Hi folks, my name is Hannah and I suubscribed to this list to learn
more about Parkinson's and how I can best help my father and mother
cope with my father's functional losses. Two years ago I noticed a
slight tremor and that my father was shuffling as he walked. I asked
his nurse practioner to evaluate him then. She told me there was no
way to make a certain diagnosis of Parkinson's, that there was no cure
even if he did have it, and that the medications had such severe side
effects that it wasn't a good idea to put anyone on the medications if
they could function well enough without him.
I've watched my father deteriorate over the past 2 years trying
to tell my family that he did have Parkinson's, that he was not "losing
his marbles", and that they just had to wait for him to respond. so
many times while he was trying to get a response out or do something
people would finish his sentences for him (including me) or leave
the room or just ignore him. I asked my mother to tell their nurse
practitioner how stiff and rigid he was getting. She said she did
but ... nothing changed. My father kept getting more and more depressed.
he just withdrew. Hearing loss made communicating even more difficult.
We didn't realize until a month ago that he couldn't put the aids in
by himself and that was why he refused to wear them.
Finally, a month ago the nurse practitioner acted. He was
given a neuro exam and he "failed" the memory test. I was a bit
disgruntled by even the test -- I'm sure he couldn't hear much of what
she said and she got him really aggravated by yelling at him. also,
I don't think she realized how long it took him to respond and how much
of what she was seeing was depression. Anyway, she finally agreed he
had it and he received medication a month ago. A few days ago he
made one of the first voluntary remarks -- usually you had to ask him
a question and "force" him to respond -- I've heard from him in the
past 2 years. My mother has noticed a significant improvement in his
movements and his willingness to communicate, and is now angry that
"he was stolen from me" these last 2 years because he wasn't put on meds.
So ... any suggestions to help him or my mother would be
appreciated (she's 79). He refused to allow me to discuss Parkinson's
with him ... "Oh no that's the falling disease ... let's change the
subject. We got out of the VA fairly quickly today didn't we." I
didn't push it.
Hannah King
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