We went to see a documentary about Michael J. Fox and his journey with Parkinson’s Disease. It was interesting and inspiring as he shared both the dark and the light sides of learning to accept and live with a degenerative and progressive illness. I won’t tell his story other than to say that I noticed his low times make our struggles look like a walk in the park. But it isn’t. My husband’s challenges and my challenges in caring for him are just as real as those Michael and his wife face and I need to be sure I don’t forget that.  

One of the positive aspects of our situation is that my husband wasn’t diagnosed until he was in his late 60’s. He had already retired from a couple of careers and was working on his third when the tremors started. He was able to continue working for several years before his symptoms and age finally forced him to quit. He still managed to stay active with exercise and activities around the house. This continuous engagement has helped him stave off the disease and actually made him healthier than he might have been without Parkinson’s Disease.

This journey can be very depressing if you let it, my husband chooses not to go there. We find things we can do rather than lament things we can’t. We blame the disease and not the person when things go wrong. We find time for fun things be it going to a movie or just taking a short walk in the neighborhood. We appreciate the many good friends we have found thanks to his diagnosis both in and outside the PD world. We respect each day we have together a little bit more because we understand how precious our time is and that we could easily lose it all. We put our smiles on and continue fighting this battle together because, after all, what else is there to do?