Ginny, I did not know that your father had Parkinson's, too. It's interesting about these stages because my husband never went from point to point to point. His symptoms cross over the lines and some things were coming and going and he had cycles and phases and some things were just getting worse and worse and worse. I feel very lucky, too, that his cognitive has been mainly strong throughout. He just had DBS and it is working like a miracle so far, though his pain and stiffness continue, but we just started the adjustments. However, the pain and stiffness may not go away. It will be hard on him if that's the case, but to the outside world, it is night and day in terms of facial expression, energy level and movement. He was a good candidate for it. Anyway, your advice on here is so appreciated by many, and I hope you have a good day and weekend with some walks outside for much needed time for yourself!

Does it really matter?

My husband skipped over stages 1 and 2. We didn't notice the issues he was having since he was getting older and we simply saw his slowing down as normal aging. He had always spoken softly and had tiny writing, and his tremor was very faint and intermittent. It wasn't until he started falling that we realized that something was wrong. Since my father had had Parkinson's, I put together his slower walking and hunched posture with the other symptoms and suggested to the doctor that it might be PD. It took a while to convince the doctor and longer still to convince my husband. When he started festinating and falling, he finally agreed to see a neurologist. Six years later, he is still at the same stage, I think. He rarely falls and the meds stopped his slight tremor. He is just much much slower. He is still able to take care of himself, though cognitively he has slowed down too. I've taken over running the household, driving, etc. But normal activities of daily living are fine.