I know that I should be happy to have received THE LETTER.
Effective September 28, 2006, “we are pleased to inform you that we have approved your claim for Long Term disability benefits.” I’m pleased that they are pleased. It’s easy for them to say.
The letter confirms that my Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is chronic, permanent, progressive and incurable. Of course, I knew that, being diagnosed with PD at the age of 46 in 1996.
I tried everything in my quest for a PD cure. I took medications, sometimes as many as 13 pills a day, downed vitamins, got massaged, and stuck with acupuncture needles. I had deep brain stimulation surgery (DBS) and was programmed and reprogrammed. While some of these measures provided temporary relief, it was more like putting a Band-Aid on a gun shot wound. There was no long-lasting PD cure on the horizon.
Pope John Paul II was supposedly in need of another miracle in his application for sainthood. I had hoped to be the one.
I longed to be the PD or DBS poster child, but failed.
So although it’s difficult to be pleased about being on long-term disability, I am grateful to have these benefits and that my PD is not worse.
The letter further stated: “In no event, will benefits be payable beyond October 1, 2015.” Oh well, perhaps I won’t have to worry about it. I doubted if I’d even be around with advanced PD in 2015 or as Nora Ephron described it her latest book, I Feel Bad about My Neck as “dancing around the D word.”
I know that I should be happy to have received THE LETTER.
Effective September 28, 2006, “we are pleased to inform you that we have approved your claim for Long Term disability benefits.” I’m pleased that they are pleased. It’s easy for them to say.
The letter confirms that my Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is chronic, permanent, progressive and incurable. Of course, I knew that, being diagnosed with PD at the age of 46 in 1996.
I tried everything in my quest for a PD cure. I took medications, sometimes as many as 13 pills a day, downed vitamins, got massaged, and stuck with acupuncture needles. I had deep brain stimulation surgery (DBS) and was programmed and reprogrammed. While some of these measures provided temporary relief, it was more like putting a Band-Aid on a gun shot wound. There was no long-lasting PD cure on the horizon.
Pope John Paul II was supposedly in need of another miracle in his application for sainthood. I had hoped to be the one.
I longed to be the PD or DBS poster child, but failed.
So although it’s difficult to be pleased about being on long-term disability, I am grateful to have these benefits and that my PD is not worse.
The letter further stated: “In no event, will benefits be payable beyond October 1, 2015.” Oh well, perhaps I won’t have to worry about it. I doubted if I’d even be around with advanced PD in 2015 or as Nora Ephron described it her latest book, I Feel Bad about My Neck as “dancing around the D word.”