“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” Eleanor Roosevelt  

 We are all planned, planted and pruned for a purpose by God.

The last month, as all of you who have been following my blogs have discovered,  I had a small set back which has led to some decompensation due to having PD as a chronic underlying illness. This is not entirely uncommon especially for those of us who are as complex as I am. But, as  bad as I have felt most of you know that I am not one to give up or just sit around ….although I must admit I have been sleeping a lot more than usual. Nevertheless, I am determined to get back to my base line and able to continue traveling and speaking so besides having a ton of doctors appointments which have required someone else to drive me in one or two occasions, I have resumed water therapy.

We have a new instructor who is simply wonderful and understands well the complexity of the body especially for those of us who have neurological illnesses like Parkinson’s disease and incorporates techniques of tai-chi, yoga, and cardio all in water settings. while doing these exercises I have discovered two things. one, that I am weaker than I thought ant two that even though I feel great while doing these exercises afterwards I feel completely wasted due to severe nausea and vertigo it triggers. However, within this same setting I have encountered several of my patients who I was not only delighted to see but also glad to see they were engaging in therapy.

One particular patient has completely inspired me to continue despite the ill effects it has produced. because I know this too shall pass as I always say but recently I heard someone say that it would pass like a kidney stone. That is exactly how I feel, slow and at times down right excruciating. Yet, my discomfort no matter how painful is nothing comparable to what some of you have endured and what some of my patients have suffered. particularly, this courageous lady who has a most severe neurological disease which has now left her nearly paraplegic with severe upper extremity tremors. But having this illness has not stopped her one bit. You will see her around town frequently in her motorized wheelchair doing for herself and others. Similarly, she is there in the pool without fail trying her best to follow the instructor. Last session she nearly drowned a couple of times. somehow I doubt that this minor things in her mind will keep her from coming back. Knowing that she has endured  for a lot longer than I have and continuous to fight daily has given me the courage to persevere and deeply admire her inner fortitude. so, when Wednesday comes I will take some Zofran prior to my exercise therapy and I will be there working at getting myself well once again and encouraging her to continue while keeping a closer eye on her so no more incidents of near drowning occur like having life guards near by and having her wear a life vest.

So you see, all you have to do is look around and you are apt to find some inspiration in your life . No matter how bad we think we might be or have it there is always a reason to go on fighting. it may take a bit longer but I know I will be among you chatting and visiting once more very soon; because in the end we are always worth MORE than we feel and there are no strongholds greater than God.

Image By Andre Kohn

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all rights reserved – Maria De Leon MD