Keepin' On: Living Well with Parkinson's Disease

Keepin On: Living Well with Parkinsons DiseaseRobert J. SilverSynopsisWritten for fellow Parkinsons patients their families and their friends Keepin On chronicles a life of love loss longing work sports travel friendship and intimacy--all against the backdrop of progressive Parkinsons disease. Twenty chapter scenes explore issues ranging from the frustrating unpredictability of prescribed pharmaceuticals; loss of function; hope and inspiration; overcoming challenge; generosity and the kindness of strangers; the helpless concern of friends and family; expert medical care; comic relief; and more. Keepin Ondefiantly rejects the initial prophecy--the crippling of body and mind. Its one persons version of a condition that varies widely in its symptomatic expressions. Keepin On recounts binds grinds and occasional triumphs in a continuing quest for a fulfilling life despite Parkinsons disease.The narrative episodes offer an intimate entrée into a world alien to most where each morning begins in semi-paralysis. As the daily cocktail of medicines takes hold near normal mobility results only to revert by days end to the immobilized state in which it all began. And though there is nothing funny about Parkinsons some of the manuscripts scenes do relate laughable moments. Examples include walking backward when unable to walk forward; pleading with an imperious ski-school director to understand that the authors aggressive skiing is actually the disability-driven lack of control; or a new female dance partner mistaking a hand tremor as the author waving to another woman dancer.The writing is intended to help inoculate Parkinsons patients against the soul-savaging corrosiveness of hopelessness and despair and to comfort friends and family--awash in feelings of worried impotence--who love and care for them. In the end Keepin On recounts a refusal to surrender to Parkinsons and encouragement to Silvers fellow Parkinsons patients to keep on keepin on.