It's nice to forget I have a chronic illness until after I’ve already agreed to join a friend at a museum, and we realize I've already exceeded my days' activity quota, and therefore the day will not end well, which could mean anything from tremors and other nasty Parkinson's sensations all the way up to …
Author: Andi Brown
I was born in 1951 and raised in Providence, RI. I retired in early 2022 from a long and successful career in fund development, helping nonprofit organizations secure the resources they need to fulfill their missions.
I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in July of 2021. I am attempting to box and dance the disease into submission despite being horribly uncoordinated. I'm a graduate of Colgate University and live in Brookline, MA, not too far from my adult son and daughter. When not “moving and shaking” I can frequently be found writing fiction, or with knitting needles in hand, eating chocolate.
Can I Still Read?Old age or…something else?
Chatting with a friend who non-sequiturially (I know, probably a made up word. Report me to the grammar police) announced “ my eyes hurt, I’ve gained ten pounds, my chronic migraines have returned with a vengeance and I am this far away (she holds up her thumb and forefinger less than an inch apart) from …
Continue reading Can I Still Read?Old age or…something else?
Can Parkinson’s Make Me More Creative?
I've been a professional fundraiser, a mother (sometimes married, sometimes not), a would-be novelist, a knitter, avid reader, pretty good cook, and, if we go back far enough, musical comedy star (summer camp version. Did you know “There’s No Business Like show Business?”) Get ready to answer the call as I attempt to stride boldly …
Fiftieth – Yikes! – Colgate Reunion!
I’ve just returned from my 50th college reunion and my emotions are all over the place. I was a fairly indifferent student at a selective school. That is, it was selective if you were a guy. As a woman breaking the gender barrier, not so much. I entered as a junior transfer student and why …
Fiftieth – Yikes! – Colgate Reunion!
I’ve just returned from my 50th college reunion and my emotions are all over the place. I was a fairly indifferent student at a selective school. That is, it was selective if you were a guy. As a woman breaking the gender barrier, not so much. I entered as a junior transfer student and why …
The jury (psychiatrist conducting dementia screening) has spoken.
And I do not, repeat do NOT show signs of dementia. I’m just old. Most of us are at the age where our annual physical includes a quick-and-dirty mental acuity test. Draw a clock showing 11:15. Remember these three words: teacher, television, bandage. Of course now you must think of nothing but those three words …
Continue reading The jury (psychiatrist conducting dementia screening) has spoken.
Andi’s back…and she’s more real than ever
Fasten your seat belts! It’s going to be a bumpy night! Unlike most of my friends, I’ve never been terribly fearful about dementia. My father lived to be 96 and was coherent till the end. Ditto my mother at ninety. Alzheimer's had a serious hereditary component, didn't it? Seems to me there are three sources …
Bye bye rugs. Hello hospital socks!
First thing to go was the area rugs. Wha??? You mean those beautiful 4x6 floor adornments that I schlepped from Marrakech all the way home with a stop in Lisbon, storing them overnight at the airport so I wouldn’t have to pay a duty on what the Portuguese authorities thought I would be doing: selling …
What Fresh Hell is This?
Forget the merry-go-round's brass ring; that’s not important here. I’m talking about the ponies. Let’s say that the horses represent Parkinson’s. Let's also hypothesize that you're in reasonably good shape; your meds are working most of the time, and have done so for a grand total of about three weeks. You try not to think …
Keepin’ it real, folks
I’d just been telling all and sundry how well I was doing, Parkinson’s-wise. It seemed that, after two years of trial and error, we’d finally hit on the right combo of meds, with the attendant diminution of symptoms. Episodes of Parkinsonian depression descended occasionally, along with the muscle stiffening and and leg tremors, but they …
Moving and Shaking 