The Competition
I think of myself as a competitive person. I’ve been involved in competitive events since elementary school. My dad was a coach, my sister still competes in tennis, and I played college basketball, recruited from high school. I was competitive in city sports while I was in medical practice. I still compete.
It is not unexpected, therefore, that I have been thinking about my “record” against Parkinson’s, or what I call, “The Animal.” I know that I have scored against The Animal, but the chronic slow progression seems to be wearing on me. It may finally win but maybe not if I am felled by something else. Where do I stand in a win-loss column? I created annual summaries of my journey, just like a season record in soccer and football. I’m thinking in terms of Wins, Losses, and Ties.
Seasons 2007-2012
To be fair, we will start with 2007 and the November I was diagnosed. Score one for The Animal and as I was “dazed and confused” for the remainder of 2007 and score the first part of 2008 for The Animal, but then we went on a cruise, and I got even with medical control in 2008. So, 2008 goes down as a tie. I think that is fair.
In 2009 I had my total knee replacement, got total relief from pain, and we went to Santorini Greece, and I walked further than I had walked in years, so I won 2009. I finished the decade one win, one loss, and one tie.
Alice Ann and I have three grown children, Lisa (45), John (43), and James (41) and they (win, win, win) have been incredibly supportive through all of my battles with Parkinson’s.
The year 2010 was a good one for me at work. We had moved into the new Texas Hospital Association (THA) building in 2008, things were going well with the staff, the legislative agenda, homelife, and hobbies. I had started building the gigantic treehouse in the backyard at home, our daughter Lisa had two growing young boys. Julie and James had a three-year-old boy, then in the spring, they added our first granddaughter Grace. All are safe and sound. Our other son John was working at a prestigious architecture firm in Houston. We all met in DC while James was at Arlington National Cemetery as a company commander in the 3rd infantry regiment, The Old Guard.
I smoked the year 2010! 2-1-1 for me.
In 2011 and 2012 my tremor started getting worse on the right. We enjoyed a cruise to the Balkans. I received an award from Southwestern University, I started writing again, John married Eileen, and I had my first DBS surgery in March. I went to DC to accept an award from the American Hospital Association in May. Owen was born to Lisa in the spring and Anna was born to Julie and James after a rough transition. Anna spent a few weeks in ICU but was fine after all. Whew!
Internists are usually not involved in pregnancies, but I had been called to the recovery room enough while in practice that my view of pregnancy was as a 9-month illness that only ended with the risky explosion of transition at the end. I won those two years with DBS and grandchildren safely here. After the birth of healthy babies and scary times, “my team” was unscathed. To top it off, John married Eileen, and my mom, now 89, sat on the front row at their wedding.
I was up 4-1-1—kicking The Animal’s rear end.
2013-2018
2013 started great then turned sour with a second DBS surgery. They had trouble controlling my tremor, and it looked as if I would lose 2013, but I had a revision that gave me new hope. We moved to Georgetown as I wound down my work at the THA.
In early 2014 I retired at 64, but my tremor would not come under control, and it was looking bleak, but Eileen had grandchild number seven with Jack born in late 2014. I had been recruited by Texas A&M Medical School to teach leadership, made the rank of associate professor, all was good. It had become clear to me that this disease never stays the same, the challenges change, and I had to adjust my game to counter The Animal’s offense. I was reeling, but my defense adjusted. Great year! Up 6-1-1. No question.
I was off to a good start in 2015 and our daughter Lisa helped me discover Rock Steady Boxing in Austin. I interviewed with Kristi Richards in November and ended the year addicted to intense boxing therapy sessions. Mid-year we were able to go to hot, sweaty, and wonderful Disney World with Lisa’s family and I bunked with my oldest grandson, Alex the pirate. In the fall I switched doctors and she got me tuned up and my tremor was gone in 2 weeks! How could I lose that year?
I was on a streak at 7-1-1. I never made 7 free throws in a row in a game but now looking back, I was on a streak. I had been so focused on what was wrong that I had not counted all the positive things happening in and around me.
2016 was uneventful by family standards and all was well. I can’t give any credit to The Animal for “uneventful,” but I can take the credit for a year in which I saw no progression.
2017 started with James’ back in Afghanistan, although safer than the first tour. He had a staff job as General Nicholson’s aide, I got to go quail hunting at Jerry’s in South Texas, and Annie and I went up the Columbia River from Portland on a riverboat, retracing Lewis and Clark’s trip. Charlie (John’s second son) came in November in a scary 45-minute burst, literally, into the world. John seemed happy to be working for Perkins Will and Lisa was about to decide to leave her work and focus on being a full-time mom. We were so thankful to have been at John’s house when Charlie came into the world. Charlie’s birth verified my decision forty years earlier not to become an Ob-Gyn!!
