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| Sick As A Dog |
What is a Parkinson’s bad day? A bad day is when I can’t get out of bed. A bad day is when I get out of bed but don’t have the energy to brush my teeth. If I can do those things but my legs are too tired to walk it’s a bad day. Pour the cereal in the bowl, ok. Do the dishes, forget about it. If I can just do the ordinary and necessary it’s an okay day. What is a good day? A good day is a joy and pleasure and provides stock to go on.
On bad days when the PD completely takes over I no longer fight it. I try to relax and let it have its way. I used to resist, push myself, get up and try to be active and fend it off. Now I sit in a chair looking out my window. I am up high and see hills and the open blue sky to the East. A university campus is to the North. Small boats sail between islands that dot the bay to the West. Students carrying books walk hurriedly by, a woman with a content smile lazily pushes a baby in a stroller, and the old jogger with the gray pony tail wearing only running shorts on a cold day checks his Fitbit. Technology won’t help you my friend. Your pace will continue to slow. There is nothing you can do. We are born dependent, cared for by others, then grow and learn and spread our wings and sometimes experience happiness and pleasure and accomplish great things but our wings melt with failing health and the inescapability of age and we learn the meaning off words like Parkinson’s, bradykinesia, Sinemet, retropulsion, dopamine, tremors, dystonia, rigidity, anxiety, depression.
So what is the answer. What to do in the face of inevitability? I have no answer. There is no answer except to get through the bad days as well as possible and appreciate the good days. Go outside and join the flow. Continue to learn what life has in store. Cherish your family and friends and those you love and try to be as healthy and happy as possible.