It all started last summer when I went for my first swim in Italy and I had to be rescued by Roberto, the lifeguard. This was very strange because I had been a good swimmer: until I was in my middle 80’s, I used to swim a mile every day, never missing a single stroke. Of course, in the last few years, I managed much less, no more than about 200 yards, but still never subject to the indignity of having to be rescued by anyone, let alone the lifeguard.
Of course, I didn’t understand what was going on but soldiered on for the rest of the holiday until I returned home when my doctors diagnosed me with Parkinson’s disease. In my innocence, I had thought that this merely entailed some tremor of the hands and some other minor symptoms which I did not show. I could not have been more wrong; for sure, I am a bit of an unusual case, because not many people wait until they are 95 before they open the doors to this unexpected Parkinson’s visitor.
And what a vicious visitor it was. Admittedly, it did not bother to announce itself by making my hands tremble. But he locked all my joints and immobilized all my muscles. I could hardly walk. Not my idea of fun, although it was somewhat interesting to be catapulted into senectitude in a matter of days. And to find my social status suddenly changed, my wonderful sons now taking decisions on my behalf, even if I thought they were premature or probably unnecessary.
As for medication, the choice was very limited for a man of my age, and we started on a very low dose of L-dopa which was increased every two weeks without, I am afraid, any noticeable effects. My visitor was obviously enjoying the power it had acquired over my body. And there was nothing much that could be done: exercise was all I could do to keep me going.
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