With the safe arrival of our eighth and last grandchild, how could l lose? We took new border collie puppies to Lisa’s for Christmas. James was to be in Afghanistan for another six months. I was still on a streak at 9-1-1.
2018 got going with a call from James, asking if his oldest could spend spring break with us? We had a great time, going to Jeff Sutton’s ranch for three days and he went back refreshed, ready to reengage and finish the semester. I went to Harbor Springs for a week in June to see a buddy and finished the summer with James promoted to Lt. Colonel. Lisa’s crew came during summer and James, John, and I worked on a new treehouse. All 5 of the James Stultz’s were here 2 weeks during their transition before command and that was incredibly special. I went to Pittsburgh for baseball games with two buds, as we have done for 25 years. Alice Ann and I got to see our grandkids play basketball, swim competitively, and play lacrosse.
I was crushing it! No way I can give the animal 2018. Now 10-1-1.
2019 to the Present
2019 started with our oldest grandson going quail hunting with me and ended with our architect giving me a knife-making kit for Christmas. Our soldier came home safely from his third tour, and we visited Ft. Campbell in April. We had the kids several times in Georgetown, and we went to Houston a couple of times. We went back to Campbell to see James’ Change of Command events and for him to take command of the Rakkasan Battalion, 187 infantry regiment, part of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101 Airborne Division. My Mom died in late October at age 96, but The Animal had nothing to do with that. Mom was independent until she died. I mention the various trips especially because 2020 was locked down. We had just seen our kids and grandkids when Covid struck.
11-1-1.
2020 was a Covid year almost from start to finish, but no one in the family got ill, and we stayed busy inside and out during a trying year for all. I am so glad my mom did not have to be quarantined for all of 2020, having her food delivered to her room, cut off from Sara (my sister), and trapped in her facility. She would have been miserable.
Now, 2021 is off and running. I’m still writing, mowing 4 acres, making knives, and DBS is still awesome. We went to Ft. Campbell as James was applauded as outgoing commander, John et al. came to visit Memorial Day and we will see Lisa and the boys after Camp Longhorn in 2 weeks. Boxing has started back, I had my Michigan bud here to chainsaw dead trees here over a weekend and all is feeling good, thanks to Medtronics and my DBS adjustment.
Standings
So, I am claiming a record of 12-1-1 with a run of victories, heading halfway into the 2021 season, maintaining as best I can. I have given up ladders, heavy lifting, hunting out of deer blinds, overseas vacations, and worrying about the Cowboys. Those little things do not seem too much to give up for a 71-year-old. And I am still able to make knives, drive, and shoot feral hogs at Jeffrey’s ranch. What I have had to give up is not enough to even register a point for The Animal. Many robust 71-year-old men give up ladders.
I have much to be thankful for and need to keep that offense front and center, not sit in time outs making lists of all my problems. At times, I need to “get my lip up.” I can still hear my dad say, “If your lip drops any lower, you’re going to step on it.” Life is much better than I sometimes make it out to be. I need to keep that front and center and not be nearsighted. All our kids (and grandkids) have current and future challenges, but what would life be if it were otherwise? As Coach Dugan (Tom Hanks) said in A League of Their Own, “Of course, it’s hard. If it was easy everyone would do it!”
When I look hard at my life journey, I have much I have been blessed with, especially the last 15 years. Although I live with a progressive degenerative disease, I am doing well, but that must be internalized by me to appreciate the gifts! It cannot be great if I do not realize and accept the gifts and blessings I have received. I need to continue to look up and see the bigger scoreboard, not just my latest free-throw effort. To do otherwise or say differently would be a disservice to the last 14 years. I am doing great and looking forward to continuing to kick The Animal’s behind as admittedly, I continue to get worse.
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Photo by Jason Weingardt on Unsplash
Dan Stultz MD is a retired physician who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 14 years ago at the age of 57. He practiced internal medicine in San Angelo Texas for 28 years and became the President/CEO of Shannon Health System. He served as President /CEO of the Texas Hospital Association from 2007-2014 working on medical and health policy. He served as guest faculty at the Texas A&M Medical School in Round Rock and retired in 2016. He and Alice live in Georgetown, Texas.