The support group that my wife and I have run for over 10 years has come to an end. I have witnessed the fluctuations in attendance and noticed the absentees. Sure, some weren’t ready for the group, some didn’t like the format of the group, while others found the location or time to be inconvenient, transportation could have been a problem, Parkinson’s symptoms may have gotten in the way, or they weren’t wild about the group leaders. I wonder and worry about all those I meet, befriend, and then go missing. Sadly, this happens in Parkinson’s disease.
I recently found out an old friend I had met in 2004 is now bound to a wheelchair and in a nursing home. If you read my blog, I am a positive person but I see far too many friends disappearing from our community. As these voices go silent, it becomes easier for them to go missing.
There is no shame in having Parkinson’s. This illness alienates and devastates friendships and relationships, if not closely monitored and preserved. Often, depression and/or apathy play a part. Whatever the case may be, Parkinson’s patients tend to slowly fade from the crowd and it just shouldn’t be that way.
