Should Parkinson's patients be driving cars?
Have you ever heard stories of old guys/gals who drive their car into a coffee shop? What usually happens is they pull into the parking lot, start to park the car and hit the gas instead of the brake. BOOM!! Car heads into Starbucks. Give the guy a Venti Latte...is that even a thing?
I'm not that guy...at least not yet.
First, I may be older but I'm not 95. Second, no one has taken away my keys because even if they wanted to, I don't have a car.
What brings up this topic? I've been thinking about trying to drive again for the last couple of years and TODAY WAS THE DAY IT HAPPENED!
Let's take a look back and see why this was epic. I moved into the city in 2006 and there has always been cheap public transportation just a few minutes away. Still I drove fairly regularly until about five years ago. What happened? A lot was Parkinson's Disease related. It took more than a year to figure out how to handle the physical changes and I didn't think driving was a good idea. I didn't want to hurt myself or anyone else.
But...after a couple of years, between the meds and the experience of dealing with PD, I was more confident about trying to drive again.
Three years ago, I asked my youngest daughter if she'd give me a few driving lessons. She was fine with that until we tried. I drove to a restaurant for lunch and although it went okay, I had the feeling neither of us was very comfortable, so I never asked again.
And that's where it stayed until today.
Why now? If not now, when! But a better reason is I have an opportunity to work on a project in October. It's in upper Iowa and close enough to the Dakota's that when it's over, I have a chance to travel a bit and see Mt. Rushmore and whatever else is up there. I suppose I could bus around but who wants to do that. It's driving or not going.
Sooooo...yesterday I called a driving school and set up a refresher lesson. At 8:30am, I hit the road. Two hours of street and highway driving. No cars or pedestrians were damaged in the exercise. Was it like that riding a bike saying? Not quite but I was never nervous and only had one close call. I backed up without looking and the instructor had to hit the brake. Live and learn.
Now about this Parkinson's thing....I've had friends ask about how that might affect this endeavor. What I'll tell you is what I always tell them...I know enough about how my body functions so if I'm having a bad day, I won't drive. If it pushes my itinerary back a day, so be it. Better than hurting someone or worse.
Is it time to get my motor running and head out on the highway? Noooooo...not yet at least. Two hours of practice isn't enough. I still need to do some night driving and maybe drive in the rain but today was a good start. We're a step closer to looking for adventure and finding whatever comes my way.
Related Post: Baby You Can Drive My Car
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