1. Initial Days

My father, who I will refer to as Appa, was first diagonised with Parkinson's Disease in 1991. He was just 42 years old at the time. His father passed away in July, 1991 and during the visit there for the last rites to be performed, he noticed some of the symptoms of Parkinson's. He visited a neurologist after returning to Hyderabad who, after conducting a few tests, delivered the verdict that he had Parkinson's. I was all of 10 years of age at the time and obviously, I was completely oblivious to his condition. I don't remember if anyone actually mentioned to me that he had Parkinson's at the time.

I can only imagine Appa's reaction to the disease. He must have been shattered but I vaguely remember him putting in a whole lot of effort into researching about the disease. He must have realized the magnitude of the disease and the effect that it would have on his life and the life of his family, pretty quickly. He was immediately on medication to help him slow the progress of the disease. I do know that he was able to live his life as usual for a few years - at least until 1999 or so. Right through this time, no one really told me nor did I bother to find out more about the disease itself. Appa had a surgery in 1996 at the Manipal Hospital in Bangalore. I was not told about the seriousness of the surgery - it was a brain surgery performed by Dr. Venkatraman who was experimenting with a technique to stop the tremors on one side of the body. The surgery was successful in so much that Appa's tremors on the right side of his body stopped completely.

The initial years had seen an increase in the tremors on the right side of the body but post the surgery, it stopped completely. Time moved on, people recommended various treatment techniques to help combat the progression of the disease. My mother and he even traveled to Kerala for 3 - 4 weeks to undergo Ayurvedic treatment at Kottakal. All these were honestly, of no avail. Even during this time, I had no cognizance of the severity of the disease or the affect that it would have in our life later on. The credit for all this must go to my parents. Not once did I have to compromise on my studies or on any of my activities because of his deteriorating condition.

There were other treatments attempted - Reiki, Accupressure, homeopathy, you name it and it was given a shot. I remember that we traveled to Mhou in Madhya Pradesh, to an Army base station thanks to Appa's friend, Colonel Virk. We met with a Doctor there who suggested Accupressure and even trained Amma and I in that so we would be able to apply it on Appa. This continued for a few months as well. His sleep patterns changed - he was finding it difficult to sleep at night and we even had an audio cassette from the Doctor which would supposedly help him sleep. Nothing worked for more than a few days.

In the meanwhile, our life carried on - we bought a new flat in Secunderabad. I was heavily involved in the legwork at the time. I would visit the construction site often and report on the progress being made. It was in 1998 that we finally moved in to the 3 bedroom apartment. Appa had stopped driving by that time. He was exhibiting some of the classic symptoms of the disease such as an inability to control his motion. He would find it difficult to stop walking at times, it would appear as if he were being pushed suddenly. While accelerating in the car, he wouldn't have control on his foot which would keep the pedal pushed to the floor which even lead to a small accident on the road. He gave up driving soon after.

In hindsight, it surprises me that we actually went ahead and bought a car in 2000, registered in his name. He did not drive the car, but he did ensure that he had taught Amma driving well before this. It would prove to be one of his many prescient moves. The years 2001-02 brought about a lot of turbulence in his office life.