Doctor, doctor please don’t say its stress
I’ve six years of doctors with that guess.
Patient, patient set your mind at ease
Your symptoms are those of Parkinson’s Disease.
Doctor, doctor tell me please
When will I die of this disease?
Patient, patient have no fears
You will live for many years.
Doctor, doctor I’ve lost my sense of smell.
Does this symptom ring a bell?
Patient, patient this is often true
It does happen to quite a few.
Doctor, doctor I can’t read what I write
My arm is stiff, my fingers tight.
Patient, patient it’s a common fate
Type it out to communicate.
Doctor, doctor I’m such a fool
I find my shirt is soaked with drool.
Patient, patient you should swallow hard
Worst case, Botox may retard.
Doctor, doctor I’m often in tears
What do I tell my family, tell my peers?
Patient, patient be open and frank
Do this and you have me to thank.
Doctor, doctor when I talk, I mumble
All my friends and family grumble.
Patient, patient it happens for sure
Learn to speak LOUD for a cure.
Doctor, doctor I often stumble
Sometimes I trip, fall and tumble.
Patient, patient you must beware
If not, you will wind up with hospital care.
Doctor, doctor I’m early to bed, late to rise
Even then, I’m fatigued with tired eyes.
Patient, patient I’m sure that’s true
All are like this, spare a few.
Doctor, doctor I freeze and shake
What medicine need I take?
Patient, patient just don’t forget
You must take your daily Sinemet.
Doctor, doctor this I know
The amount I need seems to grow.
Patient, patient this is usually true
But with less, your feet will be like glue.
Doctor, doctor pray tell, what’s ahead
To me it matters little, dead is dead.
Patient, patient be calm, at ease
You will die with, not of this disease.
Doctor, doctor that’s a surprise
I thought PD would cause my demise.
Patient, patient not at all
More likely you will choke or fall.
Doctor, doctor I fear not the siren call
But I do not wish to die of choke or fall.
Patient, patient then there is this
It can be of pneumonia or sepsis.
Doctor, doctor I’m glad we met
your words I won’t forget.
Patient, patient that may be true
But half my patients always do.
Doctor, doctor you are too kind
But I do not wish to lose my mind.
Patient, patient you have time
As long as you can write and rhyme.
Wes: It may be a heads up for other PD patients. And/or it may be the best suggestion they’ll ever get . . . if they can find the internal talents to “write and rhyme.”
Hang in there.
Peter
Bravo Wes…it reads like a Fable from La Fontaine with all its wisdom and pointed humor. A courageous as well as strategically informative poem.
Thank you for sharing
Florence
What she said, Wes! Bravo!!
Wes, love the rhythm it can’t be easy. My neighbor reads your blog as she’s going through same thing. Love c
I love your rhyming talent.
An amazing piece of work.
Wesley, Wesley it’s good to see
A report from you in poetry.
Steven, Steven let’s forge ahead
We may be old, but we ain’t dead!
Hi Wes
Keeping up with you through your newsletter even though we have not spoken recently. Keep up the good work and the good fight my friend.
Allen , Grand Cayman
Wes,
What an undertaking! I didn’t know you were a poet.
So glad to hear you are alive and kicking!
Keep at it!
Wes — a splendid way of telling the story. “Doctor, doctor” says longer in the head than the same info in prose. In ancient times, even legal documents were written in poetry, to make them easy to remember. Terrific poem!
Wes…A ‘poet’ and perhaps you did not know it until PD awakened another talent. Have enjoyed your ‘prose’ as well keeping us informed of your courageous battle as you live with this disease.
Think of you often. Love your sense of humor!
So good to hear from you! Another talent found. Keep plugging. You are inspiring many.
Wes, I knew you had a gift for gab, but this was unexpected! Both funny and true. And in perfect meter 🙂
Wes, you have achieved a new level of comic relief! This is worthy of the New Yorker.
This is almost as remarkable as you!! So good, Wes.
Amazing work Wes and so inspiring to us all. Do hang in there. You’re an amazing man.
Wes: Glad to hear from you and to receive proof that you’ve got your head screwed on tighter than over most denizens of the Best Coast and IMO your tactful rhyme-slinging so brilliantly confirms that some docs can at best only manage to make things more annoying if not worse. Inspires me to know you are “hanging in there” with your customary aplomb.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Wes is a poet,
Who the hell knew?
: )
Here we are at the start of another year and the long-in-coming whip snap of cold tearing our faces and hands. Stay warm and soon Spring will bring us cheerful colors and flying sounds.