Way to go getting his wheelchair untethered during your visits! Your persistence is admirable.

God’s blessings to you and your wife. You are a wonderful steward of her memory.

Thank you for your prayers and good wishes.

However, although I agree that Parkinson’s is a progressive disease, it is certainly possible to get better symptomatically – that is, to improve. Medication changes and adjustments can make a difference, and he actually isn’t taking any Parkinson’s medication but while he’s in rehab they’re not dealing with that. Exercise and PT specifically geared to Parkinson’s can help, but they’re not doing that. What’s more, until he very recently developed some additional medical problems which are mostly resolving at present, he hadn’t been falling. I see other patients whose walking seems much more unstable than his, and they seem to be allowing them more freedom. The facility has the capacity to have him walk more every day and they themselves say he’s walking quite well. All they have to do is have him do another loop around the corridors, which they could definitely fit into the half hour (it takes him less than 5 minutes to do one loop). And they definitely could have him try to walk a few steps without a walker, with a belt and a PT on each side (there are already 2 of them working with him at a time). Lack of exercise takes its toll both physically and mentally, and I am convinced he is getting much less exercise than he could get quite safely, even with a walker.

My condolences to Shirehome on your loss.

I’ll make a well-intentioned request to my fellow concerned well-meaning blog guests… Can we please pledge to take a huge step back from “diagnosis by anecdote” or the latest version of “The Great Escape”?

I appreciate some reticence on your part Neo to share the fullness of your former husband’s condition. All any of us need to know is his burden is also your burden & we can only offer our deepest hopes, fervent prayers, or finest wishes until that burden is relieved by the best of care that you can access.

Anything beyond that, especially by those of us who’ve never laid an eye on him or read his medical charts is IMO less than helpful. I’ll leave it at that except to continue to pray for the best possible outcome for both of you. It may be a longer than anticipated journey ahead, but I’ll continue to hold to the promise…

You have allowed me to suffer much hardship,
but you will restore me to life again
and lift me up from the depths of the earth.
You will restore me to even greater honor
and comfort me once again. – Psalm 71:20-21 – not the King James this time