So I am at my new general doctors office. We are talking blood tests, symptoms, brain surgery. Just your typical run of the mill stuff that the Beast (my nickname for Parkinson’s ) has brought to my life . And then I explain to him this new symptom I have been having. “Doc, It’s like I have knee socks on and they are shrinking as I am wearing them. My arms feel like I am wearing evening gloves.. (Now there’s a picture, knee socks and evening gloves. Sounds like something out of a lame porno movie. Don’t get any ideas, I didn’t say I was wearing them, I said it felt like I was wearing them….. BIG difference!). But I digress. So on my arms, it feels like from the wrist up to my elbow they are squeezing me. And to top it off, I feel like I am being strangled. Like someone has got me by the neck and is tightening their grip. My doctor muses upon this information for a few moments and writes something on his computer.

In the quiet solitude of the moment, a song starts creeping into my brain. It’s funny how lots of times songs will just pop into my head that have to do with whatever I am up too. I begin to hum to myself.

I said to my doc….”You know it’s like those compression stockings they give people in the hospital? Or is it support hose? Well whichever, I feel like I am wearing a turtleneck bodysuit made out of that same stuff.” As I explain what it feels like to my doc, he doesn’t look surprised, (or worried – thank goodness!). “Is that the dystonia?” I ask my doc .. He nods yes.

Let me fill you in… Dystonia is a creepy little friend that the Beast invites along on play dates sometimes. The nerve of him! Sorry… just had to slip in some neurological humor there, couldn’t help myself. Dystonia is a movement disorder in which a person’s muscles contract uncontrollably. Well, just add it to my list.

We continue talking about my condition, but a song keeps nagging at my brain. My doc says come back in three weeks. I say good bye and walk down the hallway to the elevator.
When the doors open there is a delivery guy already inside. I walk in and push the button for the 1st floor. We ride down in silence, but in my head this song keeps nagging at me. It is right at the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t place it.

The floors count down. I stretch out my arms in front of me and wiggle my fingers and say “open sesame!” A ding goes off and the doors open, always good for a giggle. The delivery guy chuckles. I step out of the elevator into the lobby.

I walk down the sidewalk towards the car. I pass a few little stores, and the I find myself standing in front of a pet store. I stop to look in the window. Two sleepy puppies are in one window, some Guinea pigs and hamsters in another. I move down to the last window and it is full of different kinds of snakes.

Whoosh! The song finally appears in my head?