Well Hell.......

Nothing like waiting to see what is wrong with you. I know there are many of you reading this who know the feeling of being told that there IS something wrong, but not exactly what it is or what it means for your future. That was where I found myself in the late summer of 2021. I'll admit I didn't really understand what ALS, MS and Parkinsons were, but as I started to do some research, it quickly became evident that I did NOT want ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. With ALS, you typically have 2-5 years of life until you die a nasty death as your body loses the ability to control any muscle functions, like swallowing, blinking, or bladder/bowel control. MS didn't seem much better...... All of this going through my head and thinking, why me? What caused this to happen to me? Questions I still ask today even though I know there will never be an answer.

To make matter worse was the hell I was going through with my career. I'm not going to get into the details; However, let’s just say that I knew something was wrong and it was evident that everyone else could see it too. My left leg was dragging worse when I walked, and my left arm wouldn't swing normally when I walked. Hell, even carrying a cup of coffee was getting harder. People who I had counted as friends were suddenly not there, and few of them actually seemed out to get rid of me as quickly as possible! I was fighting for my sanity, my family and my career all at the same time and I was losing. I knew what ever was wrong with me was getting very slowly worse.

Every day when I would wake up it felt like my right shoulder had been dislocated. I was starting to have trouble getting dressed because it hurt so bad. I remember going into the hospital for nerve blocks in my spine, but even those were not being able to stop the pain. Life was getting truly miserable.

The day of my first appointment with the neurologist finally came around and I remember seeing the doctor for that first time. Dr. Schaffert looked to me like an older Robert Redford, and acted like an old grandpa. Is it odd that one of the things I remember about that day is that I don't think he was wearing any socks.......I know, I'm weird. I felt at ease talking to him and after a exam and talking about my symptoms, Dr. Schaffert, said, well, I'm pretty sure you have Parkinsons.

Now, I know that normally a person would take this a NOT good news; however, given the other two options, to me, that was good news! I remember asking the doctor if he was sure I didn't have ALS or MS and he said he was pretty sure it was Parkinsons. I remember a brief explanation of what the disease meant and him prescribing some medication called Carbidopa/levodopa and being told that the medication only worked on people with Parkinsons. Dr. Schaffert told me that if I take the medication and I felt better and my symptoms improved, then I definitely had Parkinsons.

Little did I know about the journey I was about to be forced to participate.