My Degeneration: A Journey Through Parkinson’s 9780271085791

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My Degeneration

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susan merrill squier and ian williams, general editors editorial collective MK Czerwiec (Northwestern University) Michael J. Green (Penn State University College of Medicine) Kimberly R. Myers (Penn State University College of Medicine) Scott T. Smith (Penn State University)

other titles in the series: MK Czerwiec, Ian Williams, Susan Merrill Squier, Michael J. Green, Kimberly R. Myers, and Scott T. Smith, Graphic Medicine Manifesto Ian Williams, The Bad Doctor: The Troubled Life and Times of Dr. Iwan James

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Books in the Graphic Medicine series are inspired by a growing awareness of the value of comics as an important resource for communicating about a range of issues broadly termed “medical.” For healthcare practitioners, patients, families, and caregivers dealing with illness and disability, graphic narrative enlightens complicated or difficult experience. For scholars in literary, cultural, and comics studies, the genre articulates a complex and powerful analysis of illness, medicine, and disability and a rethinking of the boundaries of “health.” The series includes original comics from artists and non-artists alike, such as self-reflective “graphic pathographies” or comics used in medical training and education, as well as monographic studies and edited collections from scholars, practitioners, and medical educators.

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A Journey Through

Parkinson’s

Peter Dunlap-Shohl The Pennsylvania State University Press | University Park, Pennsylvania

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Library of Congress Cataloging-inPublication Data Dunlap-Shohl, Peter, 1958– , author, book artist My degeneration : a journey through Parkinson’s / Peter Dunlap-Shohl. p. cm. Summary: “A narrative of the author’s battle with Parkinson’s disease. Traces the author’s journey through depression, the disease symptoms, the medication and its side effects, the author’s interactions with family, and the mental and physical changes caused by the disease”—Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-0-271-07102-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) I. Title. [DNLM: 1. Dunlap-Shohl, Peter, 1958– . 2. Parkinson Disease—psychology— Cartoons. 3. Parkinson Disease— psychology—Personal Narratives. 4. Parkinson Disease—diagnosis— Cartoons. 5. Parkinson Disease— diagnosis—Personal Narratives. 6. Parkinson Disease—drug therapy— Cartoons. 7. Parkinson Disease—drug therapy—Personal Narratives. WL 359] RC382 616.8’33—dc23 2015020290

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Copyright © 2015 The Pennsylvania State University All rights reserved Printed in Hong Kong by Regent Publishing Services Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA 16802–1003 The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses. It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Material, ansi z39.48–1992.

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To Pamela Dunlap-Shohl, my wife

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Contents

Acknowledgments  ix

1. Diagnosis Blues  1 2. Learning to Speak Parkinson’s  17 3. Interview with a Killer  22 4. Moping and Coping  30 5. The Parkinson’s Prism  50 6. Island of the Caring and Competent  68 7. A Different Path  84 8. Diagnosis, Reprise  93

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Acknowledgments This work would not exist if Steve Aufrecht hadn’t convinced me that I had something different to add to the mass of existing accounts of struggles with Parkinson’s Disease. It would be far more difficult to follow without the guidance of Kendra Boileau and others at Penn State Press. It would have been less informative without the generosity and research of Dr. David Heydrick. It would be markedly clumsier without the patient suggestions of my sister Margo Shohl Rosen, and it would be unthinkable without the stalwart love of my wife, Pamela Dunlap-Shohl, to whom it is dedicated.

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