Those of you who read my post on October 5th last year will know that the initial shock of the diagnosis was just a knee-jerk reaction and I fairly quickly decided not to go down the 'worst scenario' route.
Initially this was easy to do while I awaited the phone-call/letter from the PD nurse who, I was told, would be able to answer my questions.
Having first read the notes on Parkinson's provided by my GP I made a list of the main concerns I had.
As the weeks went by and my medication proved very effective in controlling the tremors (to the point where there were none - at least to my eyes), I became more concerned about long-term prospects. Some of which had been high-lighted by the literature given me by the GP.
My consultation with the nurse yesterday was really worth the effort of first finding the obscure address of the place, and secondly the rather long walk to get there. Only about a mile as the crow flies, but I ain't no crow!
She was friendly easy to talk to and very very reassuring.
Having put me through a series of physical tests she pronounced my symptoms 'minimal' and in essence convinced me that my current way of life and activity is likely to prove beneficial and is more than adequate to maintain a good level of health.
Confessing that my two greatest fears were the possible loss of my voice and the possibility of developing dementia. I asked her if continuing to sing would cause any escalation of the disease,
She assured me that on the contrary, the more I sang the less likely I was to suffer the loss of
throat muscle power.
Dementia as I think I said in my earlier post, is something which affects 50% of Parkinson's sufferers, but as both she and a friend pointed out, it also means that 50% of patients do not develop it.
Despite the freezing weather this morning I feel more up-beat and hopeful than for a very long time.
It was worth opening Pandora's box.
