Re: When a Male's at the Wheel

[Barbara Mallut <Barb_MSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Marvin....

I'm not ready to  stop driving entirely yet, but I try really hard to HONESTLY
assess my "drive-ability" on a day-by-day basis (and sometimes on an hour-by
hour basis) and IF I'm THAT "off," or have PD-related vision or balance
problems, I absolutely won't drive then.

That "self-honesty" has been tough.  Eventually I realized while I couldn't
control what the PD was doing to my vision or balance, I COULD control what I
did within the parameters placed upon me by the disease.  That caused me to
become MUCH more creative in finding quality medical, general, and social
resources locally, if possible.

Then there's those occasional days when my meds seem to stubbornly refuse to
work in any recognizable patterns, and FINALLY - just this past year actually
- I've learned to say "the heck with it all." Then I sit down with a kitty on
my lap and pick up a "great-to-reread-book" from my collection,  turn on the
radio to a favorite talk program, or maybe some mellow country-western music
and just "go with the flow."

YIKES!!  I've never really analyzed it before but less or no driving means a
LOT more than just not getting behind the wheel, doesn't it!

Barb Mallut
barb_msn@xxxxxxx


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From:   Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of Giles
Sent:   Sunday, June 21, 1998 6:32 AM
To:     Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN
Subject:        Re: When a Male's at the Wheel

Thank You Barbara.

I can still drive, but I don't.
I know I'm not safe, reflexes a bit too slow even when I'm on.

Marvin