Some PD realizations came to me while I was struggling to get dressed this morning and my undershirt sleeve pushed way up above my elbow as I put on my pullover shirt. My caregiver (husband) was in the room and heard my grumbling … “What’s wrong?” As I struggled to get my inner sleeve to pull down off my elbow I said, “This would happen whether or not I had PD, but because I have PD, it’s worse.” He understood my problem and also that this was just one MORE thing about PD that he would never have thought about. He was able to see that this is a part of the “getting dressed” frustration I deal with. Had he not been in the room at the time, he would never have given it a thought.
I thought about how important it is that our caregivers understand the little things that are a major frustration to us … things they take for granted and easily brush off as being just a part of life. Things that I could treat that way before PD. Little struggles add up and become major frustrations … and even more so when our caretaker brushes them off as being no big deal. My husband simply having an understanding heart about those things helps me deal with them much better. Brushing my teeth, combing my hair, getting dressed – all these require more time and more patience on his part and mine. His recognizing that some things are just going to take more time now than they used to, and that it has nothing to do with age – it has to do with PD – has been a help to our relationship as well.
Perspective is one thing I strive to keep, week by week, day by day, moment by moment … and little insights such as these today help me in that area of my PD life. Later in the day I checked out a video I ran across, and after seeing it I thought, “My life is not nearly as bad as this one person’s is. There is hope to be had.” My prayer is for perspective each day and realization of the hope that is available to me each moment of each day!
Cathy Garrott lives in Japan with her husband Jack. We thank her for this contribution.
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