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Friday, 21 June 2013

Parkinson's - the quaint designer disease.

(Thursday) If I make it through the night, I will turn 67 in the morning. I have no problem with that because for the past year I have been telling people I was 67 when all along I was only 66; therefore, I have gained a year. Oh, I may have occasionally told someone I was 66, but that would have been rare.

Memory problems are a part of parkinson's but fortunately, I don't really have a real problem with my memory. Now stupidity. Well that's another matter all together.

(Friday) Whew, I made it. I am now officially 67 for the second year in a row and I am already exhausted (it is 8:13am). I woke up at 4AM today, did some work - no exercise today - took my mother to the hospital and now I am back at my desk, ready for bed. It is the parkinson's - it is making me ache for a nap. Slumber! An extended period of dormancy or even hibernation. That is what I need. So I will be off to the cottage for 3 days, living a hermit's life. You get the picture.

PD is called a designer disease because it affects everyone differently. It can cause tremor or no tremor; it can affect one side only or maybe ravage both; it can progress rapidly or maybe slowly; it might cause exhaustion or maybe a just little tiredness, etc, etc. Well here is my design (so far)

  • Mind numbing exhaustion at certain times of the day, usually between 1pm and 4pm. It disappears and reappears around 8pm
  • Tremor dominant - this is thought to be the most benign form of PD and is, for me, easily controlled by drugs
  • Affects, to date, only my right side
  • slows me down
  • affects my speech and word recall abilities, especially when in public or under stress
  • appears to be progressing slowly (touch wood)

All-in-all, I am not bad off for a 67 year old victim, or is that 68 years old? I forget.

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