<p><em>Keepin&rsquo; On:</em> <em>Living Well with Parkinson&rsquo;s Disease</em></p><p>Robert J. Silver</p><p>Synopsis</p><p>Written for fellow Parkinson&rsquo;s patients, their families, and their friends<em>, Keepin&rsquo; On </em>chronicles a life of love, loss, longing, work, sports, travel, friendship, and intimacy&mdash;all against the backdrop of progressive Parkinson&rsquo;s disease. Twenty chapter scenes explore issues ranging from the frustrating unpredictability of prescribed pharmaceuticals; loss of function; hope and inspiration; overcoming challenge; generosity and the kindness of strangers; the helpless concern of friends and family; expert medical care; comic relief; and more. <em>Keepin&rsquo; On</em><em> </em>defiantly rejects the initial prophecy&mdash;the crippling of body and mind. It&rsquo;s one person&rsquo;s version of a condition that varies widely in its symptomatic expressions. <em>Keepin&rsquo; On</em> recounts binds, grinds, and occasional triumphs in a continuing quest for a fulfilling life despite Parkinson&rsquo;s disease.</p><p>The narrative episodes offer an intimate entr&eacute;e into a world alien to most, where each morning begins in semi-paralysis. As the daily cocktail of medicines takes hold, near normal mobility results, only to revert by day&rsquo;s end to the immobilized state in which it all began. And though there is nothing funny about Parkinson&rsquo;s, some of the manuscript&rsquo;s scenes do relate laughable moments. Examples include walking backward when unable to walk forward; pleading with an imperious ski-school director to understand that the author&rsquo;s aggressive skiing is actually the disability-driven lack of control; or a new female dance partner mistaking a hand tremor as the author waving to another woman dancer.</p><p>The writing is intended to help inoculate Parkinson&rsquo;s patients against the soul-savaging corrosiveness of hopelessness and despair, and to comfort friends and family&mdash;awash in feelings of worried impotence&mdash;who love and care for them. In the end<em>, Keepin&rsquo; On</em> recounts a refusal to surrender to Parkinson&rsquo;s and encouragement to Silver&rsquo;s fellow Parkinson&rsquo;s patients to keep on keepin&rsquo; on.</p>