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Good morning George....I read your reply with great enthusiasm and echo all you have to say. There has to be a reason (somewhere) why I was diagnosed as having PD at 37, and I believe that it has made me a more positive and focused person. As a result of having PD, I have channelled all my "gifts" into helping those Young-onset PWP (YAPP&RS)try to become less negative about their problems and to try and be more positive. One thing PD has taught me is to never judge a "gift" by its wrapping! >Ron Reiner, > > I very much appreciate your comments on the Pope's comment about PD. >Like you I was first diagnosed with PD at age 48. I am now 62 and retired as >fully disabled. I can still type, as you can see, but when my tremor attacks >me, or when fatigue runs me down, I am worth very little. > For the past four or five years I have referred to and thought of my PD >as a gift. This annoys my family, especially my wife. PD is not a good gift. >I am not pleased with it at all. It has robbed me of my independence, taken >pleasure from my life, stripped away my self-confidence, sapped my energy, >depressed my family, separated me from my friends, driven me from my profession, >and darkened my future. > But if PD is not a gift, what is it? A curse? A punishment? An accident? >An elaborate cosmic joke? I must plead innocence to escape deserving >condemnation or punishment, and I am no Job. I must postulate the existence of >an imperfect supernatural design to raise the possibility of accidents. That's >exceptionally unstable ground to tread; the good stuff that comes our way might >be accidental also. A joke requires a Joker, another difficult logical trapeze >act. > All my life I have been given good gifts: except for PD, excellent >health; raised in the American middle class [hard to top]; loving wife and >children; intelligence; easy going manner, and on and on and on. I have >accepted and enjoyed these gifts with patrician ease. I have never even looked >for anyone to thank. Having supped with the Gods all my life, should I now >complain that my dessert wine is bitter? > This line of reasoning does not make my symptoms any less aggravating, >nor does it relieve the terror of an unknown future. I sleep neither better nor >worse for calling my PD a gift. I am not comforted. Do I still complain, and >loudly? You bet I do. > Saying that rain falls on the just and the unjust alike hardly merits >high praise for originality, but it's as close as I've gotten to facing a bad >situation honestly. For me PD has been a mirror into which I am forced to >stare, unblinking, sometimes trying to see, sometimes trying to avoid seeing, >who I really am. > > >George Andes 62/14 and still counting > > > > >A couple of days ago I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) news >when they started discussing the Pope and His PD-like symptoms. Although >the Vatican has not confirmed a diagnosis of PD (or anything else) the Pope >was quoted as saying that He "considers his affliction to be a gift of >suffering from God." > >Did I understand this correctly? Or was this quote referring to something else? > >I hope that I heard this wrong. If the Pope is afflicted with PD, He has an >opportunity to do some good for His fellow sufferers by underscoring both >the physical and emotional havoc this disease can wreak. However, by >referring to it as a "gift from God" He is doing all of us a great >disservice. I understand the metaphor and appreciate his stoicism. I'm >sure it gives some sufferers strength; but it minimizes the severity of the >problem in the eyes of the non-afflicted. > >I've only been diagnosed for a year and my physical symptoms are quite >bearable. But the emotional trauma for me has been devastating. I am >constanly worried about supporting my family, putting my kid through >college, being able to work etc. I may be a newbie at this but I do not >recognize PD as a "gift." I hope that I have the wherewithal to face this >and come out emotionally strengthened - but please don't call it a gift. > > Ron Reiner (48 + 1yr) > > Ron Reiner > >