One of the things that I miss are the long detailed conversations we used to have. Sometimes about intense topics, other times nonsensical stories we created just for fun. We bantered so much at work we earned a nickname for it. Whether silly or serious, this was an important component of what brought us together as a couple in the first place and Parkinson’s Disease has put a real damper on it.

Talking is tiring for my husband and conversations move much slower these days. Thanks to his diagnosis, he has to stop to process my comments, then figure out his responses and remind himself how to get them from his brain to his mouth and out into the world. It’s a real challenge when what was once the simplest of tasks becomes so monumental. His PD messes with his autonomic systems and nothing happens automatically anymore.

We were at a meeting with his Speech and Language Pathologist this past week and she told us to keep trying to converse. The skills my husband learns in his sessions with her are meant to transfer into real world situations. He needs to practice talking with me so that he can talk with strangers when he goes out. She suggested that we try for one dialogue daily and not at meal time, because he needs to focus on swallowing at that time. It’ll be interesting to see if we can bring back some of the crazy conversations of the past, but I’m willing to give it a try. Who knows, it might remind us of better times and give us even more to talk about.