Pictured above are my bride and me on the way to our wedding reception. The date was December 30, 1967. The place: Providence, Rhode Island. We were 23 years old and without a care in the world. I was half way through Georgetown Law and didn’t have a penny to my name. But we had a plan. Natalie was a psych nurse working on a locked ward at the Washington Hospital Center making $4800 a year.

We figured that we had it made. And, looking back, we really did.

That was the beginning of our life together that has been filled with many joys, challenges and sorrows.

Over the past two months, my bride has been hospitalized three times. On December 23rd of this year, she was discharged with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Lengthy stays in the hospital confined to bed have left her physically weak and debilitated.

Her doctors strongly recommended that she undergo inpatient physical rehabilitation at a nursing facility.

But none of the available facilities were – in my estimation – properly staffed or equipped to provide suitable care. Or, as my wife’s nursing school roommate politely put it, many rehab facilities are “marginal”.

So, lacking an acceptable alternative, I brought Natalie home. With the help of visiting physical and occupational therapists, a nurse practitioner, and other health aides, she is slowly regaining her strength and ability to walk, sit and stand.

Simultaneously, we are dealing with the dreadful mental and physical side effects of the various medications used to treat Parkinson’s disease. Sleep is in short supply, drug-induced agitation and anxiety are high, and many hours are spent in consultation with doctors as her drug formulary is adjusted. As has been explained to us, the process of treating Parkinson’s disease varies from patient to patient, and we should expect the process to be lengthy, frustrating and the interim stages to be alarming and worrisome.

So far, the docs have got that part right.

In any event, my bride is home where she belongs and is improving however slightly every day. Each small step forward is a victory that we celebrate together.

All of this by way of explaining why it may be a while before I can resume posting articles on this blog. I’ve got my hands full as Natalie’s round the clock, learning-on-the-job, private duty nurse.

But, once she is better, I will be back.

So stay tuned.