Stuart: Not Getting Disheartened by PD

I was diagnosed 5 years ago, but the signs were very evident some years ago. Our granddaughter remarked why doesn't grandad smile anymore, my GP a senior doctor kept telling me I was depressed and the final appointment I had with him he told me I was wasting his time and there were other patients waiting to be seen. I noticed I had a slight tremor, loss of smell, constipation and feeling very anxious.

Some time after that appointment, whilst in hospital for a serious prostate bleed, the consultant said both he and the staff were concerned and asked me if I had seen my GP. I told him the outcome and he asked me what I thought was wrong and I said Parkinson's, straight away he agreed and told me to see another GP as soon as I was discharged. The Parkinson's nurse was excellent and she later told me she had got her hands full seeing me as in her words I WAS A WRECK.

I had a bad experience whilst eating out with my wife when people were looking at me and following my movements. I decided to design a t-shirt for awareness of PD and it follows :our gaze gets fixed, we stumble when we walk, our speech can get slurred as we talk, people stare and think we've had too much to drink. No we are some of the ones with Parkinson's.

There are a lot of things I can no longer do but I just make sure I do everything I can without help. I have difficulty in swallowing, my speech does get slurred and I do stumble a bit.

Life is for living, do the best you can and don't get disheartened, concentrate on the good things and family. Sadly we found life long friends don't want to know and that hurts when we think of the help and assistance we have given in the past.