Parkinson's Awareness Week Please read Approx 638 words

Parkinson’s Awareness Week Approx 638 words

Plus 334 words that are included only as an example and don’t need to be read.

So far I have written in general terms about Parkinson’s and also about how the condition has affected me but today I would like to write something about the affect it has had on my relationship with my family. Well, to begin, I was always pleased to do anything that helped my two daughters such as helping to decorate or doing a spot of gardening, in fact, anything that lightened their load. Shopping trips were enjoyed by the three of us as I could easily keep up…trying on shoes and eating salad with the best of them! Now if I offer to help I sense they are thinking oh, no, this will take twice as long or if I am out shopping with them they will sit me down on some bench saying it’ll be quicker if we just nip in here and off they go. I sit there watching people who seem older than me whizz past and I admit to feeling slightly resentful.

Where has all my pizzazz gone? I used to be able to dash in and out of shops racing round to get whatever it was I wanted. . But I sit and wait for my daughters to return and I say nothing. But still…I harbour some small resentment! I can’t be the companion I once was any more because I am no longer their physical equal. I have to be cared for and it hurts. It hurts like hell! Although they are both in their thirties, I still want to do the caring…I’m their mother it is too early for a role reversal. I want my old job back. Then there is my husband, he always looks tired and his health is not as good as it was and I worry about the effects my condition will have on him. I don’t want to drag him down.

After what I have just said, this might seem trivial by comparison, but another instance of feeling slightly resentful is, if we go to a party or, when on holiday, we get the opportunity to have a dance, then it hits home because my husband and I used to love to have a dance, usually a jive, and though I say it myself we weren’t bad. We might not have made it to the final of Strictly Come Dancing but we enjoyed ourselves. Now I have to sit and watch whilst suggesting to my husband that he goes and finds a dance partner from our group. If on the rare occasion I do venture on to the dance floor to a slow jive I soon feel as if I will fall because my legs seem to stay still while my body attempts to do the turns.

The very worst part of all this, however, is that I now have a grandson and although at the moment I can still pick him up and hold him I know I will not be able to do that for much longer because he is getting heavier. As it is I sometimes have to ask my husband to carry him downstairs because I always have to hold onto the banister and to do this with one hand while holding a wriggling baby with the other is something I only dare do when I am at maximum performance.

It is not necessary to read this last part as it is only here as an example of a condition known as Dystonia which I get when I am ‘off’ - meaning my medication has worn off the result of which is that I cannot use my fingers individually and so I end up with typing that looks like this.

This wee is Parkinson’s Awarenss week when our branch alongwith most other branches attempt to make tpeople more aware of the coonditon and also to raise funds. However,due to the illness of our Chairman, whose wife is the secretary and the illnesof our Deputy Chairman and his wife too is ill. Therefore our branchare not doing anyting tis year. So I thought I would use the ggood office of this site to contribute in my ownsmal way to raise aweness of h condition.

Parkinson’s is a nurelogical condition of he brain whih affects Substatia Nigra part of t brain by killing the nerve cels thatprduce dopamine wich in turn affect motor capabilties such as movement. Unfrtunately almost 80% of these cells are destroyed before before ssymptoms are shown. My medcation has nt kicked in so you wll see I am ntfuntiningtat well I get a secondary conditonknownas Destonia and then I cant use y fingrs individually. Although thre are drugs that trat the cnditin theselose aeffectiveness over time. They alsocan have quite nasty sid affects that ar almot as ba as the condiitn; Dskynesia being one which I alos have. God ws having a righ laugh when he gve the esearchrs this little gem s what is the effectof Dsykinesia…involuntary movement! LOL.

Another drug used is one that mimics dompamine but that too has some nasty and quite strang e side effects. Sucha s a type o f obsessve ocmpuiv edisordr the symptoms of which are that thye an’t stop pspendign or gambling and also includeds hypersexuality. I always think one would need this last one to earn a fe bob to finace te first two. Sorry but ilvoe to laugh. It’s almost an affliction for which I don’t want a cure. Whey hey meidction startingot come on board. Perhaps not!

Annyway, as far as neuroligcal conditions are concerned Motor Nuerone, Multiple sclerosois and Huntingdon’s are in my opinion worse than Parkinsosn.

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Still, if nothing else it keeps the spellchecker on my computer busy!

To be continued until Friday