Prose to Parkinson’s

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”  Viktor E. Frankl

The sky is still blue to me.
The sun still shines bright for me.
The breeze still blows through my hair.
Walking on the oceans edge is still tranquil to me.
I still love Led Zeppelin.
I still think about exercise every day, and actually do it most days.
I still enjoy washing my car on Saturday morning.
Golf is still my favorite hobby.
I still love college football (LSU) and college basketball (UNC).
It’s spring, I still follow the Philadelphia Phillies and Durham Bulls.
Science still rules my life, how your blood clots is so cool.
Education still drives me every day, Hematology and Immunology are so much fun.
My students, friends, and family still inspire me every minute of each day.

Daily life after the diagnosis, I feel…
Inner self, a lot more aware.
Physically, a little different.
Emotionally, a little more brittle.
Intellectually, capable.
Psychologically, stable.
Consciously, wide-awake.
Educationally, still learning.

The future will bring…
Work, therapy, questions, progression with progress,
subtle changes with strength, hope awaits hopefully.
To accept the diagnosis means to change positively as ‘it’ goes,
to face the challenge honestly with significant effort,
and to keep living by always learning.
To always follow the passionate motto of Jim Valvano: “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” (http://www.jimmyv.org/about-us/remembering-jim/jimmy-v-espy-awards-speech/ ).
Thus, my new life mantra: “F_ck you Parkinson’s (Disease), I am just going to go on and live the rest of my life.”

“I know now, after fifty years, that the finding/losing, forgetting/remembering, leaving/returning, never stops. The whole of life is about another chance, and while we are alive, till the very end, there is always another chance.”  Jeanette Winterson

*Cover photo credit: http://newtopwallpapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/HD-Rainbow-Picture-On-Beach.jpg