Micrographia nuisance

James Parkinson may have been aware of micrographia in patients with shaking palsy (later renamed Parkinson's Disease), when he described, "the hand failing to answer with exactness to the dictates of the will". More specifically, according to Wikipedia, people with micrographia have difficulty:

• in routine activities due to lack of overall control of movement
• maintaining the scale of movements
• with reduced amplitude of movement
• with complex, sequential movements

I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in October 2010 and my handwritten notes show the beginnings of micrographia for about two years before that. I presently have problems with fine motor control associated with handwriting, computer keyboard and mouse, piano keyboard, guitar, and various domestic tools and tasks.

I can still doodle without problems using a pen, and I can manage to write large so long as it is thought of as calligraphy and I deal with one letter at a time. The writing can be almost normal when I begin a new session but it quickly deteriorates first as ‘just smallish but still legible’ and then ‘very small and more or less flat line’. It is no longer possible to think of something new while writing the last thought. Full attention has to be given to the immediately present and even then it is not always possible to consciously control what is going on.

Typing at the computer keyboard has two problems – hitting the wrong keys (both as a near miss and as completely in the wrong place) and, holding a key too long so that it repeats. These typos can be fixed but it is a slow process and there is sometimes a freezing of the mind and fingers. I sometimes think of this as arrogance and laziness but most often there is acceptance of the way things are; and there is gratefulness for word processors. Linked to this I find it easier to use the mouse than the fingerpad. But there can be a freezing of the mind and fingers on the mouse. This does not last long but it can be frustrating.

I never was a skilled piano player but I could vamp in live sessions and I used a General Midi keyboard to input to music programmes on the computer. Accuracy and timing are now giving problems but I am still able to use the one-finger accompaniment system on the Yahama YPT-230. This is good enough for the present project that involves making demos of Paulina and my tunes.

Finger picking is no longer possible on the guitar and strumming is not perhaps as timeous as it might be. I can still hold down first position chords in C, G, and A but the left hand freezes before very long. I rarely take a guitar out of its box these days.

There are many tools and tasks that give problems. For example screwdriver, can opener, closing the zip on my fleece, cleaning pans using steel wool. There is not much option other than to muster the patience and accept the awkward slowness.

Fortunately, as yet, there is gracious acceptance and I am not spooked by "the hand failing to answer with exactness to the dictates of the will". But it is a nuisance.