Hello, I am a lurker since 8/07 when I was diagnosed, but this is my first posting. I felt somehow connected to this thread because, as Paula, I grew up near Pittsburgh, and when I read Evonne's gyn story I related to it. But as the surgeon! I am a gyn surgeon, which makes having PD very depressing, as my career is based on having meticulous fine motor skills. Ha ha. But for now I am doing pretty well on Sinemet, Amantadine, and Selegeline. My doctor is wonderful, he is a movement disorder specialist at a great university medical center. It helps that I have always liked to exercise or walk every day. That was the first inkling that something was really wrong, when my left arm stopped swinging while I walked, and my left toes curled and cramped if I tried to walk fast (I have not had a tremor yet). I was 57 at the time, raising two teenagers alone (dad died of Agent Orange-related lymphoma) and PD never occurred to me. What a bolt of lightning that was!

Also two weeks after I received that news I was called by the FBI and informed that my long-time stockbroker had disappeared and put all my savings including IRA and college funds into a scam investment. He's been indicted and I received a decent settlement from his brokerage co. but needless to say not nearly what I lost. So it has been a challenge to deal with loss of health and wealth in one fell swoop. I have been determined to be graceful and private about my problems, deciding that some inner grace would have to prevail as I became outwardly more clumsy! I also have always been a knitter and find that very meditative, especially since I don't know how long I'll be able to do it, realistically.

I was reluctant to post here for a long time as there seemed to be quite a few "anti-physician" writers and that turned me off for a while. But today felt like a good time to "un"-lurk!