The following series of Blog posts come from Jay Whiteside in Toronto, Canada where he keeps in touch with family and friends in a series of newsletters he’s named as ‘What’s Shaking’.  Jay has edited highlights from ‘What’s Shaking’ for us to hear firsthand how he is managing his Parkinson’s symptoms which were first discovered over ten years ago. He kindly gave me permission to post seven of his episodes here.

Robert Rodgers PhD
Founder 2004
Parkinsons Recovery

Episode 3: Reawakening a zest for life, while making do with less – and not wanting more.

That’s the thought I had when this picture was taken. I prepared (aka “trained”) for this week in Barbados and was determined to vigorously participate in all resort activities; every nibble was going to be a shark’s bite. That was my schtick.

We had a wonderful holiday. I especially love this photo because it depicts my body in a state of joy, disengaged from the limitations of my head. The week away was all of that.

Not to say everything was perfect. There was brain fog, stumbles, and Parkinson’s disquiet that collided with best intentions for fun and frolic. The verdict wasn’t always in my favour. I was sometimes left shaking and disappointed, wishing I could’ve been better in the moment. And so, the journey continues.

My newly acquired hard knocks are contrary to the usual principles of training. Weren’t we taught the longer and harder we train the more stamina we develop? Shouldn’t I be able to build a reservoir of energy I can spend recklessly during a vacation blow-out? Pre-Parkinson’s, sure. Now, maybe no. No, definitely not.

As you may have guessed, for all my preparation I over-indulged while on holiday. Nothing embarrassing unless you count the five weeks of sluggish recovery from exhaustion, and associated opportunity cost.

It’s been an important lesson about Parkinson’s-as-adversary: momentary improvement doesn’t foretell long-term success. This is a close cousin to a favourite platitude, “never take a victory lap.” This isn’t how I expected to feel after a week in paradise. What went wrong?