Lately, I have been spending much of my free, and not so free, time at the hospital. My great grandma, who has recently become a great, great grandmother due to my little guy, has very recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. As a result, our family is trying hard not to be taken by the undercurrent of guilt.
The picture above was taken less than a year ago. Today, she lays in the hospital with a feeding tube in her nose and the mask of Parkinson's which has frozen most of her facial expressions. The story leading up to this is a painful, confusing one tangled with assumptions, accusations, and guilt that I am just not ready to unfold yet.
She didn't just give up, she wasn't simply depressed, she wasn't exaggerating, she wasn't pretending. Everything, everything was because something really was very wrong.
Learn more about Parkinson's disease and the symptoms because it isn't just a movement disorder. The classic tremor that is typically associated with Parkinson's didn't show up until very recently. Had a diagnosis and treatment been done years ago things would be very different today. When I angrily asked the neurologist who came to confirm the diagnosis why no one knew what was wrong, why her doctor was treating or dismissing all of her symptoms instead of recognizing the real problem she simply responded with, "She isn't a neurologist."
(Photo courtesy of L.L.R., edited by myself.)
I so hurt for you and your family. I've been there. My mom had Parkinson's, heart disease, and later develooped Alzheimer's. I had to stay ahead of the curve--in terms of being our loved one's advocate and being alert to their physical and emotional condition.
ReplyDeleteYes, I had a truckload of guilt, resentment and frustration with the medical community, and exhaustion--but I'm so glad I could be there for my mother, and as hard as it was to juggle it all, we hung in there together.
Stay strong.
~Carol O'Dell
Author of Mothering Mother: A daughter's humorous and heartbreaking memoir
www.mothering-mother.com