Hi to everyone on the Parkinson's group. I am so happy to find you. I
was going to just 'lurk', but wrote to a 'welcoming' member to ask her
opinion and decided not to.

I was stricken with one of the 'relapsing' forms of Guillain Barre
Syndrome (a sudden and severe paralyzing neurologic disorder, from which
we do recover to varying degrees) in 1992, and was left with some
considerable limitations - autonomic, motor and sensory. Two years
later, I accepted the fact I would never be able to go back to work as
a college professor - Oceanography and Microbiology primarily. The GBS
listserv has been great, both psychologicall and because most of any
real knowledge I have of my own disease is from there.

When I was able to (three months ago), I left my long time home on Long
Island, my grown children, my grandchildren, and everyone I knew to move
to SW Florida, where I could get around better and live in a one story
house with garage door opener, wheel chair accessible floor plan (I am
not currently in one, but lets plan ahead!) I don't even have to fight
to get jackets and coats on now. I became active in a local chapter of a
12 step recovery group of which I had been a member for 18 years, jand
the totally unimaginable happed to me - I met this really great and
adorable fellow - even longer sobriety than my own, great sense of
humour, intelligent, even good looking, and very clearly not doing much
better physically than I was - but in different ways. I realized
immediately that he had Parkinson's.

The rest is history - I made myself very obvious, very forward and very
available! Fell madly in love with him and convinced him to 'do the
same' and am having the happiest period in my entire life! He's a
keeper! We are doing a pretty good job of 'taking care' of each other,
forcing the other to do what should be done, laughing at each other's
clumsiness, and we are both learning a lot about each other's diseases.
And that is my reason for subscribing. I am getting the digest to make
it easier to keep the GBS and Parkinsn posts separate.

I do not suffer the (undeserved, but apparently unavoidable) lowered
self esteem with him around, and he expresses the same feelings. My
children 'up north' and even many of my friends thought I would rather
have a strong person to 'take care of me'. Isn't that a sick attitude on
their parts?! Here we are - a 60 year old GBSer with a 61 year old
Parkie behaving like lovesick 16 year olds to the distress of their
families and AA friends.

I am really looking forward to learning more about you and hearing your
treatment successes and failures, and what I should keep an eye out for.
I have already figured out that he has not been taking very good care of
himself, or even bothering to learn much about his own disease.

I hope you had a great holiday.

Jo Ann
[log in to unmask] <Jo Ann Moos>