Dear Barbara and everyone on the PD list:
My name is Charlie Barasch and I'm a new subscriber to the
list, although I've been following the letters to the list for
the past few weeks through my father, who also subscribed. He's
way ahead of me on the info superhighway. I've been trying to
get on-line for some time, and I just joined Delphi yesterday.
This is my first letter, and I feel like I'm still on the info
dirtroad, and it's mud season.
I'm 44 years old and live in Vermont with my wife Andrea and
daughter Anna. (You can see from our e-mail address that we're
sharing the same "mailbox.") I was diagnosed with Parkinson's
almost two years ago. My symptoms were lack of swing in my left
arm and a dragging left foot. These symptoms have become more
noticeable since then, and I have a little tremor, but they
haven't progressed to my right side yet. I sometimes lose my
balance when getting out of a chair and, as others mentioned in
recent letters, I have trouble getting out of a low couch
and in keeping up with my wife when she walks. Getting my
sweater or jacket on and off takes a while. At this point,
I'm taking only eldepryl and a few vitamins and minerals.
Fast motion is ok still. I play tennis, softball, soccer,
etc. I've decided to start doing some things I'd put
off: I got my first pair of rollerblades in December and used
them when we visited my wife's family in Florida, and this
summer I'm going to look for an over-40 baseball league, so I
can go back to that instead of softball.
I've also decided to go back to school. I'm currently the
numismatist for a mail-order coin company. When I was first
diagnosed with PD my immediate reaction was to go to medical
school. That idea lasted about a week. Now, assuming I get
into the program, I'm going to go to graduate school and study
speech/language pathology. This has connections with
Parkinson's, but my plan is to work with elementary school
children. I'm going to phase out of my current job over the
next year and a half while I take pre-requisites and then go to
school full-time for two years.
Of course, no one can tell me (and I've asked!) how many
years I have left of productivity. One idea I had was just to
stay at my current job until I'm disabled, go on disability
then, and write poetry. But I've decided instead to move ahead.
Thanks to everyone for sharing stories and information.
Sincerely,
Charles Barasch ([log in to unmask])
