Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from February, 2024

Diagnosing with Compassion and Hope

  My hackles are raised, my feathers are ruffled, my … I’m not sure I can find the words for how I am feeling.   This morning, I read a recently published article called “ Delivering the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease-setting the stage with hope and compassion.”   I am not upset that the article was written.     I am glad that the authors have brought this to the attention of others. I am upset that it needed to be written.     I just think it is common sense that when someone is given a life-changing diagnosis, it should be given with hope and compassion.     The authors note that some say the moment of diagnosis is “almost akin to a traumatic event such as the loss of a loved one.” Of course it is!     The person receiving the diagnosis is losing their future self.     Everything they thought their life would be from that moment on has now drastically changed! I would count that as traumatic.       I was one of these people over seven years ago who walked out of the Movement Disord