Hopefully ever after (whatever the weather)

Her Deep Brain Stimulation surgery was successful, the sun shone brightly every day, and she lived happily every after… Not quite. Yes, my Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery (18 months ago) was successful and I am so very grateful for that. The sun has definitely shone brightly on some days since my DBS surgery. As…

Self Care with friends who inspire me: Part 5 – Faith, hope and zebras

Did you know that the zebra is often a symbol for rare chronic conditions? Medical students have been taught for years “When you hear (the ‘clip-clop-clip’ of) hoofbeats behind you, don’t expect to see a zebra.” In other words, they have been taught (rightly or wrongly) to look for the more common diagnosis, not the…

Waiting and hoping, but not drowning

I began my DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation) journey a couple of months ago. I’ve now been through the assessment process to see if I am suitable for this brain surgery – which although not a cure for Parkinson’s, has the potential to greatly improve my quality of life. The assessments involved an MRI scan, cognitive…

Blog 100: The future’s not ours to see

As it’s coming up to seven years since the day I was diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s disease, this blog is about where I’ve been on my Parkinson’s journey for the last year or so, and what may lie ahead. When you’re on five types of Parkinson’s medication, taking more than 10 tablets a day, and…

Discombobulated

I can hardly believe it’s August already! This year hasn’t turned out at all how I thought it would (and I’m pretty sure not alone in feeling this way). We’ve all experienced changes and challenges in our lives before. Yet somehow this year feels different. I’ve never heard the word ‘unprecedented’ used so many times…

Doing things differently and doing different things

I am slightly bemused by the fact that somehow I have three virtual things in my diary on one day next week. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t feasibly be able to fit all of these in, with the travel time. I also probably wouldn’t have signed up for two out of the three, under normal…

A different world

Last month in my blog about hope I wrote: ‘My hope for 2020 is that I will be better able to cope with whatever challenges life throws at me – Parkinson’s or otherwise’. When I wrote those words, I never imagined that ‘otherwise’ would be a world challenge like Coronavirus. Never say never. It somehow seems impossible…

Focusing on hope

For much of last year I found myself really struggling with my Parkinson’s symptoms and side effects of medication. I know my symptoms are worse during stressful situations, but Parkinson’s seemed to spoil even the happy times for me. On several occasions, I had been looking forward to catching up with friends over a meal…

Wishing for hope

As we approach the end of 2019, my wish for 2020 is that it’s better than 2019. For all sorts of reasons, it’s been a difficult year with many challenges for me and for many of my friends. It’s occurred to me that lately I’ve been wishing for lots of things to be different than…