Sock it to Me
When I was first diagnosed with #The Park, I wasn't given very much information. My neurologist diagnosed me, said I could get a hole drilled in my head, told me to watch a YouTube video about it and sent me on my way. That was the most he ever spoke to me in a year of seeing him.
When I finally got a neurologist who isn't a chump, I got all sorts of information about support groups, Parkinson's boxing, charity walks, and the problem with constipation. But there's one thing they didn't talk about: socks.
You see, Parkinson's can cause some muscle stiffness or rigidity. For me, it's on the right side of my body. My leg doesn't really bend right. I was never very flexible before, but now, especially in the morning when my meds haven't kicked in, I'm very, very stiff along the right side of my body. That means that putting on socks can be challenging. There are some mornings when putting on my socks takes me longer than every other aspect of getting dressed.
So I did what any honest, red-blooded American consumer would do: I bought something on Amazon that looked like it might help. I bought a sock machine. Not really a machine, it's more just a plastic thing with a rope attached to it. It helps you yank on socks. I'm not sure if I'm using it correctly, but whatever, it helps.
With most of my socks, it's pretty good, depending on the quality of the sock. It's definitely reduced the amount of time I spend getting dressed in the morning and reduces the fear I have that eventually I'm going to fall over trying to hop into my socks and be left dead to be devoured by my cats. Not Duffy. Duffy would never. He doesn't have enough front teeth left. But the lil goblin? The lil goblin will devour me like he devours lizards and frogs and anything else he can catch on the non-party patio.