Don, What you are saying is so true!! Even MJF's Neurologist in an interview ,said the samething, and I'm sitting there saying to myself, run Michael run, you can afford a smarter Neurologist than that.! But deep down I know these men are really very well educated and highly qualified, so therefore, the only logical explanation is they must judge "Fatal", differently than we do. To me dead is dead, no matter the cause, but then what do I know? PD certainly isn't listed in the top 10 leading causes of death in the USA. It is also, IMOHO, the reason we have never been able, until now, to be taken as a serious illness. Until MJF, Jim Cordy, and Joan Samuelson testified in the Senate hearings most people in the USA didn't have a clue as to what PD really was, how people really suffered from it, they had no idea that PD was affecting people at such an early age. Years ago it was considered an "old timers" disease, and since you have to die with something sometime, there was no incentive to waste precious research money on a cure to save an elderly person. I still say they have to find the CAUSE before they can find a CURE, but as I said before, what do I know? I know its of little consolation to you, but almost all PWP suffer with the same symptoms you are experiencing. We are all in this fight together, and together we shall win! Don't let it conquer you!!! just me, Marjorie At 10:37 PM 09/09/2000 -0500, you wrote: >Marjorie, > >Thanks, I hope ur explanation is the right one >but if just by the slightest ity bity chance it isn't > >then >Since this doc says no one dies from it >i guess >governments don't need to rush to fund a search for cure >researchers don't need to rush to look for a cure >insurance companies don't need to rush to fund drug programs >maybe soon we will be told >there is no such a disease as 'parkinsons" >maybe i just lost my mind. >of course if I contact this doctor >he might just conclude that >if I have "A New Hope" >i might not even need to have a mind >so this disease that tortures me 24/7 daily >that makes it impossible to digest all my food >that makes it impossible to walk any distance >that makes me incontinent >that makes me choke 5-6 times a day >that gives me back muscle spasms as i sit >that makes me unable to see what i am typing >must just really be a figament of my imagination! > >Don 51/3 pd+ >