BY PARKINSON’S DISEASE (A PERSONAL ACCOUNT)
BY
CHARLES P. ATTERBURY
CONTENTS
What is Parkinson’s disease?
Life before Parkinson’s—Early Beginnings
Growing Up
Elementary Years
High School Years
Being Responsible
Young Adulthood
Creating Excitement
Being the Nucleus
Being Adventurous
Always Assisting
Reliability
Being Funny
Providing Moral Support
Mischievous
Anxiety
As an Adult
Job Travels Overseas
Parenthood
Challenges and Rewards-Growing Up in a Large Family
Coming to America
A Visit to My Doctor
Experience at the Diagnostic Center
Treatment at Rockland Neurological
Treatment at Columbia Hospital
Brain Surgery
Effects of the Surgery
Living with Parkinson’s
WHAT IS PARKINSON’S DISEASE
The Parkinson’s …show more content…
The disease is both chronic and progressive. This means that it lasts over a long time period and the symptoms worsen as time goes by. It is Idiopathic, which means there is no known cause. Generally it affects people over 60 years old, and it is more common in men than in women. The incidence of Parkinsons disease increases with age and is uncommon in people younger than forty. Although it is not a regular feature, intellectual impairment may occasionally occur in the later stages of the …show more content…
I loved to shine the boots using a candle to burn the heels and toes, then using water and shoe polish to give it the sheen. Keeping the brass shined was a challenge because some of the items were small. Nevertheless I enjoyed doing it because you were always competing with fellow cadets to see whose items came out the shiniest. I was heavily involved in sports. The school was divided into four Houses. On the day of registration each student was assigned to a House based on the first letter of the last name. I was even nominated to be the House Captain for one school year. These sporting activities included cricket, football (soccer), track and field and table tennis (ping pong). In my senior year I had the privilege of driving the family car to school because my father was working overseas and Mom could not drive.
One Friday morning the Commanding Officer for the Cadets, who was also a student, did an inventory of uniforms and supplies when he discovered that we were short of many things. The only way to replace these items was to pick them up from the Army Headquarters which was some thirty miles away in Kingston. We needed them as early as possible because we were due for an annual inspection. I volunteered to drive us to Kingston if we could get enough money to purchase gas. No time was wasted finding the money for the gas so we headed for the nearest