Posts Tagged ‘doctor appointments’

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When you’re diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, you find out who your real friends are. Some people pull away; others come much closer. I’ve had both types of friends. When I was first diagnosed I don’t know how I could have made it without my dear friend Jess. She took me to doctor’s appointments; she picked up the slack in our relationship without my saying anything.

Sometimes she would listen while I tried to make sense of what was happening to me, and at other times she sat quietly and I felt comfort in the silence. There were times when I actually fell asleep in the middle of a sentence, and she let me doze off and then reminded me of what I was talking about when I woke up a few minutes later. I couldn’t have asked any more from her.

Other people avoided me because they didn’t know how to deal with me. They were suddenly unavailable, and they didn’t return phone calls. I felt like a leper, at a time when I really needed to be around other people.

Michael had the same experience, especially with his friends in politics. Because of his outward symptoms, he be­came politically embarrassing—would people think he was drunk or using drugs? Was he simply strange? Michael learned just how shal­low some of those people were, and it was a difficult time for him. Read the rest of this entry »