My Mom had Parkinson’s for 24 years before she passed away 3 and 1/2 years ago. Today would have been her 76th birthday. Mom, you were a wonderful wife, mother and grandmother, and a kind-hearted soul. You are missed by all.
Here is an excerpt from my Parkinson’s daily journal one year ago today:
“Up at 4. After breakfast, talked with Sally and then completely lost it and cried and cried. Some days, she must feel really miserable being with me. She held me and I felt better after we finished talking. Mom would have turned 75 today.”
Parkinson’s is a terrible disease for those who have it, and it is equally a terrible disease for those who love and care for those who have it. It is very difficult to stay on the path to recovery when we are riding the physical and emotional roller coaster of day-to-day living. However, we are living, and how we live is up to us. Sally helped me a lot with this understanding.
Many people believe conceptually that they got the disease when they were diagnosed. I would imagine that you were feeling something was wrong for quite some time before ending up at the Parkinson’s specialist and/or neurologist to finally get diagnosed. As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, after I recovered and the calluses disappeared from my fingertips, my fingerprint log in to my computer no longer worked. I had set the fingerprint log in 18 months prior to being diagnosed, and I have no idea how much prior in time to that I had developed the calluses.
The point I am trying to make is this: you did not get Parkinson’s the day you got diagnosed, and it is not going to go away the day after the diagnosis. The captain of the Titanic only saw the tip of the iceberg, if that, but an ice mountain had been growing for a long time beneath the surface. When Parkinson’s finally breaks to the surface, there are a mountain of layers below that need to be dealt with to beat the disease.
We have to decide we want to win this battle, and we have to chip away at it a piece at a time. To succeed, we need to get on the path to recovery and have faith in ourselves. Remember that you have the power to heal yourself. Your Parkinson’s knows it and tries to convince you otherwise.
You need to let your Parkinson’s know it cannot break your resolve. Take 5 minutes each morning and repeat, “I have the power to heal myself.” “I have the power to heal myself.” “I have the power to heal myself.” “I have the power to heal myself.” Don’t stop now, you have 4 and 3/4 minutes remaining. Chant it again for 5 minutes in the afternoon or evening, “I have the power to heal myself.” At bedtime, silently chant to yourself, “I have the power to heal myself” and drift off to sleep.
Each time you chant, you are chipping away at the Parkinson’s mountain beneath the surface and coming closer to getting in touch with your Inner Divine. You are on the path to recovery.
As Dr. Sha would say: “I have the power to heal myself. You have the power to heal yourself. Together we have the power to heal the world.”
All my best,
Howard
