Dear, Gail
This is for Mr X if you would be so kind and pass it along
Thanks
George
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Dear X,
Forgive me for dropping the Mr.I'm most comfortable in the informal. I'm sorry we have to meet like this but...I think you and I are running along tracks that seem somewhat the same except that I never married and my PD became obvious in the summer of my 44th year, some 16 years ago. Prior to that I had carried the diagnosis of a complex familial tremor.
Like you I had plans, not so much for my "golden years" but rather my middle years when I planned on being a husband, have a few kids, work at a job were I was paying back the community that saved my sanity as a kid and I would be well respected for it and I would have a job where the work would be demanding, payed well enough and would show results that I could be helpful to people [I have a Masters in Social Work] I would have a clear value system, a strong extended family and most of all I would be happy. I figured if I worked hard at it I could achieve it by my mid 40ies. Instead I was given the diagnosis of Parkinsons Disease.
Shit happens but I had a few resources so after sitting on my thumbs for a couple of years feeling very sorry for myself I got into a grove of taking good care of myself but, as you are becoming increasingly aware PD is relentless and in October of '94 I was hospitalized following a 5 hour freezing episode. The attending Neurologist told me to sell my home and I would need lots of money to pay for a residential placement. I told him he could f...himself and in my opinion with that expressed rage I began my internal and external rehabilitation. A pallidotomy in August '95, another in September '96 and a lot of very hard work. Today I'm walking 2 miles a day[1/2 of it backwards]driving my car again,working some, volunteering some more, speaking at various groups re: Pallidotomy and PD [ I videoed my second surgery],currently taking horseback riding and swimming lessons with dance lessons in the fall. And most important I'm in love. Yup!
AM I grateful for the hands of a skilled surgeon? You bet. For my family and friends? You bet. For the lady I love? Absolutely! But most of all I'm grateful for my ability to stick my nose to the grind stone and keep it there. And that is exactly what you need to do. But that should be easier for you given that hard work is no stranger to you.
My best
georgeAmazing grace! How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
was blind, but now I see.
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