The Waiting Game

Waiting sucks. Not matter what it is you are waiting for the eternal truth is that waiting sucks. What I'm waiting for right now is for the three hours necessary for my DAT Scan to begin to pass. I'm in a hospital I've never been in before, in a city I'm unfamiliar with, by myself, as I wait. Perfect scenario right? I've had my solution to drink and the tracker injected but then three hours must pass before the scan can begin. I'm not always the most patient of people so waiting for this time to pass sucks.

If you're wondering what this DAT Scan is for well, where do I start? My older sister has Parkinson's Disease so when I was describing to her how I sometimes had a bit of shaking in my hands she advised me to get it checked out, not much later as I tend to do things, but now. So I got a referral to a Neurologist who assured me that I only had Essential Tremors which is nothing to worry about. Relieved I called her to let her know, only to find out that was exactly what she had been told as well. Only she didn't have Essential Tremors, she had Parkinson's.

Luckily there was a movement specialist in Tulsa and I was able to get in to see him for a second opinion, after waiting about four months that is. Unlike the neurologist he wasn't willing to write off what I have as Essential Tremors. It might be, then again it might not be. Turns out there are a lot of possibilities. So the movement specialist got this DAT Scan thing setup which will tell me definitively if it is Essential Tremors. If it isn't then.....well, we'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.

It's been over eight months since this whole ordeal started. One wait after another. A little more time to pass and then the scan will be over. Then some more waiting to hear the results. After that I have no idea what will happen. If I'm being honest (and why shouldn't I be) Parkinson's scares the crap out of me. There are so many ideas and stories and things swirling around in my brain and the thought that I could have something that would slowly take away my ability to write or type or somehow bring these stories to life, is terrifying.

I haven't taken advantage of the time I've had in my life to do these things as I feel driven to do. If it's typical to wait until you have a scare or a close call or some kind of worry to get off your butt and actually do those things you've always wanted to do, then I guess that describes me to a T. I'm a very good procrastinator but if I continue to put things off 'til later then eventually there will no longer be a later. I only hope that's not the case and I do have more time it let it all out. We'll see.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.