My kids reckon I will be an ugly bald man. A health update

Many of those who follow my blog are aware I have Parkinsons. Less well known is that the same year (2012) I was diagnosed with Parkinsons I was also diagnosed as having Chronic Lymphomatic Leukemia (CLL). CLL usually progresses very slowly and doesn’t need treatment for many years.  So at my last six monthly checkup I was expecting my Doctor to give me the same message I’ve heard at every checkup before – that my white blood cell count has only increased by a marginal amount and there’s no need for treatment for a long time yet. Instead my doctor told me that my white blood cell count has more than doubled in the last six months, which is the trigger for starting treatment.

So it looks like I’ll be starting a 6 month course of chemotherapy in February next year.

The timing is not the greatest. Those of you who see me regularly will have noticed my Parkinsons symptoms have grown decidedly worse over the last 6 months. I now spend large parts of each day with tremoring limbs and very tight muscles or my body in a kind of funk that I call my “drunk phase” because I sway uncontrollably and my speech can get a bit slurred. I do get periods where my body kindly cooperates and I am able to function quite effectively. These periods are however becoming shorter and much less predictable. To date I have been able to time my medications so that I would be in one of those functional phases when I had to go out to meetings, gatherings and the like. It’s becoming harder to do this.

I was due to scale up to a new Parkinsons treatment in February. This promised to give me much greater symptom control and potentially take me back to where I was a number of years ago. Unfortunately having this treatment while having chemotherapthy is not advisable and it looks like my upgraded Parkinsons treatment will have to wait until the chemo is completed. I had been looking forward to the big health boost this treatment promised, so the delay is disappointing and when combined with chemotherapy will make my life challenging (and in the process make it challenging for those around me too).

The journey so far has had its difficulties. I have sat on footpaths, train stations and ferry wharves, sometimes for hours, waiting for my legs to remember how to walk. I have exhausted the supply of good TV shows on Netflix, Stan and Amazon Prime as I lay awake through the long hours of the night waiting for the tremoring to stop so that sleep can begin. I mourn the lost opportunities to do things with Sandy and the kids. Lachlan in particular, being our youngest, has missed opportunities for doing dad and son stuff together, which fills me with regret. I grow bored at being house-bound and disappointed that I cannot contribute to my family and community in ways I once took for granted.

Yet I am in good spirits.

In the last few years I have discovered myself, life, God, and grace in ways that I never expected. In many ways my life is richer, my heart more thankful and my joy deeper than ever before.

I have brilliant doctors, a Parkinsons specialist nurse who is unbelievably good at her job, live in a country where very expensive medicines that I need are made available either free or at affordable prices, and have a form of cancer for which the survival rates are very high.

I have a life partner, Sandy, who takes my breath away with her love, generosity, kindness, care and extension of herself in a myriad of ways we never imagined either of us would need to. I have children who bring me joy, make me laugh and love me deeply (even if they insist I’ll be an ugly bald man!). I have a mother, brothers, and sister who are incredibly loyal, generous and supportive.

I belong to a church which is full of people who surround me with constant and generous lashings of love, kindness, support, and prayer. I am blessed with friends near and far who do the same.

And I have faith in my Creator,  the ultimate source and originator of love, grace, generosity, kindness,  compassion and hope, and who fills me with a sense that whatever lies ahead – whether the realisation of our worst fears or the triumph of life – that nothing can separate me and my family from love, from hope and from grace.

Blessings my friends.

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Bev Murrill
6 years ago

Scott, my heart goes out to you. I have no way of identifying with what you’re going through, but I do know this – Emmanuel. I bless God that you know His love and presence…and I hope to meet you personally one of these days.

Bev Murrill
6 years ago

Scott, my heart goes out to you. I have no way of identifying with what you’re going through, but I do know this – Emmanuel. I bless God that you know His love and presence…and I hope to meet you personally one of these days.

Scott Higgins
Scott Higgins
6 years ago
Reply to  Bev Murrill

Hi Bev, thanks!

John Squires
John Squires
6 years ago

You write about deep, worrying matters with such equanimity and composure, Scott. Thank you for your fine witness and my prayers for strength for you in the times ahead.

Amanda
Amanda
6 years ago

Thanks as ever Scott for writing with honesty and insight and deep faith. You help me understand illness, family and love and most of all you challenge me.

Gordon Preece
Gordon Preece
6 years ago

Good on you Scott. Inspiring. Wish my Dad who had Parkinsons couldve read this.

Greg Wood
Greg Wood
6 years ago

Love you Scotty. Thanks for your openness and for adding touches of God to my life.

Nic Cassar
Nic Cassar
6 years ago

Praying for His peace for you and the family bro.

Tara
Tara
6 years ago

Praying for you, Scott. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. Your faith is so uplifting and inspiring.

Steve Taylor
Steve Taylor
6 years ago

Thanks so much for sharing so deeply Scott. Thinking and praying for you and your family Scott. Best wishes, Steve

John CHURCH
6 years ago

Scott, Be assured of my prayers for you at this time it must be a shock to have this arise after several years .

God Bless John

David Cooper
David Cooper
6 years ago

You have amazing courage & faith Scott. But it must be very challenging to go through those difficult times & experience the frustration of not being able to live your life as you would like. Your words are an encouragement & a challenge.

Tania Harris
6 years ago

What an incredible update – honest, real and hope filled. You are such an example of how to do life well with all it’s ups and downs.

Josh Lean
Josh Lean
6 years ago

You are a legend! Just grow a Goatee and you will look bad ass! Miss ya mate

Tabitha Noonan
5 years ago

“The wound has become the gift.” Truly beautiful, Scott.

Marcia Balzer
Marcia Balzer
5 years ago

This is very sad news, Scott. Thank you for sharing your journey with us, and being so appreciative of the people God has given you. I will pray for what lies ahead for you and those around you. Peace.

Joanne G Elliott
Joanne G Elliott
5 years ago

My heart goes out to you, Scott. Praying for grace, hope and endurance at this difficult time for you, Sandy and the children.

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