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There are days when it feels like we are surrounded by darkness. We live with so many unanswered questions about this illness that it can frustrate us. We often are surprised by so many twists and turns. Sometimes we forget that we must endure and do battle with the…

Last week, I attended my boxing class. Temperatures were in the high 80s, and we knew we’d be sweating profusely by the end of the session. As we prepared for class, one member who wore shorts commented to another wearing pants, “You’re going to be hot with those pants…

In a previous column that I wrote about courage, I mentioned an eye disease I have for which I receive monthly eye injections. Yes, you read that correctly. I get a needle in my eye. Actually, I get two needles — one injection contains additional anesthetic medicine after the…

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is common in Parkinson’s disease (PD). So, too, is restlessness. However, the two symptoms are not the same. When you experience both, and add discomfort to the equation, you have a very uncomfortable person dealing with PD. I can relate so well. I have walked…

“People who know me know I’m strong, but I’m vulnerable.” — Catherine Deneuve Oxford Dictionaries define vulnerability as: “The quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally.” Recently, I felt a level of extreme vulnerability that I…

My youngest grandson is 4. He loves to do whatever we’re doing, whether it’s cooking with Grandpa, changing the oil in his dad’s truck, or planting seeds in the garden with me, Grammy.  When he comes into the house, he almost immediately climbs onto the bar stool, ready to…

I was reading through some forums for Parkinson’s disease recently and came across one that was talking about stress. I am a fairly calm, even-keeled person who handles stress pretty well. I thought so anyhow. The woman who brought up the topic of stress said she had felt like her…

I have been reading a book by disability advocate Joni Eareckson Tada. One part in particular had me mulling over it for days. In her book, Joni tells a story about a time when her team went to Uganda to deliver wheelchairs to those in need. A man named…

Over the many years of living with a chronic illness, I have seen many healthcare providers. Some were good and others not so good. If I walked away from a meeting with a provider feeling like I hadn’t been heard and wanting to shout, “Can you hear me…

I don’t remember when I started measuring my life in increments of time. But I feel the seconds slipping through my fingers. I think about using quantum mechanics to split myself in two so that I can be at sea and with my parents at the same time. Why…