– Memories of a life well lived are most agreeable
The best thing about dying slowly, which I consider myself so far lucky enough to be able to do, is that the flash of poignant moments from your past life you allegedly see when you die is spread out over a longer while.
How long remains unknown to most of us. Even PD does not confer this knowledge. “Most people die with it,” my first neurologist told me, “rather than from it”–presumably, by way of reassurance.
PD imparts a sort of lucidity about dying. It also masks the effects of aging, which is proceeding in the normal way at the same time that one’s nervous system is eroding. The patient tends to forget that many symptoms of PD, unsteadiness of gait, fatigue, weakness of the legs, incontinence, loss of dexterity, et cetera et cetera, are shared and suffered by all old folks