Page created by: Pragya Shukla

I want to share my experience with Parkinson’s up close and very personal.
My father in law is a retired Indian Navy personal. In the year 2004 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Before contracting Parkinson’s he was a very active and charming person. During the course of last 12 years I saw him become somebody else owing to the disease. Since the diagnosis he has been on tons of medications. His health never improved. The medicine kept him going but in the last couple of years he became very dependent on his caregivers even for smallest of tasks that we all take for granted, like bringing the fork to your mouth. It was painful to watch him try to swallow food. He would choke on every third bite. Lately his heart also seemed to be giving up on him. His blood pressure would fluctuate randomly. He developed diabetes. Unable to keep both his eyes open at the same time. His responses became much delayed. Lately he was also unable to control his bladder. During the last couple of years he has had many falls. Some were not so bad, some were really bad. On April 26th 2016 he fell while trying to make his way to the bathroom. He suffered a trauma to his brain. He had to undergo a brain surgery after which he never regained consciousness and remains in coma.
The hospital in India, he is being treated in, is going to discharge him stating that “there is nothing they can do”. He remains in a vegetative state. And Hospital has instructed us to take him back home.
No one knows what his chances of survival are. We only hope that he recovers from it and at least is able to gain all his “normal” functions. We are not ready to let him go. Hope we will learn to take care of him at home, which right now seems to be unimaginable.
Pragya