The Sometimes Tremors

The NY Times has a quasi-humorous – no, a full-fledged humorous – story of a man with Parkinson’s disease whose shop gets burgled.

Elias Lifshitz emigrated from Mexico to Manhattan thirty-five years ago.  He opened a small store on the Upper East Side where he sells second-hand goods, in particular watches.  He mastered the art of buying broken-down watches at flea markets, fixing them at a table in the back of his store, then selling them at a grand profit.  We’re talking discarded watches by Rolex, Cartier, Tiffany.  Bought for peanuts, but with a resale value of thousands of dollars.

The burglar broke through the back wall one night, stole about 450 watches, and was later caught by the police, who are holding all the watches as evidence.

So far the story doesn’t mention Parkinson’s disease.  But let’s quote from the article’s end:

Today, Mr. Lifshitz carries on, with three complaints.

One, he wants his watches back.  They are in police custody as evidence.

Two, his right hand shakes.  “It made my Parkinson’s come back,” he said.

Three, no one wears watches anymore.  “Now, people are with the phone,” he said.  “They are robots.  American robots.  Pretty girls, you can’t even talk to them with the things in their ears.”

Which I think is pretty interesting – that his Parkinson’s tremors have “come back.” 

The tremors in my right arm come and go.  They come when I am nervous, self-conscious or under pressure.  They’re gone most of the rest of the time, often for days.

Recently they came on strong for about four days.  I had to produce an hour-long assembly for my school to celebrate Korean Heritage Month.  The work included rehearsing and directing a 20-minute drama that I wrote about a Korean folktale; coordinating performances of professional Korean dancers and musicians alongside our 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd Grade students who sang Korean songs; and playing a traditional Korean stringed instrument myself.  About 450 people were in the audience, including representatives from the Korean consulate, which funds our school’s Korean program each year.  There was a lot riding on the performances, and a lot that could go wrong.

My right arm shook for days leading into the show.  Once it was over, the tremors subsided.

The same thing happened during an earlier dramatic performance I had to write, direct and produce.  A 5^th Grade boy was standing backstage with me.  He looked at my shaking arm and asked, “Dr. Ballard, do you take medicine for your condition?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Well, why do you keep taking it if it’s not working?”

Great question!

I also think it’s great that Mr. Lifshitz has Parkinson’s yet his hands are usually steady enough to open the back of a broken Rolex and make it good as new again.