Atwood book in second edition

She’s not as popular as Bangor scaremeister Steven King, or as time-tested as Waterford humorist Artemis Ward. But Hampden author Glenna Wotton Atwood, who died in 1998, has a loyal international following who will be happy to know that her immensely readable and useful book “Living Well with Parkinson’s” has recently been published in a second edition.

Parkinson’s disease affects about 1.5 million Americans, and about 7,000 people in Maine. Its cause is unknown. There is no known cure and no real surprise in learning that many of its victims suffer from acute anger, frustration and depression.

Symptoms are caused by a gradual deterioration of the nerve centers in the brain that control movement. Changes in the production of important neurological chemicals interfere with muscle control and coordination. Early symptoms usually include tremors in the hands and feet, progressing to the arms, legs and head. The ability to speak is affected. Walking becomes difficult and falls are common. In the later stages of the disease, memory, emotions and thought processes may be impaired.

“When Glenna was diagnosed, all the material that was available on Parkinson’s was very clinical and very depressing,” recalled Glenna’s husband, Blaine Atwood, in a phone conversation Wednesday. There were few physicians who specialized in managing the disease, he said, and the Atwoods routinely traveled to Boston for medical care. Dismayed by the lack of information and the dreary silence surrounding the condition, they dedicated themselves to improving the lives of Parkinson’s patients and their caregivers.

“At that time there were no support groups in Maine,” Blaine Atwood said. He and Glenna started the first such groups in Bangor and Augusta. In 1982, when Glenna resigned from her teaching position at Hampden Academy, she started writing about her disease. Much of the first edition of “Living Well with Parkinson’s” was written on the road as the Atwoods toured the country in their motor home, visiting some of the sites they had always wanted to see.

“She wrote and I drove,” Blaine Atwood said. “The book was written by a person living with Parkinson’s day by day. She wrote how she felt about it and how she dealt with it.”

The result is a frank, pragmatic and consistently positive collection of anecdotes, observations and advice for making the best of the bad situation that is Parkinson’s. From tips on making the home safe to talking productively with doctors to maintaining relationships with spouses and adult children, the book never flags in its sensible, sensitive approach.

“While there is no way to eliminate all the frustrations you will experience with Parkinson’s disease, there is a positive approach to coping, if you will make that choice,” Glenna Atwood wrote in a chapter on managing frustration. That it was her choice is clear on every page of this friendly volume.

The first edition “Living Well with Parkinson’s” was received enthusiastically and launched the Atwoods on a busy schedule of speaking engagements across the country. Glenna Atwood received appreciative mail from as far away as Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Recharged by the contact with other patients and their caregivers, and encouraged by the attention Parkinson’s was beginning to receive, the author started on a revised second edition of her popular book. At the time of her death from a heart condition in 1998, the revision was only partially complete.

Bangor Daily News editor Roxanne Moore Saucier took on the task of pulling together the second edition of “Living Well with Parkinson’s.” It contains updated information about Glenna Atwood’s observations and activities before her death, encouraging news about progress made in treating the disease and up-to-date resources for information, support and assistive devices.

Blaine Atwood said Wednesday that in the two decades since his wife was diagnosed, Parkinson’s has assumed a higher and less gloomy profile. In part, he said, because a few well-known people -including actor Michael J. Fox and Pope John Paul II – have gone public with their diagnoses.

“It’s made it more fashionable for doctors to specialize in Parkinson’s,” Atwood said, adding that improved medications and other treatments have made life easier for many Parkinson’s patients. At 76 years old, he continues to be active in leading the Bangor support group for people living with Parkinson’s and their caregivers. The group, one of 11 that meet regularly across the state now, gathers on the third Sunday of every month at 2 p.m. at Acadia Hospital.

Lillian Scenna, coordinator of the Parkinson’s Information and Referral Center in Falmouth, said Wednesday that “Living Well with Parkinson’s” is “a very uplifting, helpful book” – and the most popular in the center’s lending library.

More information about the statewide services and activities of the Parkinson’s center is available online at www.maineparkinsonsociety.org, or by calling toll free (800) 832-4116. The second edition of “Living Well with Parkinson’s” is on order at the Bangor Public Library and currently available at major bookstores or by contacting Blaine Atwood at (207) 862-3363. Meg Haskell can be reached at 990-8291 and mhaskell@bangordailynews.net.