Each morning when I wake up; I feel so awesome. I get my coffee and watch the news a little bit, then time to get ready for work. This is when the problems start in. My legs, they are a burden to me. I never thought I would say something so silly like this.

We take our legs for granted. We walk, run, trot, ride bikes, roller skate, feed our pets, grocery shop, go to work, walk great distance in a day without thinking anything about it. Then something happens and all of a sudden we notice those body parts attached from our hips.

For me, once I start moving around, my smile tends to dull. My legs are creeping into a heavy mode, and I have noticed when I trip over things, my feet are not lifting up high enough.

I eat my breakfast, get dressed, brush my teeth, make my lunch, all the while noticing that aching in my legs. I go to my car and drive to work. By the time I reach my six-minute drive, I get out of the car and my legs are trembling or have tremors; as it should be called from using them already too much.

I paste on my smile. I check my attitude as I open the front door to the office and I walk in. Some days I can’t walk in without my cane. Other days I get lucky and have smooth days where I barely think about the cane.

I have already noticed that longer period of drives makes my muscles hurt quite a bit, so when I learned last week that I had a mandatory meeting an  hour away, I was stressed. I wanted to do what the boss stated, but I knew I had a chance of being in more pain for the day than usual.

I finally told myself, the only chance you have of getting around this meeting was to sit with my boss and explain. I did this 2 days ago and today was informed, I do not have to go. I am so thankful that God put the right words in my mouth. Now a transcript will be delivered to me and I can take notes of the meeting tomorrow.

There are many Parkinson’s patients much worse than me. I am still considered a new patient, although I have had symptoms since August 2013. I hope that my gait will always be my worst part of Parkinson’s. I know that doesn’t sound nice ; but I could have worse tremors or lose the ability to stand or become wheelchair bound.

Tomorrow I go to the pharmacy and pick-up my walker. I will try to use my cane so I can retain my strength, but the walker will assist me in gait if I walk a little more distance. I changed my header on my site. It now reads about HOPE. We all need hope. I need hope. I will live with hope each morning I get up and go about my day; whether a day off from work or a work day.

Parkinson’s disease, conceptual artwork