11/26/23

It’s the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2023. This is the first holiday season without my grandfather, which means this is the first year in more than two decades I won’t be awaiting my grandfather’s annual announcement: “Well, I suppose this’ll be my last Christmas.”

My grandfather lived with Parkinsons for a long time. It’s a cruel disease that allows one to live but steals away the enjoyment of life. Without medication, a person living with Parkinsons is betrayed by his own body with uncontrollable and constant shaking. The mind can slip to depression and delusion. Speech and ultimately even swallowing can become difficult. In fact, late-stage Parkinsons patients, as I’ve been told, often succumb to choking on food. As a precaution, my grandfather was served thickened coffee in the mornings, as it was less of a choke risk than fully fluid coffee.

I chose the words “living with Parkinsons” because that’s what we’re supposed to say about diseases. We’ve been trained to say that a person lives with diabetes or HIV or autism, etc. In most cases, I agree with calling people in to explain why that is a more appropriate word choice than “suffering with x disease.”

I don’t believe it’s appropriate to say this about Parkinson’s, though. Parkinson’s patients suffer. They put on a brave face.

Yeah, my grandfather lived with Parkinson’s disease. My grandfather suffered from Parkinson’s disease. It’s a cruel condition to pile on top of the typical aging process.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *