One of the most frustrating things for me about having Parkinson's is
not my Monday - Friday employment in an office environment, but getting
chores done at home on Saturdays. Medications have helped to speed me up
alot, but I have recent memories of being frustrated, angry, being in a
general ugly mood for my family on a Saturday night, because the Sun had
set and I only got half done what I planned to do. However last year a
simple but very helpful insight from the more patient side of the family,
my helpmate Kathy, has solved alot of the problem. After it seemed to rain
or snow every weekend from October - November
(the Sun was out Monday - Friday of course) and my Parkinson's was making
it difficult to quickly get some dormant-oil spray on garden fruit trees, I
was pretty mad. She simply asked, "what's the big deal anyway?" The
reason I had planted the trees in the first place was because I found it
relaxing to get outside and dig in the dirt after working in an office all
week. If there were problems with peach leave curl in the Spring, "so
what!" Chances are a late frost the next year would wipe out the peaches
anyway (which is what happened).
But I did get 5 good pears off my "5 on 1" pear tree!
The lesson I've learned and still struggle with is keep things in
perspective and don't try to do as much with Parkinson's as I did before.
The days of getting up early on Saturday, working around the house and
garden, and then going on a late afternoon run through the falling leaves
are over. I now pick 1 thing on Saturday that needs to get done and 1
thing that I'd like to do. Yesterday it was take my son Andrew to the
YMCA's youth sport program in the morning and clean up some garden vines in
the afternoon. I started to get irritated when a 1 hour garden job was
turning into 2 1/2 hours, but I reminded myself that it was nice, just
standing outside in the sunshine. When Drew says
"Daddy you're too slow!" I just remind him that he's the "fast mover" in
the family not me!
Charley Countryman
