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Marling, When you wrote: > > I would like to know if any one else has experienced something like I did upon > diagnosis. I told my board of directors ( I am the Director of a small > non-profit corp.) that I have PD and will be taking meds and seeing a specialist > from now on. > > Not long after that I heard one of them tell the other one, "Well, I guess we > won't have Marling for very long. We will have to consider replacing her." I > did NOT tell them I was quitting or retiring or any such thing. Why did/do they > think that just because I have PD or any other disorder that I am forced to > 'retire' or quite my work? > > Yes my job is stressful, and I love it. Not the stress, the job. I have no > intention of ever quiting. I know that someday the PD will force me to do much > less, but I want to do as much for as long as I can. > I couldn't help but remember 3 yrs. ago when I first learned I had Parkinson's that I did the same thing to myself your bosses did to you. I also work at a stressful job (teaching High School Special Ed.; Emotional/Behavioral Disorders) and have about 15 years before retirement. Time will tell where I will be in 15 yrs. but the burn out I feel on the job usually has little to do with my Parkinson's and a lot to do with the job. In fact I feel my Parkinson's helped me rearrange my priorities in order to lessen the stress at work. This, I feel, helped my program become more efficient. I also know that I keep taking on others (PD literature, Doctor's friend's) expectations of how I should be and whenever I focus on how I actually feel I find I'm in better shape than I (or they) thought. The mind is an amazing thing. Good luck with you job, it sounds interesting. Remenber, you know more about your capabilities than others. Paul [log in to unmask] http://www.cloudnet.com/~mandms