Columns

My chronic disease has forced me to stay home for a week after an exhausting recent trip to St. Louis. When my symptoms force me to curtail engagement outside the home, I become a “shut-in.” Many are entering voluntary home confinement due to COVID-19. People also are experiencing mandatory…

Travel beyond our homes is eerie right now with the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic. We feel as if we’re living a dystopian sci-fi film, with people in masks and gloves waving apocalyptic messages from the World Health Organization and U.S. federal and state governments. My immune system isn’t like…

This December marked the fifth anniversary of my diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease. Technically, I am still in the honeymoon phase — the first three to eight years of the Parkinson’s journey. Life is still pretty normal. Then again, what is normal? Normal now consists of inconvenient symptoms including tremors, low blood…

I have Parkinson’s disease and I live on a great big orb whose inhabitants have recently taken to biting their nails. They are also purchasing toilet paper, paper towels, water, and soap as if they are going out of style. Eggs are disappearing out of supermarket cold cases. Those suffering…

I had surgery a month ago. While it was a minor, 15-minute procedure, I was more anxious about it than I was before a previous seven-hour deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. Whether it’s 15 minutes or seven hours, any surgery or medical procedure can cause worry, fear, and anxiety.

Sobbing, she throws her arms around me. “I just can’t take one more thing. I’m totally overwhelmed. All the things I need to attend to are flying around me, and as I try to grasp onto one, I come away empty.” She rests in my embrace and the storm slowly…

My dad was a firm believer in his flip phone and knew it would survive if he dropped it from a considerable height. He counted on it to connect him with his real estate clients and get the job done. After his diagnosis of Parkinson’s…

Sometimes we say “I’m sorry” and we mean it. Sometimes we say “Thank you” and we mean it. And sometimes, we don’t mean it at all. Let me explain When we are overwhelmed with living, stress takes over and we are weary and worn out. It feels as if…

I don’t remember having a teddy bear as a child. I do remember a pink monkey and a rabbit that my grandma made for me. There have been times during my journey with Parkinson’s disease that I have wanted a teddy bear — something to hold tight that would…

“Hey, Doc, you don’t look so good. Like a walking zombie,” Neo says with genuine concern. (Neo is my brain’s neocortex. I’ve mentioned him in previous columns.) I let out a bigger sigh than usual. “This move to St. Louis, Missouri, halfway across the country is unusually difficult. The…