Book Blurb: My Degeneration

I just finished the graphic novel “My Degeneration:  A Journey Through Parkinson’s” by Peter Dunlap-Shohl.  I read it on the train yesterday and today, and now am sorting through all the slips of paper I wedged between the pages that especially turned me on.

The book is part autobiography re: how the author dealt with his diagnosis and his subsequent life.  It opens with a chapter where he tries to commit suicide by bear!  (This is in the Alaskan wilderness.)  But it’s also a primer on all things Parkinson’s, including a chapter devoted to the lingo you learn once you’ve got the disease (festination, bradykinesia, dyskinesia, dystonia…).  All in all, it’s entertaining, enlightening and educational.

Here’s the first quote I bookmarked.  It’s spoken by a buff angel with six-pack abs and colorful spandex bicycle shorts:

Thou hast a choice.  Sit like a lump, inert and helpless, and plunge in an ever-steeper spiral…

…or strive against this menace with exercise!

Of course, this resonates with me, as I’m big on physical workouts.  But I also was thrilled to read Peter’s connections with “Moby Dick,” one of my all-time favorite books:

Herman Melville wrote of a whaling crew rowing toward a sperm whale to kill it with a tiny harpoon.  Their harpoon is attached to a rope threaded throughout the boat.  When a whale is struck, it jerks the rope to life with deadly speed.  The rope could snatch away a life or limb with impersonal violence.  Melville knew that we are all in a whale boat every day, surrounded by ropes….Whether you are diagnosed with PD or not, the price is the same.  Diagnosis is only to see one of the ropes.

(I’ve inserted a pen and ink drawing by Rockwell Kent, who illustrated my version of “Moby Dick.”  Peter’s own drawings – see above and below – veer from clean & clear to wacky & wild – just like having Parkinson’s!)

I enjoyed the book and was sad to finish it.  It’s witty, intense, and persistent about getting by with all that Parkinson’s tosses your way.  Peter covers all the bases:  getting the diagnosis, exercising, facing the future, losing control of your body, losing your sense of smell, losing your job, exercising, going under the knife for Deep Brain Stimulation, exercising, and exercising!

Peter also writes the blog Off and On:  The Alaska Parkinson’s Rag.  And he was just profiled in the Alaska Dispatch News.  He’s visited my Parking Suns site, and he sent me the video link about bicycling and PD, which I blogged about earlier.

Thank you and best wishes, Peter!