Well, the last year and a half has been really interesting, and I’m not talking about the “c” word. (That’s “Covid19”, not “cancer”.)
March 2020. While the world was starting to reel from a certain pandemic (and still is), I was hunkering down with my family starting a seemingly never-ending series of tests and appointments, stumbling from specialist to specialist trying to find answers as to why the right side of my body was feeling weird and numb, why my right arm had developed a tremour and why my brain showed strange scarring on multiple MRI scans.
I had the docs flummoxed for a while there. But they were very thorough.
MRIs. Different doses of drugs. A spinal tap! (Not fun.)
Thorough also meant… time. Months and months. Over a year and a bit later things were starting to become apparent.
To get to the point: On July 1, 2021, I was formally diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
Which is good news, as, for a while there, I was told that it very well might be both Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis. A few weeks ago, I had a MS professor tell me that my scar-ridden brain wasn’t showing active MS. It was old damage. (That raises further questions, but also answers a few. Insert brain damage joke here.) That diagnosis cleared the way for the Parkinson’s neuro to proclaim that… Parkies is the go.
So, what does that mean, exactly?
I don’t exactly know. Yet.
But I have the feeling that the clock is ticking. And I felt the need to write this down somewhere. To make it official. As I’ve had a year and a half of waiting and waiting and waiting.
So why not here? On my home page?
So now I can state the definite.
So now I can see the enemy.
So now I can refocus on my health, and creating and publishing new comic book material.
So now I see, Parkies or not… the clock is ticking.
The last year and a half has been really interesting. Time to put it behind me.
Gary
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January 25, 2022: Update
Since posting the above, life has been, shall we say, “educational” with The Parkies. Never the fastest artist, I’ve found myself slowing down even more. This has necessitated reassessing my publishing output.
I took a prolonged break in December 2021, three weeks, to see if that would make a difference to my headspace, arm shakes… and the weakened right side of my body. While it was nice not having to work, the Parkies didn’t alter its daily presence in any way.
So, I’m making the best of it while I can. Drawing when I am able and apologising if I must if people are waiting on something from me. (You know who you are.)
I’ve been asked by my neurologist to participate in a Parkinson’s help group she co-ordinates focussed on “professionals with Parkinson’s”, with my bit concentrating on artists and creatives living with the disease. Not sure if I’m ready for that, but if my journey helps someone else…
G.