Dear "gringo pastor", I am very sorry that till that time, till writing this letter "you've been quietly sitting at your computer" and only watching, listening to us. Your letter made me cry. But these tears were diamond drops of joy. The joy of having the fortune to meet you, to listen to your words. I also did choose life 3 yr ago but with great difficulties, fears, tears and pains. Now you gave me (us??) another way to live my (our) PD life/lives... God blessed you with a special talent of speaking and writing, giving people hope. Please do not sit silently at your computer in the future. Let us have more knowledge, more wisdom and the ability to accept all the gifts of the PD LIFE. - OF LIFE. Thank you. Olga PWP 49/47/40 and CG for my own Hungary [log in to unmask] **May peace of heart fill all your days, may serenity grace your soul.** ----Eredeti üzenet---- Feladó: Carl & June <[log in to unmask]> Címzett: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Dátum: 2002. március 25. 22:01 Tárgy: Re: pregnancy with PD? LIFE! Dear Fellow PWP's, I've been quietly sitting at my computer since joining the PD family here on "listserv", reading and relating with the fears, frustrations, guilts, and difficulties of coping with LIFE. Yes I know that it's impossible to forget that with this LIFE we as a family have an added dimension to cope with called PD. But this morning I'd like to focus not so much on PD but on LIFE. What is LIFE, but a gift from God? We are aware that LIFE brings death. We only have to be awake to realize this fact that everyone has an unknown appointment with death. We don't like to spend our days being reminded of this fact and I have come to the point where I think that this is one of the symptoms of PD that is the hardest to medicate or alleviate. This morning I arose to several surprises. First was wondering why I felt symptom free and the other question was why was it still so dark since I could remember getting up to take my 6:00am meds? I remembered that I had felt so tired that I had decided to return to bed instead of going to my study to start my morning exercises. The answer? I had not slept much the night before and I went to bed before my 10:30pm meds and dropped of to sleep almost immediately. My wife then came to bed , turned of the lamp and went to sleep, all before 10:30pm! Next my CADEX meds watch alarm went off and I got up, stumbled to the kitchen thinking that it was 6:00am, and without checking the time, took my morning meds, which included Mirapex and went back to bed. Imagine my surprise, when I finally turned on my bed side lamp and saw that it was 5:50 am and in spite of having taken Mirapex (a sleep disrupter med) at 10:30pm, had slept surprisingly well! I still can't answer why this morning I feel PD symptom free which brings me back the "thought of the day". THANK GOD FOR LIFE'S BLESSINGS. We are NOT robots even if we do look and walk like one sometimes in our "off" times. We can choose to focus on the positive or the negative. True, we can't ignore the obvious, ignore the ??s about the future, nor always control depression without another pill, but we can choose to appreciate today. It's hard to look in the mirror each day and see the proof of our mortality gazing back at us. A PWP, as well as your children Becky, have the same promise of LIFE. Each day is a gift from God. Every morning mercies new.......Fall as fresh as morning dew......Every morning let us pay......tribute with the early day......for Thy mercies, Lord are sure;.......Thy compassion doth endure! To the PD family and Becky in particular, choose LIFE! No one is promised tomorrow, including your youngest child or a new born baby. Being PWP makes us unique. You can ALWAYS note that there is a lot of suffering and misfortune in this old sin cursed world. Be all you can and trust the rest with God. Examples........39yr old brother in-law died of cancer, leaving his children fatherless. Without a single doubt Becky, your child will be more blessed to have a PD mother, than no mother at all............my friend, who lost both of his legs in a tragic auto accident as a young father, is now facing death from kidney failure, sugar diabetes and high blood pressure. FACT....... We don't now the future or what medical science will discover about PD. They may be close to discovering a cure and yes it might be something that we can genetically pass on to our children, but maybe, when it's all said and done, the cause and cure may be something entirely different. We can't allow all of these unknowns to rob us of LIFE. We had our three children, and they were all married, before I was Dx'ed. Would we as a couple have denied ourselves children if we had known? NOOOOOOO! Are we warning our children to not give us grandchildren for fear of PD NOOOOOOOOOOO. We choose LIFE! PD takes enough as it is,but I'm not planning on giving it the opportunity to destroy my entire family and their futures. I'm a 48 yr. gringo living in Puerto Rico. I'm being asked by my neuro to start a support group on our end of the island. As of yet, I'm still uncertain if I have the time for this. But I would welcome info and advice on what it was like for some of you to start one. My neuro is offering to assist me in getting started. His dad is one of his patients. My sentiments might not be yours, if not please accept my apologies. The joy of the Lord is my strength! I choose LIFE. Carl & June Hartman P.O. Box 719 Ańasco, PR 00610 Ph. & Fax 787-826-0225 the gringo pastor (does that answer any ??s) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn