Rob

I imagine my family is an elephant.

The mother is the head, a visionary keeping her family on track. She possesses enormous ears to detect danger, and a trunk for bathing muddy little boys. She possesses an elephantine memory and most important, female intuition.

I am the father. I am the body and two front legs for setting the pace. Traditionally, I am solid and strong, alert, and sensitive to threats and dangers. Reproduction? I come fully-equipped.

Our children bring up the rear. In my family that means one leg each. Joe has the right and because he is 8 years older than Gabriel, is in charge of waste disposal. Little Gabe   to has the biggest job of all, the left leg. His role is to keep up.

Now, imagine, if the front legs of our fanciful elephant suddenly ‘went.’ This is my family’s story.

We were enjoying our home in Yarraville, had enrolled Joe-Henry into his new school and were ready to welcome another baby boy into our new house. Perfect. Until I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

This was devastating news for a young family.

Physical symptoms of PD differ but generally include slowness of speech, poverty of movement, freezing, aches, pains, and sleep deprivation. Palsy or “tremors” are very common.  Then there are the emotional and psychological consequences. For the afflicted individual, the disease is a thief stealing one’s life, stealing one’s work, and changing everything.

It is as if the elephant has been drinking at a poisoned water-hole. My elephant was stricken, and our family  had no choice but to adapt. The effects on the entire organism are, complex and far-reaching This is a disease one  usually  associates  with the elderly but it saves it real savagery for those younger members of the herd. The disease develops rapidly piling symptom upon bewildering symptom  continually challenging until the poor beast exhausted and beaten falls to his knees, and with him his  family.

The scavengers do the rest.

My family has evolved into a creative beast, taking turns to carry the heavy load. Rapid changes have occurred since my diagnosis but thanks to the flexibility of our family unit, we stay more or less on course.

In order to cope, traditional role are sometimes  swapped and medication and. treatment become normal parts of everyday life, absorbed into the “ordinariness” of being a family.

For this elephant, in spite of the strain,.I am not yet on my knees we keep moving forward with the herd. We may fall back, sometimes but our setbacks are only temporary.

Parkinson’s is the tail we will never shake

But even a tail has it uses.