…fatigue, brain fog, balance problems. But all that didn’t start until a few hours after I got up. In that little window of time I got some stuff done around the house, working off a long term project of downsizing, sorting, filing. I’m really not seeing the benefit from the new medication the neurologist was telling me I’d see. There is some, but it’s disappointing. I have a follow-up appointment with him first week in August. We’ll talk.

I dropped off a bunch of stuff with the Greensburg Historical Society last Thursday, but there is more I need to uncover here. Plus, I am gathering stuff to donate to Goodwill. The sad truth is selling, or even giving away stuff is difficult. There is a “Buy Nothing Hampden” page here I’ve had some success with in the past, but lately no bites. I took a bunch of things to recycling knowing that at least some of it can become something new and not just end up in a landfill. The stuff I take to Goodwill can find another home. But I need energy to do all this and Parkinson’s, plus old age too I’m sure, leaves me with very little.

I’ve been thinking it over and I suppose this diagnosis of Parkinson’s seems sudden to most of my friends. Pretty sure not to my brother in California, who has seen me struggling at his house with fatigue and balance and memory. My co-workers and project leads have seen me struggle to get words out when I suddenly can’t put a sentence together, because brain and mouth momentarily stop cooperating. More distressingly is a loss of mental focus that I was hoping the meds would improve. But since most of my socializing these days is online, most of my friends and classmates wouldn’t have seen any of this building for the past couple years. And it’s been a gradual thing, punctuated by a few sudden episodes of fail.

I’m really not in a bad way now, and probably won’t be for quite some time; just not the fully functional me I used to be, even accounting for age. It’s mostly subtle…until for a brief few moments it isn’t. If the diagnosis seems sudden to you, rest assured it is not to me, or to anyone who has had my physical presence for more then a day or two; something is a bit off with Bruce.

I am grateful for the diagnosis because it gave me clarity, Finally, as to what was happening to me, and something to take the measure of, and try to manage.

But there is so much more I need to do. I have artwork I want to get out. It’s going to be harder than I’d anticipated, and I’m not going to get everything done I want to.

Please Stand By…