Nelson A.
Parkinsons has been called the magician’s disease, because many affected by it seem to just disappear. I am thankful that I am not disappearing, however, I do find that the on/off stage of PD closely resembles magic, as in “now you see it, now you don’t”. I’ve retained my cognitive functioning, but my walking is something else entirely. One minute I can walk ok, the next I shuffle along with difficulty.
I was formally diagnosed in 2010, although my sister-in-law picked it up a year before. Slowness, nothing more than slowness of movement. She saw it as I was rattling through a bag of presents I bought for some of the kids. She saw what I wasn't aware of, a gait slightly stooped, an arm swing that was less on one side than the other.
With Parkinsons we get old a little faster than we thought we would, but don't become the diagnosis. It’s helpful to remember that you're a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, wife, husband, worker, community member, skydiver, whatever.
I think people who are first diagnosed need to know what we therapists know. It helps to help others. If you're depressed, do something for someone. If you're self-involved, volunteer and help someone who has traumatic brain injury, or had a recent stroke, and serve them. You still have so much to offer. Don't focus on what you've lost. Focus on what you can give. Focus on living. Focus on sharing, and then you can make Parkinson's your gift.
The experience of having a disease like Parkinson's fits very well with the Eastern, the Buddhist and the Hindu concepts of non-attachment, that we're not our bodies. I believe it's very practical to be a philosopher and a mystic.
I was formally diagnosed in 2010, although my sister-in-law picked it up a year before. Slowness, nothing more than slowness of movement. She saw it as I was rattling through a bag of presents I bought for some of the kids. She saw what I wasn't aware of, a gait slightly stooped, an arm swing that was less on one side than the other.
With Parkinsons we get old a little faster than we thought we would, but don't become the diagnosis. It’s helpful to remember that you're a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, wife, husband, worker, community member, skydiver, whatever.
I think people who are first diagnosed need to know what we therapists know. It helps to help others. If you're depressed, do something for someone. If you're self-involved, volunteer and help someone who has traumatic brain injury, or had a recent stroke, and serve them. You still have so much to offer. Don't focus on what you've lost. Focus on what you can give. Focus on living. Focus on sharing, and then you can make Parkinson's your gift.
The experience of having a disease like Parkinson's fits very well with the Eastern, the Buddhist and the Hindu concepts of non-attachment, that we're not our bodies. I believe it's very practical to be a philosopher and a mystic.