My Articles: Shattering the Myth of "Wow! She's Gotten So Much Better!"

• Leonore Gordon, LCSW; (718) 783 1986; Leonore1234@aol.com Please do not duplicate without permission
  Shattering the Myth of "Wow! She's Gotten So Much Better!" with “Your Neighbor with Parkinson’s is Feeling Better For the Moment, Thank You, but Check Back in an Hour....”
  
  
         As a 58-year old female poet and retired family therapist, with 15-plus years of living with Parkinson’s under my belt, I aim to take on PDF’s challenge for Parkinson’s Awareness Month, ie. “Which myth about Parkinson’s would you most want to shatter?” As a Jewish therapist, I’ll answer a question with a question, and ask, “How many ‘selves’ really exist on a daily basis inside of your neighbor with early-onset, advanced Parkinson’s?” (This is not to imply that we who live with Parkinson’s are like “Sybil” with diagnosable pathology!)  
  
  
  I’m referring to the unpredictable and fluctuating states our Parkinson’s bodies morph in and out of throughout each day because of the imperfect medications most of us in later-stage PD need to take every 2-4 hours in order to get up out of a chair and walk. These are medications on which we are dependent to treat our disease until a cure is found, but their consistent and hourly effectiveness is far from a sure thing.