It’s all very
well and good giving sound advice, but I might do well on occasion to heed my
own words of wisdom. I have always loved cooking, so for years made my own jams
and marmalade. As if trying to prove I’m wonder woman in the kitchen, refusing
to let Gaucher and Parkinson’s dictate what I can, and cannot do, I pushed
myself to the very limit, and made a batch of jam. Yes …..I know, I’m an idiot
at times! There are certain things that just don’t go together, such as a shaky
Parkinson’s patient and a large pot of scalding jam! This is a recipe for
disaster, just waiting to happen.
It took me
forever to wash and tediously cut up the fruit, which should have made me realise I was taking on far
more than I am now capable of. Only once the jam was merrily bubbling away,
like some kind of witches brew, did I begin to wonder how I was going to lift
the heavy preserving pan, not to mention bottling the jam which would require a
steady hand. Why I hadn’t waited for my daughter and used the opportunity of
teaching her how to make preserves, goodness knows? We are all so much wiser
with hindsight.
I ended up making
a dreadful mess and it took forever to clean up. There seemed to be sticky jam
on every surface including yours truly! Fortunately this tale does not end in
disaster, but was far from a sweet reminder of the things I can no longer accomplish
and should clearly not attempt. When I think of all that I used to do, without
a bat of an eyelid, it’s so frustrating and
difficult to really take in and accept my present situation. Inside I’m still the
same old “me”, but my body and mind are far from in sync.
The first symptom
that comes to mind when people hear the name: Parkinson’s, is ‘shaking’, but as anyone suffering this disease will attest,
there is so much more. When I mention the pain caused by Parkinson’s, many are
surprised, so I decided to write this week in The Huffington Post about one
of the painful aspects in an article entitled: The Pains of Parkinson’s.
No comments:
Post a Comment