normal

I fell. I simply got up from my chair and went down hitting objects and papers stacked away in the bookcase beside my chair. I don’t recall having any loss of sensation, nor do I recall the presence of Gracie, the loving and sometimes overly attentive Golden Retriever being at my feet. I don’t recall what I was planning to do or where I intended to go when I launched the action to stand. As I went down, my elbow and shoulder met some resistance from the bookcase, and I somehow almost instantly recognized the need to protect my head from the imminent collision with the floor. Aside from the stiffness in my shoulder joint, very little remains to annoy me from that fall. I use the term annoy because it best describes how I react to the entire experience of Parkinson’s Disease. I am not advocating that the annoyance is a rational response, but rather that it is one that I often experience. Acknowledging the propensity to so frequently experience annoyance helps in the process of challenging the irrational thinking and insert what I am learning to be a more helpful and logical thought process that engages my focus toward a healthier and more positive outcome. The fall did not occur for the purpose of annoying or distracting me, nor did it occur to remind me that PD is a constant opponent in this life. It occurred because of consistent degenerative neurological and muscular responses that position this body in the “not well, not normal” range of possible reactions to movement that is not focused on intent or purpose. Now, I give thanks for the remaining ability to discern and the ongoing ability to practice the exercise with intent of outcome!

By: Cathy Garrott

Some days I do far better at coping with the frustrations of life with PD than I do other days. I guess that’s just a part of “normal” life. What used to be, is what I considered “normal,” but all of that has changed. And now I have a “new normal” to get used to and must learn how to cope with it. I’m not alone with this kind of feeling and challenge. My sister is trying to learn how to cope with the fact that she had a stroke, and her world is turned up-side-down from the “normal” she knew up until September of 2012. I am blessed with a caregiver who has looked into what I am dealing with, and in every way he can he seeks to help me adjust to doing as much as I am able to do. He acknowledges that I will never be the “normal” I was before the PD diagnosis, but walks with me in learning the way of my “new normal.” Some things I can deal with easily at this point, others I am learning to cope with day by day. Getting use to things as they are now, and letting go of what we were comfortable with before, is a challenge EVERY person faces … whether they realize it or not right now. It can be political, health wise, relationship, temporal, or eternal.Getting along with the changes I have faced, and will face in the future, is a challenge that every new day brings my way. I am glad that I am assured that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me!

Fog shrouds the landscape. As the day is dawning, warmer and moister air is laying claim in and through the forest canopy. Forecasters predict near record highs across the region as temperatures soar to near ninety. Just a few weeks ago we were caught firmly in the grip of winter’s freeze as she seemed reluctant to surrender to her spring master. It seems that bouts of excess crowd the procession of seasons, disrupting our projection of “normal.” Some prognosticators warn of even greater swings in weather as a result of human produced carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The answer seems simple but the journey to its solution is even longer and more complex than the road that led us this far. These new weather “symptoms” are requiring “different” accommodations. Similarly, these PD symptoms are requiring a different means of movement and exercise that “accommodate” this new normal. Although I cannot reverse this diseased journey my body has taken, I can learn new and different ways to negotiate the path now before me. Beyond the palpable exists the spiritual and emotional engine that drives forward each waking moment. True gratitude is the fuel that ignites this thankful vehicle for the journey that is each day. Today is another opportunity!

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