Shake, rattle, roll. A Parkinsons Update.

People often inquire how I’m going with my Parkinsons, so I thought I’d provide an update…

Over the last few months I have deteriorated a bit. I take meds every 3.5 hours. When they have fully kicked in I move freely, but as they’re kicking in or wearing off my muscles stiffen and my hands tremor, sometimes wildly, and I shuffle about the house like an old man on speed. Some days the meds kick in very quickly, other days quite slowly. At these times it’s the little things for which I need fine motor skills that prove challenging.

…buttoning my sleeves
…turning down my collar
…typing a text message into my phone
…holding a full cup of coffee without spilling some
…turning over in bed

I’ve had some strange adventures on facebook. My tremoring hand will sometimes go into a kind of rapid-fire mode and as it moves erratically across a page has seen me inadvertently open dozens of photos at once, hit ‘like’ buttons I never intended to hit, and accept rather than decline some dubious friend requests. The same dynamic sees me quite regularly hit the ‘end call’ button on my phone while trying to answer it, and hit send on half-completed texts.

I no longer drive long distances and drive locally only when my meds have kicked in. I am pretty useless for chores while the meds are kicking in or wearing off.

At the end of the day most of these things are nuisances that slow me down but haven’t stopped me from doing too many things. Through it all I remain surrounded by faith, hope and love; blessed by a wife who never ceases to amaze me with her generosity and grace. Life is good.