No big deal.
Except it didn't go away.
"I had a suspicion," said Sandy, 56, a registered nurse at O'Fallon Family Medicine.
Her mother-in-law had Parkinson's disease. So had some of her home-care patients who, depending on the severity of the degenerative nerve disease, had trouble walking, grasping, talking or swallowing.
Her primary physician made the diagnosis. Another year went by before her neurologist started her on medication.
Now, she stays healthy by exercising, eating right, taking her medicine - 15 pills a day, including vitamins - and resting when she needs to.
"I go for a walk every day to keep myself flexible," she said, sitting in a quiet office at the usually bustling practice. "I've heard tango dancing may help. My husband and I enjoy dancing a lot."
Sometimes, a year goes by without a change. Stress exacerbates Parkinson's symptoms.
This past summer, she was put to the test. Both of Sandy's parents were ill. Her 77-year-old mother was recuperating from back surgery. After nine weeks in the hospital, her 84-year-old father came home with feeding tubes.
"I would do tube feedings at night," she said. "These guys here - the doctors and the staff - were wonderful. There were days when I came in late or when I didn't come in. During the time he was critical, I would spend time at the hospital."
Her illness may have motivated her parents.
"They didn't want me to be affected," she said.
Parkinson's also motivates Sandy, a tall, trim brunette with a warm smile.
"It makes me cherish each day I can be up and around," she said. "Maybe I want to do something instead of waiting - visit my son (Scott, 29) more in Arizona."
Getting on with life
Since Sandy's diagnosis, her life is the same and different. She and husband Don live in a Millstadt ranch-style home purchased before she was diagnosed.
"It's on one level," she said. "The laundry is in the hallway. It's good for someone who might anticipate being physically challenged. It's easily adaptable."
In January, she switched from home-health nurse to triage nurse in an office setting.
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"It's not as much intricate work. I do a lot of phone work."
She calls in prescriptions, talks to patients about their concerns and teaches diabetics how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
"I loved home care," she said, but increased tremors and tensing up on her left side worried her. "You go to a home and you're there by yourself. Maybe you have to do something you didn't anticipate.
"Someone's spurting blood. You have to apply pressure with one hand and call 911 with the other. When you have one good hand and one not as good, it's hard to do stuff."
Her medicine made her sleepy.
"If I was going to drive to Chester, I'd nod off a little bit."
Her energy level took a hit, too, but it's hard to tell.
Over the weekend, she volunteered behind the counter at St. James' cake walk booth Saturday afternoon, stayed for the Schlactfest's sausage supper with her husband and in-laws, and on Sunday, headed to Columbia's fall fest.
"We walked around and enjoyed the day. My husband and I, we don't stay home. It's just too pretty. Sometimes here lately, I use a cane because of pain in my left hip."She also attends two monthly support group meetings in St. Louis. They talk about symptoms, ways of coping, new breakthroughs. In one group, she's among the youngest. The average age to be diagnosed is 60.
"I can learn from what they have gone through, physically and financially."
Supportive family
Sandy, a 1971 Belleville West graduate, finds joy in family, friends and low-key adventures.
"I go antiquing. We're going to a family wedding in Geneva, Ohio. There's a covered bridge festival. I intend to have fun, walk around and see the sights."
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The Steppigs visit their son in Phoenix twice a year and help their daughter fix up the 100-year-old house she bought in St. Louis.
Last Valentine's Day, she surprised her husband with a mini dachsund named Cowboy that was rescued from a Texas puppy farm.
"He was shocked," she said. "What drove me to get Cowboy is I wanted to do something special for him because he's been so supportive. I wanted to see him enjoy the dog, and we have."
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Don took good care of his mother when she had Parkinson's.
"It made me appreciate him more. I know he will stick by me and help me if I need it."
No one notices
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Sandy gradually, sometimes reluctantly, told people she had Parkinson's.
"You don't want to stand up and announce it to the world," she said. "I'm kind of a private person."
It was especially hard telling her son and daughter.
"They knew Grandma had suffered, and, there at the end would fall a lot.
"My daughter (Laura) cried. She's 25 now. She realized that it could be a rough road for me in the long run, but she's seen it's OK."
Friends and co-workers are surprised.
"Most people say, 'I couldn't tell' and that's what the doctor here said. I am back in the corner. It's my leg. It's under the table. No one notices."
Sandy recently passed a nursing physical that required her to run 10 minutes on a treadmill, push a bed around, and help move a sand dummy.
No wonder co-worker, Dr. Ken Reinert, was surprised when she told him at lunch one day.
"You dropped a bomb," said the staff's senior doctor, standing across from Sandy in the clinic counter.
"It was kind of hard to come out and say that," she said. "It was hard to find the right way."
Dr. Reinert praised her compassionate ways.
"You can cure sometimes, care always. Sandy epitomizes that. Putting (patients) at ease, calming them down. That is priceless.
"A medical condition is what you make of it," said the doctor. "Sandy doesn't perceive herself as ill."
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To see more of the Belleville News-Democrat, Ill., or to subscribe, visit http://www.belleville.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. Cherishing Life: Disease Motivates Local NurseOriginally from: http://www.nursinglink.monster.com/news/articles/9013-cherishing-life-disease-motivates-local-nurse
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