Peter M. Hunt's Blog, page 19

Part Four: Chasing the ball of life.

Humans are creatures of the earth, flesh and blood animals that possess an innate, youthful urge to move, to dart wildly in a celebratory merge of body, mind, and soul. Just like a healthy dog, we need exercise, not only to mechanically grease the inner workings of our physical entity but to also rest the mind and feed the imaginative seedlings of the soul.

Parkinson’s makes all activity hard, just a slip away from disaster on a tightrope walk above depression’s muddy swamp. In “The Lost Intr...

Part Three: Parkinson’s helped resuscitate my soul.

“The Lost Intruder, the Search for a Missing Navy Jet” is largely about shedding old identities, which allowed me to create fresh characteristics and behaviors based on who I wanted to be. Wiping my identity slate clean was daunting. But merely existing without the foundation of an internalized self-portrait, as I did for some time after Parkinson’s Deep Brain Stimulation surgery, was profoundly disturbing, especially while trying to avoid being defined by the outside world.

Working through t...

Part Two: When even coffee turns—Parkinson’s sneaky demons.

The reconstitution of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) symptoms after Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery is slow, but the path well-worn from previous travel. My single prescription medication, Rytary, is a Levodopa-based drug like the Sinemet that had grown clumsy in 2014 due to the large doses required. Levodopa is essentially artificial Dopamine, the neurotransmitter that goes missing in a Parkinson’s patient.

I carefully time my dose of Rytari at five intervals daily. The goal is to keep the bo...

Part One: Living with Parkinson’s Disease after Deep Brain Stimulus (DBS) surgery.

Now in my 14th year since Parkinson’s Disease (PD) diagnosis at age 43, life is more vibrant than ever in physical activity and meaningful social engagement, offering up moments of rewarding personal reflection. Although not diagnosed in “old” age, it seems that PD has lured me to an enjoyment, a trust, in the process of life that, ironically, might lay the foundation for a sense of peace through advancing years and into death.

My 2014 Deep Brain Stimulation surgery (DBS) set back the PD-symp...

Creative wonder

Over the past three months, I’ve had the opportunity to travel and speak about my experiences of self-discovery and the lost Intruder. At each venue, invariably a stranger will seek advice on how to tailor my personal lessons to their lives, to learn the secret in overcoming long-term adversity.

There is no secret, and there is no overcoming.

Trying to deny a place for life’s hardships, the inevitable setbacks, and heartbreaks, clever attempts to circumvent the universe’s trials are doomed to...

Open letter to North End Fitness

“Although I owned a boat, I had no sonar, metal detector or any practical method of surveying the ocean bottom. With an incurable illness, no prospect of financial reward, little chance of success, brain surgery looming, and one child in college with another about to start, I was not in a position to spend thousands of dollars on a search. Still, desperate for a distraction, anything to pry my focus away from the disease, I decided—the hell with Parkinson’s. I’m doing it.” – From the “The Los...

Smashwords interview of Peter Hunt

What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
The prospect of touching a single individual and making a positive difference in his or her understanding of life, especially if they have Parkinson’s disease. I strive to be the best listener possible. This often means traveling with another down their personal path of self-discovery, an always fascinating and sometimes enlightening invitation to view another’s soul. If this sounds like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, please remember that I used to be a...

Smashword interview of Peter Hunt

What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
The prospect of touching a single individual and making a positive difference in his or her understanding of life, especially if they have Parkinson’s disease. I strive to be the best listener possible. This often means traveling with another down their personal path of self-discovery, an always fascinating and sometimes enlightening invitation to view another’s soul. If this sounds like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, please remember that I used to be a...

Gifted a Life Ring–Farewell to Eric

Eric did not come empty-handed when he pulled his full-sized pickup truck into my driveway late last spring. As I approached the driver’s side door, he abruptly floored the accelerator, causing the big V-8 to thunder in neutral, what I would only begin to understand much later was a frustrated fist-shake at the world.

Grinding the bare stub of a cigarette into the floorboard with shaking hands, he brushed my outstretched palm aside as he gave me a big hug. I hugged him back, after all, we had...

Appreciating the rain

Perhaps like most people, I grew up loving the sun and grumbling about the rain, not-so-secretly wishing that the summers would last forever. It never crossed my mind to question this assumption, maybe because the clear sky meant running and jumping in outdoor play as a child, although I do recall a few youthful antics sliding around in a muddy downpour. The sun came to mean limitless possibility, the rain often a harshly negative reality, and these views solidified and strengthened into adu...