Voice. Listen with intent. Speak simply.

  • Parkinson’s Disease #4- The Waiting Game

    Five months ago, I slammed into the Wall of Reality. The way back to myself has been difficult at times, sometimes intriguing, and occasionally funny. I had a second surgery, 3 weeks after the first, to implant a computer module in my right shoulder – it still feels alien, but I’m glad it’s there. I don’t…

  • Parkinson’s Disease #3- THE WALL

    I’m not really a risk-taker. I’m a dreamer. When I was a child, my Mom always said, “Kay, you have eyes bigger than your stomach!” That was her description of my propensity for taking more food than I could possibly eat at the Sunday buffet. I couldn’t help it if so many things looked so…

  • Parkinson’s Disease #2- The Descent

    At the end of the 2013 – 2014 school year, my eleventh as an elementary school music teacher, I was more exhausted than normal for that time of year.  I was too tired to even be excited about a new clinical trial using a new DBS device.  I had heard about it in March, and now,…

  • Parkinson’s Disease #1 – The Invasion

    I’ve been running, and/or hiding ever since August of 2008, when I first heard the words, “I’m about 99 % certain you have Parkinson’s Disease,” aimed in my direction. There was an hour of panic, sitting in the car in the parking lot, not certain whom to call, feeling totally alone with the word “invalid”…