Thanks for the memories

By Teresa Swartz Roberts

Blog post 65 Copyright 2026

When I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease a lifetime ago, I was going to a local pool three days a week to do water exercise. When I shared my diagnosis with some of my friends there, one of the women said, “Is that one of those diseases that makes you go…?” And she made the International symbol for cuckoo by twirling her finger around her temple.

I said, “Well, it can, but that doesn’t mean I will.”

At this point, a decade later, I have some worries about my thinking, and I decided to share them with you before my brain surgery–DBS, deep brain stimulation.

The first thing to go was executive function. It’s the quality of thinking that allows you to be organized. It’s what kept me in the position of minute-taker in every committee meeting I was ever in. I could take notes on a three-hour discussion and boil it down to readable main points plus detail. A colleague once called my minutes “art.” It’s one of the qualities that made me a good journalist.

Parkinson’s took away that ability. I started writing down what people said and organizing it later. Eventually I just wrote down what people said and turned that in as my minutes. After all, committee work was in addition to my teaching and administration of the writing center and testing program. I had to put my core job first.

It was not until I had been diagnosed and treated with some medication and therapy that I realized how bad my executive function had gotten. When I am on, which means my medications are working properly, I believe my thinking is pretty clear and logical. When I am off, I don’t always make sense.

Sometimes I think I may be pretty darn normal in the area of cognitive changes. What makes me think so? I had family members visiting last month, and we were trying to think of a word. One of us was telling a story–he is 64, I’m 65, and the other person in the conversation is 75. He was telling a story that involved the kind of doctor you go to for your bones and your joints, and we came up with, “Well, it’s got to be osteo something, and then we had gone through osteopath and osteoporosis and osteo this and osteo that, and then I realized, ” No, it’s something else. It also begins with an O.”

The three of us took minutes–not hours but long minutes–to come up with the term orthopedic surgeon. I expect that from myself because I have young-onset Parkinson’s, but I guess my peers are having the same kinds of issues.

I have a confession to make. This is the second time I’ve written the ortho story because I had forgotten that I wrote it down and started it again. Maybe I really do have a problem, or maybe I am just 65 and stressed.

Wish me luck on my brain surgery happening next month. DBS does not necessarily correct thinking, but I remember how the clouds lifted when I was first treated with medication for Parkinson’s. It’s part of what led me to be so happy to be diagnosed. Yay, Parkinson’s!