If my blog had a title like “A Broken Leg,” explaining my medical woes would be so much easier. What’s my condition, you ask? Why, it’s right there in the title: I broke my leg. How did I get it? I slipped on a banana peel, maybe, or proved that there is such a thing as “too old to learn to rollerblade.” How do you treat it? You slap a hunk of plaster on it and then wait. What are my chances of complete recovery? Pretty good, if I stop buying Safeway bananas and sell my rollerblades on eBay pronto.

But, no…I had to go and get a disease that can take years to diagnose, is highly variable in its symptoms, and can involve pretty much any body system you’d care to name. The etiology – the medical term for the reason I got it in the first place – can be genetic, or related to toxic exposures, or recurrent head injuries, or some combination of things. Or just bad luck. The treatment is complex, involving an often mystifying array of medications, brain implants, therapies (physical, occupational, speech, psycho), and exercise – everything from ballet, to tai chi, to boxing. The chances of complete recovery? Slim to none. Frankly, I’d rather have a broken leg. Maybe six.

But, hey, this is a Parkinson’s journal, so in upcoming posts in this series I’ll try to explain the medical intricacies…