Good morning George....I read your reply with great enthusiasm and echo all
you have to say.  There has to be a reason (somewhere) why I was diagnosed
as having PD at 37,  and I believe that it has made me a more positive and
focused person. As a result of having PD, I have channelled all my "gifts"
into helping those Young-onset PWP (YAPP&RS)try to become less negative
about their problems and to try and be more positive. One thing PD has
taught me is to never judge a "gift" by its wrapping!




>Ron Reiner,
>
>        I very much appreciate your comments on the Pope's comment about PD.
>Like you I was first diagnosed with PD at age 48. I am now 62 and retired as
>fully disabled.  I can still type, as you can see, but when my tremor attacks
>me, or when fatigue runs me down, I am worth very little.
>        For the past four or five years I have referred to and thought of my PD
>as a gift.  This annoys my family, especially my wife.  PD is not a good gift.
>I am not pleased with it at all.  It has robbed me of my independence, taken
>pleasure from my life, stripped away my self-confidence, sapped my energy,
>depressed my family, separated me from my friends, driven me from my
profession,
>and darkened my future.
>        But if PD is not a gift, what is it?  A curse? A punishment? An
accident?
>An elaborate cosmic joke?  I must plead innocence to escape deserving
>condemnation or punishment, and I am no Job. I must postulate the existence of
>an imperfect supernatural design to raise the possibility of accidents.  That's
>exceptionally unstable ground to tread; the good stuff that comes our way might
>be accidental also.  A joke requires a Joker, another difficult logical trapeze
>act.
>        All my life I have been given good gifts: except for PD, excellent
>health; raised in the American middle class [hard to top]; loving wife and
>children; intelligence; easy going manner, and on and on and on.  I have
>accepted and enjoyed these gifts with patrician ease.  I have never even looked
>for anyone to thank.  Having supped with the Gods all my life, should I now
>complain that my dessert wine is bitter?
>        This line of reasoning does not make my symptoms any less aggravating,
>nor does it relieve the terror of an unknown future.  I sleep neither
better nor
>worse for calling my PD a gift.  I am not comforted.  Do I still complain, and
>loudly?  You bet I do.
>        Saying that rain falls on the just and the unjust alike hardly merits
>high praise for originality, but it's as close as I've gotten to facing a bad
>situation honestly.  For me PD has been a mirror into which I am forced to
>stare, unblinking, sometimes trying to see, sometimes trying to avoid seeing,
>who I really am.
>
>
>George Andes   62/14 and still counting
>
>
>
>
>A couple of days ago I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) news
>when they started discussing the Pope and His PD-like symptoms.  Although
>the Vatican has not confirmed a diagnosis of PD (or anything else) the Pope
>was quoted as saying that He "considers his affliction to be a gift of
>suffering from God."
>
>Did I understand this correctly?  Or was this quote referring to something
else?
>
>I hope that I heard this wrong.  If the Pope is afflicted with PD, He has an
>opportunity to do some good for His fellow sufferers by underscoring both
>the physical and emotional havoc this disease can wreak.  However, by
>referring to it as a "gift from God" He is doing all of us a great
>disservice.  I understand the metaphor and appreciate his stoicism.  I'm
>sure it gives some sufferers strength; but it minimizes the severity of the
>problem in the eyes of the non-afflicted.
>
>I've only been diagnosed for a year and my physical symptoms are quite
>bearable. But the emotional trauma for me has been devastating.  I am
>constanly worried about supporting my family, putting my kid through
>college, being able to work etc.  I may be a newbie at this but I do not
>recognize PD as a "gift." I hope that I have the wherewithal to face this
>and come out emotionally strengthened - but please don't call it a gift.
>
>                Ron Reiner (48 + 1yr)
>
>                Ron Reiner
>
>