. We have three large plastic bins containing medications, vitamins,…

Some of life’s greatest blessings are the ones we don’t even notice. For instance, I’m typically unaware of how natural it is for me to walk, talk, and get myself dressed and fed. Or how about the little conveniences, such as taking my cellphone out of my pocket? How…

The winter of 2022 was spectacular here in southwestern Ontario. It was cold enough for our pond to freeze for the first time in many years. Most weekends were sunny and icy cold, and our extended family and friends would come to our farm for a skating party. When we…

One thing I’ve been pondering lately is how vulnerable we can be when we have a medical crisis and have to go to a hospital emergency room. Imagine the following scenario: You’re a patient with young-onset Parkinson’s disease (YOPD), a subtype of early-onset Parkinson’s. In the ER, you…

Years ago, my dad realized that acute stress made his Parkinson’s symptoms worse. He was more inclined to freeze or experience exacerbated tremors, especially if he was full of anxiety. This revelation led him to focus on reducing the amount of stress he experiences on a regular…

“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” — humorist and poet Sam Levenson, though often quoted by (and misattributed to) Audrey Hepburn, actress and UNICEF goodwill ambassador I began volunteering in my children’s classrooms…

Having been born and raised in Cleveland, I’m accustomed to living in a city with top-notch healthcare. This didn’t mean much to me as a child and as a young adult, because I was extremely fortunate that none of my close family members or I had any major medical issues…

Snow is falling from the sky in tufts here in the Colorado mountains as I write this. Christmas is on my brain. It’s the time of year when my sister and I book flights back to Michigan and brainstorm ways to make the season memorable. For me, doing that means…