Learning To Walk: My Descent Into Parkinson's
In retrospect, I can trace it back five years or so to when I first started shuffling and scuffing my feet. My handwriting began to cramp and my left hand started to curl into an odd claw-like posture when I walked. By one year ago, I was having serious problems walking correctly.
I have recently been diagnosed with Idiopathic Parkinsonism. It is a Parkinson's with no known cause and with no real cure. It is a spectrum disorder with possible, eventual links to dementia. My mother just passed away from Alzheimer's and I suspect that I too am likely looking at a long, downward spiral.
There are drugs which diminish the effects, but eventually even those lose their effectiveness. Once that happens, all bets are off. I'm not particularly afraid of this... not yet at least. In a way it provides a certain sense of closure and serves as a new adventure
Then again, maybe it's just not real yet.
This Blog begins in the Fall of 2011, when I first became aware. It will continue until I can write no more.
I have recently been diagnosed with Idiopathic Parkinsonism. It is a Parkinson's with no known cause and with no real cure. It is a spectrum disorder with possible, eventual links to dementia. My mother just passed away from Alzheimer's and I suspect that I too am likely looking at a long, downward spiral.
There are drugs which diminish the effects, but eventually even those lose their effectiveness. Once that happens, all bets are off. I'm not particularly afraid of this... not yet at least. In a way it provides a certain sense of closure and serves as a new adventure
Then again, maybe it's just not real yet.
This Blog begins in the Fall of 2011, when I first became aware. It will continue until I can write no more.