Palsy

I don't remember when my hands started shaking. I can remember it for at least 20 years - I am almost 50, now. For a long time, only my left hand shook. I don't mean big, wild movements. I mean a vibration, a tremor. It was enough to make threading a needle challenging without making anything impossible.

These days, there are times when both hands shake, not just the left. The more agitated my mind is, the more the hands shake. A bad day is when I cannot open the flip top on a coke can with my left hand. I have to hold the can in the left and open with my right.

I would, on a bad day, hold a bowl with my left and hold the fork with my right.

A really bad day, I have to hold the bowl with my right hand while trying to feed myself with the left, as it shakes.

I can still remove a splinter and still thread a needle. I just don't know for how long.