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Dear Phil, I felt the same way about the article. My husband read it too and all he could say was that it was really sad. He enjoyed the article about Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner a lot more. I think the one about PD did not do PWP as much good as it could have if it was written in a less abstract sense. I think articles like this tend to cloud the issue in the minds of people who are not personally involved in this disease. I also think that calling it a "condition" is minimizing its devastating effects. Not everyone can deal with this disease as flippantly as this man does. Jennifer Phil Tompkins wrote: > Hello, > > Did anyone read the article on PD in the March-April 1999 issue of > Modern Maturity? The author, D. Keith Mano, is a writer who is also > a PWP. It's good to be getting still more attention, but I'm not > quite sure what to make of this particular piece. > > Mano calls his PD "Parkinson's condition". He personifies it, > describing it as an "oafish" cousin who visits, doesn't leave, and > then becomes a big problem. Mano refuses to get angry; instead he > decides to give "him" a name -- "Bert", and develops a "reluctant > fondness" for "him". > > Believing that Sinemet has a "honeymoon period" of only 3 to 5 years, > Mano delayed taking it for about 5 years. During that period he > developed considerable stiffness and bradykinesia. His attitude > toward these changes was to initially regard them as a challenge and > a curiousity. He only became spooked later when he started getting > emotional (he found this emergence of the "feminine" to be > "disconcerting") and after a great deal of stiffness had set in, > resulting in loss of the use of the fingers of his right hand and > other "very, very bad" symptoms. > > Sinemet, of course, worked its wonders, nearly eliminating his > symptoms. But, he writes, "perversely enough, something in me still > needs the challenge of my condition..." > > I'm not sure whether this article does us a service or not. I find > the phrase "Parkinson's condition" to be inappropriate. It's not just > that everyone in the field of medicine calls it by its proper name, > "Parkinson's disease". To me "Parkinson's condition" tends to > minimize the illness. Beyond all the considerable discomfort and > disability we endure, we are 3 to 4 times more likely to die of > pneumonia* and 6 to 7 times more likely to become demented** > compared to the general population. > > Mano's way of personifying his disease strikes me as like an attempt > to regard a grizzly bear as a Teddy bear. Perhaps Mano is still > struggling with denial. > > Phil Tompkins > Hoboken NJ > age 61/dx 1990 > > * Gorell JM, Johnson CC, Rybicki. "Parkinson's disease and its > comorbid disorders: an analysis of Michigan mortality data, 1970 to > 1990." Neurology, 1994,Oct;44(10):1865-8. > > ** Lang AE, Lozano AM. "Parkinson's disease." NEJM, > 1998,Oct;339(15):1044-53.