1. In the Beginning

         As usual the thought came to me in the small hours after my bathroom visit (650cc - not bad!!)  What with the Movers and Shakers Podcast, Rory's Always on Newsletter, and sundry and diverse YouTubes on the subject, was it not time to record my own transit through the vagaries of Parkinson's, while it was happening and hopefully before I forgot what it was I was trying to do?.

           This was a real danger. Yes I had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in September 2019. That was when the neurologist confirmed it with a DATSCAN. Up till then and what caused my Hypersensitive partner to arrange my visit to the neurosurgeon was a twitching of my right hand when walking along the beach, and an occasional shaking in my right leg when relaxed. Both easily controllable by me, and by no means embarrassing nor incapacitating, At this stage I had just turned 71, and had written off other  symptoms that might have alerted a neurologist as the wear and tear effects of aging! In truth looking back I suspect that if I had been sufficiently knowledgeable and alert I would have realised something was wrong about 5-10 years before when my balance deteriorated and my memory for names and places began to  deteriorate. This is the problem we all face with Parkinson's in the very early stages.  It can be explained away by many other things. In fact even when you have been diagnosed your own symptoms are not only present to a lesser or greater degree than in others, but also can be completely different in character. We do not all have the same problems, nor severity of the symptoms. Most of the symptoms that you notice yourself can be explained away by normal optimistic imagination.