We have been in a holding pattern for the past month while my husband has undergone minor surgery to replace the battery in his Deep Brain Stimulator. The procedure required an incision on his chest which had to heal before he could resume many of his activities. It has meant a bit more work for me, but not that much, and has actually given us both a break from the Parkinson’s based routine that our lives had become. Now that we are coming out of this all we are trying to figure out what we want our daily lives to look like and what they really need to be so that we can both survive and thrive.

It has been years since we actually did something like this, took a moment to discuss whether the treatment plan he was following was working and realistic. One of the first things I had to tell him was how much I enjoyed the past couple of weeks without having so much PD structure. Let me explain. My husband takes the “exercise is medicine” concept seriously. He has been working out either in person or virtually 6 days a week, usually an hour at a time. Three of those days involved my driving him somewhere and I participated alongside him through zoom classes for two of the other three. After working-out, he needs at least an hour to recover. Considering that all of these classes happen midday it really means that we are not able to do anything else. We have let his PD take control of our lives.

As we continue to look forward, I am asking him to consider the optimum exercise regime and how he can make that happen for himself. I will look honestly at how much I have to give, how much I am truly able to participate, keeping in mind other tasks in my day. Then I am going to hit him with a flexibility ultimatum. We need to be able to take a day off now and then to de-stress and enjoy life. Otherwise, Parkinson’s Disease has won the battle.