Dancing in the Rain: Lessons Learned on my Personal Journey with PD (more at www.PDPlan4Life.com) Copyright 2013-20 Sheryl Jedlinski
Having a physical is not something most people look forward to, but the experience is particularly daunting for those of us who have Parkinson’s disease. Everything is a challenge, beginning with having to take off our street clothes and put on the one size fits all paper “gown,” with the opening in front, of course.
No matter how many times I do this, it never gets any easier. Anxiety transforms even the barely noticeable tremor into a weapon of mass destruction. My fingers wildly pull at the many thin paper layers as I struggle to unfold and put on the “gown.” All the while I imagine the Jeopardy clock ticking down in my head.
Closing the “gown” is not even within the realm of possibility. In fact, it would not have been an ample cover up in my pre-puberty days, let alone now.
I don’t need a mirror to tell me how pathetic I look sitting on the edge of the exam table wearing only shredded paper held together with my sweat. Eponine, the street urchin in Les Miserables, looks like royalty next to me.
For the cost of a physical, aren’t we entitled to at least two-ply gowns that remain intact throughout our whole exam?
He is There
Sheryl When you need a word of comfort,when you struggle beneath a burden,when the blue skies turn to gay And you cannot feel your way at the closing of the day. When you cannot face tomorrow,When your life is filled with sorrow,when you dread the coming dawn and it seems you cant go on
God’s love is strongest in our darkest despair and that His strength is our hope yours and mine
With assurances of my prayers for your surgery and speedy recovery