A sense of humour is vital

Living with any chronic condition, can sap one's energy and literally drain the very spirit out of a person who once was the life and soul of the party. Staying positive is absolutely the ONLY way to fight back any serious disease. My husband and I both have a good sense of humour, dry and British it may be, but never short of a pun or a quick play on words, we always find something to laugh about.

I seem to be a constant source of amusement to my family for I still manage to get up to many antics despite poor health. My husband was beside himself with laughter the other night as he stood watching me in the garden. Why, you may very well ask? Well now that I've got your curiosity, I'll let you in on the scenario he found so funny.

We have a Dogue de Bordeaux, and if you are unfamiliar with this breed of dog, let's just say, one of their outstanding features, apart from being extremely large and imposing, is that this breed is notorious for a rather unappealing characteristic, which is their constant slobbering and drooling. It is for this very reason, we feed our dog outside in the garden, for a delicate eater, she is not! No one would want the slobber and drool that ensue during a meal in their home, making the floor slippery and a danger zone for everyone, in particular someone with Parkinson's.

I took her bowl of food outside and she dived straight in, but as she did so, it began to rain. I didn't want her dry dog food diluted by rain water turning into a sloshy thick soup, so I fetched an oversized umbrella. It's the kind of umbrella under which you could huddle half a football team! So there I stood in the rain, dutifully holding the large umbrella over myself and our dog whilst she finished her dinner. My husband could not believe his eyes, watching me lovingly keep my favourite four legged friend dry whilst she gobbled down every last morsel. Of course we both hurried inside as soon as the bowl was empty. I guess there isn't much I wouldn't do for our devoted dog who loyally is always by my side looking after me.

I didn't write an article this week for The Huffington Post, but instead submitted a letter regarding living with chronic pain. I came across this letter by chance and unfortunately it is anonymous, but felt compelled to share it with you, for it expresses living with chronic pain so plainly and well, I hope you'll take a minute or two to read it.