It is interesting how regimented our days have become. I was looking forward to my retirement as a carefree time with no alarms and no schedules. Most days we don’t have morning alarms but we do try to wake before 8 am to accommodate his medication schedule. There are pill alarms that go off five times a day and, since he shouldn’t eat within one hour of taking his medication, our meals need to be timely. We have two quiet times during the day, one right after lunch when he naps for about an hour and then again early evening when he drowses while watching the news. His exercise class is at 1 pm three days a week, at 11 am twice a week and he often adds stretching classes at noon on the weekends. We don’t have a lot of open time in our days.

We have learned that having a shared calendar is a lifesaver. Information about appointments and activities goes on both of our phones and we keep a hard copy on the wall in our kitchen. All entries have to be made by hand which makes sure we both know about everything that is going on. I get to schedule most of his appointments and try not to disrupt his daily activities too much. If I have something to do for myself, I try to put it in that afternoon window when he is napping. I also sneak some time every morning while he is showering and getting dressed to journal as it allows me to refresh and connect with my sanity.

Retirement is not what I expected, but then my husband never expected to have Parkinson’s Disease. I joined him in this journey almost 20 years ago and His PD diagnosis hasn’t changed my hope that we have many more wonderful years ahead.