Wednesday, May 20, 2015

If I Can Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, Why Can’t I Brush My Teeth?

Nan Little describes herself as leading an active life before she had problems with her arm. Biking, hiking in the Pacific Northwest, lots of social activity, and excellent health, with all these things combined, she couldn’t understand why her arm became rigid. Unlike most books about Parkinson’s Disease, this one doesn’t focus on the disease itself, but the person coping with it.

She first notices her symptoms while fly fishing; whereas once she could bring in the fish with graceful dexterity, now it took longer. She describes going through different diagnoses, then different medications, some work, some do not. All the while she continues to enjoy her physical activities, but has to adapt with one arm being unavailable, or one hand having uncontrolled movement.

One of the main themes of this book is that despite having uncontrolled tics and spasms, the personality doesn’t need to change. Not being able to do the things you did before doesn’t mean that the “essential you” is gone for good. She quotes a speaker at a conference as saying that it was a change from what he was used to; people in his community had once looked up to him, and that all changed when he fell off a letter, got a head injury, and woke up with Parkinson’s.


Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s, and other degenerative illnesses are going to be a greater problem in this country in the next decades. People are living longer than ever before, and someone with Parkinson’s, especially if they live alone, may require more care than others. This means that long-term health insurance is more important now than ever before,  along with disabled-accessible housing, adaptive technology.

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