Thank you, Parkinson’s disease: 10 reasons to be grateful this Thanksgiving

From all-night gaming sessions, to laughing (and crying) at things that non-Parkies would never understand… there’s a lot to thank Parkinson’s for, says Parkinson’s blogger Sharon Krischer – AKA ‘Twitchy Woman’ 

In honour of Thanksgiving, I want to share 10 things that I am thankful for while living with Parkinson’s disease.

10. Getting by on little sleep gives us much more time to spend playing games on our iPads in the middle of the night, while we are deluding ourselves into thinking that these games may actually help our brain cells regenerate.

9. We can blame our obsessive/compulsive behaviours (see #10) on our medications and the non-Parkies will believe us.

8. Waking up at 5:00am doesn’t seem so early anymore. But why am I always late to my 8:30am yoga class? (See #10. Still playing those stupid games on my iPad.)

7. I can do things with my left hand now that I would’t have been able to do if that damn tremor in my right hand didn’t act up while trying to do something like eating, writing or brushing my hair.

6. Living with Parkinson’s has taught me to be more pro-active about my health. I keep up with the latest research and always go to my doctor with a list of questions and concerns.

5. All of the new friends that I’ve made who also have Parkinson’s. We can laugh and cry together about things that non-Parkies would never understand.

4. Fortunately, I have a slowly progressing form of Parkinson’s, which is controlled by meds. Better living through Chemistry is my mantra.

3. Laughing with Parkinson’s – when all else fails, I can always blame stupid things I do on that @$#!% tremor!

2. Loving with Parkinson’s means cherishing the life my husband and I have together and making adjustments as we need to when that @$#!% tremor gets in the way again.

1. Living with Parkinson’s has enabled me to reach out to others like you, hopefully making all of our lives just a little bit better.

What will you be ‘thanking’ Parkinson’s disease for, this Thanksgiving?

If you liked this, read more on Sharon’s blog here