There can be no soft surrender

I don't know about you, but I am not going to give up my war with PD. So I exercise and then I exercise again. I admit there are times when I think, "Why bother? It's a progressive degenerative disease. You can't stop the progression. You might be able to slow it down, but it will win in the end. So, why bother?" Then I give my head a shake. PD is my reality. I have to learn to live with it and if there is even the slightest possibility exercise can slow it down, then bring on that exercise. Fight the good fight. Onward and Upward. Cross every mountain. Make love, not war! Oops, that last one doesn't fit. For a moment there, I flashed back to the 60's and the summer of love.

God, the 60's were so long ago. I was in my twenties with not a care in the world and a future so bright, I had to wear shades. I never thought anything bad would happen to me. I was going to lead a healthy life until the day I died. I wasn't even sure I would ever die (But if I did die, I wanted to be cremated and have my ashes spread on Michelle Pfeiffer). And our family was so darned lucky. Flash forward 40 years and I am diagnosed with early stage parkinson's. I was not upset at the specific diagnosis; I was upset that I was having bad luck. That just wasn't in my plans, but God chuckled and, WHAM, I got parkinson's.

Well, m'lord, you may have put up an obstacle, but I will find away around it for the following reasons:

• I have a touch of OCD. When I get into something, I can't stop. Thus, I exercise 6 days out of 7. Good, hard exercise designed to keep the demons away. It seems to be working because I have not changed too much over the past 3 years.
• My wife, a physiotherapist, keeps me positive and shows me ways to live with PD. Without her support, I might not be so sure of my pyrrhic victories.

I think I have met the criteria to brand my battles a "Just War", don't you?