The long goodbye

JON: OK, I’ve stolen the title which normally refers to Alzheimer’s and the pain the dementia causes as the patient’s personality gets up and goes for a long walk. But as our move to Denmark gets closer and closer – with the old house now SOLD – I too am finding myself saying goodbye over and over. To my Dutch friends there are hugs and earnest promises to visit, but to my team of health professionals, all of whom have been competent and caring to a fault, it’s a real farewell as I am highly unlikely to see them again. So in no particular order, it’s goodbye to my favourite:

Physiotherapist
Movement disorder specialist
Parkinson’s nurse
General practitioner
Sleep clinic staff
Couple’s therapist
Psychiatrist
Social worker
Dietician
Psychologist
Pain clinic staff
Occupational therapist
Speech therapist
Neurologist

With friend like these, who needs enemas? I just hope that I will land with as good and dedicated a team in Denmark.

Very soon now, we will get the keys to the new house, and not for the first time by any means we will start a new life in a new country (well, new to me anyway). We should be used to it by now – Hong Kong, London, Holland, now Denmark. Moving is supposed to be as stressful as getting a divorce, but I think we have it down to a tee. Sure, it takes a lot more planning and requires an earlier start now that I have PD, but we’re pretty good at this stuff.

Next week, we meet our new neighbors – I’m keeping my fingers crossed that all will be well, particularly that the village is free of psychopaths (unlike here, where feral teenagers shot at us through the window) and fundamentalists (unlike here, where everyone knows which church everyone else attends, and knows that we don’t attend at all).

And it will be interesting to compare the Dutch and the Danish health care systems. Marie has ferreted out the name of a GP near the new house who has experience with Parkinson’s, and her sister knows which neurologist I should request. We’ll just have to take it from there. I’m sure you’ll hear all about it here.