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A friend of mine, BA, prompted me about writing my "story" of my adventures with PD. I wrote him back a response, which I've pasted below:
My "story" is not complete enough to spread yet. It's still to early to draw conclusions from my current activities. I'm fortunate that I can still move and dance as I've been doing, but for many people with PD they have problems standing, walking, and dealing with the basics. Many are dependent on their caregivers in order for them to get around. I think a summary of my "story" right now is that I have been really fortunate to be able to do what I am doing. Perhaps all of the previous things that I've done (running, exercise, yoga, dancing, climbing, and such) set me up to be able to do what I can do now--but I don't have any way to prove that is what happened.
PD is stealthy. It sneaks up on you over perhaps decades of "normal" health. Then, one day you start noticing small things (slight tremors, really poor handwriting, cognitive fogs, a foot dragging slightly when you walk, and a dozen other symptoms) that seem to be unrelated. Unrelated, that is, until your PCP tells you that you appear to have the illness. He or she may also share the unhelpful knowledge that what you are experiencing is progressive, degenerative, and incurable. That the illness doesn't kill you, but sets you up for something that will do so.
Since I was diagnosed (10 years ago), I've thought about writing my "story", but the "story" keeps changing. It keeps changing and morphing. Right now it has morphed into a dancing story, but a story that hasn't been going long enough to draw definitive conclusions. And with PD, that may continue to be the case.
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