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-->>>>>>> Next Section <<<<<<< Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII Concentrate...one step at a time...left, right, left, right. But if you concentrate too hard you loose bladder control...clamp down bladder...left, right. Yet even when you finally make it to the restroom the struggle isn't over. It's such a simple task-unzipping your trousers and pulling apart the opening of your boxer shorts-a simple task that is, unless you have Parkinson's Disease. It's as if you were wearing a pair of boxing gloves. Where is that opening? If your shorts get the least bit twisted you have a difficult time locating it, but this time is worse than ever. Finally in desperation you shuffle into the nearest stall and frantically try to undo your belt...but in concentrating on that you lose control of your bladder. That is also when you discover that your shorts were on backwards! You don't know whether to laugh or cry, so you do both. One more moment in life on the microlevel. But what about all these wonder drugs used to treat Parkinson's Disease? Unfortunately they only provide symptomatic relief and the time eventually comes when your dopamine level falls so low that the side effects of the medication outweigh the benefits. The same is true for current surgical procedures--symptomatic relief only, not a cure. And what about being able to work? Although generally speaking the earlier the onset, the longer it takes to become debilitating, very few People With Parkinson's (PWP) are able to work past 60. Many PWP are fired when they let their condition be known and the age barrier itself is often a factor in not being able to get another job. But you are luckier than most. Although hardly a living wage, your retired pay does keep the wolf from the door, and the adjunct faculty pay is enough to put you in the lower middle class. You don't have to worry about job discrimination. The first chair of your department had PD and one of the regular faculty is a geriatric nurse practitioner specializing in PD and Alzheimer's. Besides, it is a state university and they are very sensitive to all the anti-discrimination laws But even though you have the full support of the university administration and students, you know you will eventually have to make the call. The voice will become a mere whisper of itself and the tremors will make it even more difficult to write and handle things. There is a good possibility that you will need a wheelchair. You already have a bumper-sticker selected. It reads. "If you don't like the way I'm driving, then stay off the sidewalk!" And the government bureaucracy! It makes less sense than the military. If you are a self confessed alcoholic the government will pay you $500 a month to feed your habit, but a PWP has to practically be a basket case before the government will pay anything. And what about research? Millions are spent each year to find a cure for a disease that medically speaking is 100 percent preventable, yet only a pitance was spent last year on PD research. I guess PD isn't Hollywood chic yet. Maybe with Mohammad Ali, Billy Graham, and the Pope coming out of the closet PD will be more in the public eye. What keeps you going? -- Faith, Hope, Love, and the knowledge that you are not alone. ===================================================================== The other day I sat down at my computer to type a belated annual "how it goes" letter, but what came out is above. Since I consider you all to be in the category of "friends and family" I am sending a copy to you. Bruce <AKA Starman> 55/9 Sinement CR & Pramipexole * Experience is that which enables us to recognize a mistake the next time we make it *