Where were you on 9/11? When the Challenger exploded? These major events, catastrophes, are emblazoned in your memories. I bet you remember where you were when your husband told you the diagnosis. Were you with him in the doctor's office or at home with your kids? The four words that changed the course of your life as you knew it. I. have. Parkinson's. disease. Huh. Okay. What do we do? What do I do? How do we tell the kids? Forget it, they're too young to understand. I'll handle everything. Approximately 10% of those diagnosed with Parkinson's disease are considered young onset, that means, under the age of 50. It's rare. We are rarer. The spouses that come with that package. Those of us who will live with this mountain of pressure for more than half our whatever lives we have left on this planet. How do we handle it? I bet most of us put our heads down and just truck on. Our husbands have Parkinson's! I must be strong! No complaining. Keep going. You're the glue that keeps this family together. I don't know how you do it. I'll tell you how I do it. I do what I have to do and then I throw myself a fabulous pity party now and then. I talk to some people about it, but they don't really understand. I went to a support group once...full of old ladies. Lovely people, but not exactly what I needed. So, here we are. With the opportunity during these unprecedented times to have our own support group, just for wives, some of us moms, of husbands diagnosed with Parkinson's disease far too early. We were not ready for this. I didn't get the memo. Yet, we must go on. For our husbands, our kids, ourselves. I want us to lift each other up and hold space and be realistic. Just sign up and show up.
You do you,
Chaitanya