My name is Henry Fieglein and my wife is Michelle. We found out December 3, 1993 that my father-in-law has PD. He is a Philosophy of Religion Scholar and Professor. My wife is having many difficulties understanding why it happened to her father, what does this mean (he is in the very early stages), and how is she going to deal with it. I have tried to find something positivie about PD everday to help her. On top of that, my father-in-law is not dealing with the disease well at all. Presently he is not on L-Dopa. The signs of PD are only visible when he eats and when he tries to do the intricate things (like writing, he has an incredibly small script which is made even smaller by the disease). He is refusing to enter any new situations because he is sure that everyone can see that he has PD. He does not want the disease to define him, yet he is almost forcing it to define him. I joined this list to help the two of them. So far, I have been reading many interesting and helpful facts about the disease of which I am very ignorant. My great-aunt died of PD 2 years ago, so I do have a rudimentary knowledge of it. I will try to contribute as much as I can, but I think that I will be reading more than contributing. Thank you all for this list and may God help us all. Henry Fieglein [log in to unmask]