Here are a few of the poems I have written about my experience with PD.  I find writing helps me to process my feelings.  Pat Statistics Statistics flow Oh no Filling my day With tales of woe Predictions of this Chances of that Telling me I will no longer be Pat Now what's up with that! I am not a number to be placed on a chart I'm a woman, mother, friend with a really big heart If you look at a number, that's all you'll see When there really is so much more to me Statistics don't show what will be They show only the past and They don't define me! I wrote the above after attending a conference on PD. I was really feeling depressed and my brother reminded me that statistics don't measure the future - only the past. With today's medicine and breakthroughs, we are making NEW statistics now! Enemy Mine Like a ship offshore In the midst of a war My enemy waits It is ruthless in its attacks Striking where I am most vulnerable With all my strength, I must fight back The enemy is cold and unyielding Calculating, controlling Bit by bit my life it’s stealing It has a luxury that isn’t mine So can afford to be patient It has the benefit of unlimited time Nothing I do can stop the onslaught Try as I might Yet this is a battle that must be fought Come & fight alongside me Together, we will defeat the enemy And set my body free Suddenly Why did our friendship change because of four little words "I AM a disease" is all that you heard not "I have a disease - It doesn't have me" If I'm the same lighthearted person who's always been me Laughing at life, CHOOSING to be  carefree If  I don't walk around with a sorrowful face You think I don't know the gravity of this case If I don't "face it" the way you think that I should, I'm in denial Having been convicted by you without so much as a trial. I have chosen not to get caught up in what might happen tomorrow I will not cast wide nets filled with deep  sorrow Life is too short to fret about what might be The energy I waste worrying takes too much from me Instead, today, I'll be all I can be It isn't denial, but a decided choice Don't you think because it's my body, I should have a voice? Each of us only has so many minutes in this lifetime.  I will not spend my minutes angry, upset or feeling sorry for myself.  I CHOOSE to live my minutes happy!