Of all the diagnoses she could have left her neurologist's office with, the disease of the nervous system was not the worst, she explains.
"I'm not going to die [of it]. I don't have to have radical treatments ... I know what's in my future and we can tailor our lives accordingly."
Parkinson's - a progressive condition affecting almost 10,000 New Zealanders - may eventually slow Bates down.
But for now, she works more than 50 hours a week looking after a tetraplegic friend, does the books for husband Buster's building business, regularly cares for a grandson, volunteers in the Dunedin Hospital emergency department every Friday and is on the Dunedin Travel Club committee.
She also tends a 0.6ha garden and makes intricate jewellery, both of which members of the public will be able to see during a Parkinson's fundraiser on November 6.
Previously reluctant to tell others of her condition, she agreed to go public in the hope it might help someone who has recently been diagnosed and is wondering what life will be like.
"They need to know it's not as bad as they think it's going to be," she says. "It's really what you make of it all."
In fact, when she was diagnosed, the entire family handled the news with humour.
About 70% of people with Parkinson's experience tremors, and her children joked she would have to drink Martinis because she would be a natural at brandishing a cocktail shaker.
Catching sight of herself in a shop window gave the then 56-year-old the first inkling that something was wrong.
Her right arm was fixed up at her waist rather than swinging by her side as she walked.
She had difficulty lifting her feet when on her treadmill and found herself bouncing off the walls when walking along passages.
The Mosgiel woman insisted her doctor diagnose an inner-ear infection. Instead, he made an urgent appointment at a neurologist's.
Like many people with Parkinson's, Bates has problems getting down stairs, lacks dexterity in her hands and benefits from exercise but constantly fights fatigue.
When tired, she feels as if she is walking in a swimming pool full of water.
She also has problems with repetitive movements such as brushing her teeth and doing her hair.
At first, she could not cut the meat on her dinner plate or write a cheque.
She did remove roses from her garden to make it as maintenance-free as possible but took a stand when therapists suggested she work on a pegboard.
"It takes 18 seconds for a normal person to take the 12 pegs in and out. I'm pretty competitive and when I got to 16 seconds, I decided that was it."
Convinced there had to be something more fun to do with her hands, she found some old buttons and began making brooches. Now, she also creates necklaces from beads, trinkets and other finds, keeping her hands supple in the process.
The only thing that really upset her when diagnosed in late 2007 was that she might never get to be a hands-on grandmother, she says.
So when daughter Alaina told her she was pregnant, she was "ecstatic".
Cameron lost his sight during surgery and she is proud that she can care for the two-year-old on her own one day a week despite her condition.
Knowing she had to be on top of her game when caring for grandchildren also persuaded her to start on medication, which prevents her problems with shaking, stiffness and balance.
Parkinson's is caused by insufficient quantities of dopamine, a chemical in the brain that enables quick, well-co-ordinated movement.
At present, no treatment can protect the nerve cells against slow degeneration as the condition progresses.
Gene therapy and stem-cell research offer hope but any cure is likely to be years away.
"Originally I played the 'what if?' game," says Bates, who has problems on only her right side at present. "I'd jump ahead two decades and think how I'd be a burden to the family and how my children would be choosing my rest-home. What if this? What if that?
"It was starting to wear me down so I decided I'd look one year into my future at a time and always have something to look forward to."
Before her diagnosis, she and her husband travelled overseas every second year with the Carters reward scheme but now they go annually.
Next year, it will be to Beijing.
Some people with Parkinson's eventually need wheelchairs but Bates says she learned a valuable lesson from a favourite aunt.
The woman fretted for years that her husband would get sick or die at a young age as a result of his heart condition, but in the end she died first.
"She worried all those years for nothing and what she feared most didn't happen. could be run over by a bus tomorrow and then Parkinson's isn't going to be an issue."
Maintaining a positive attitude also extends to poking fun at herself when she "trips up and makes an entrance".
When painting in watercolours became too demanding, she switched to acrylics and discovered a whole new field she would not otherwise have pursued.
Eventually, muscle rigidity may give her a permanently surprised facial expression and though it will probably "bother" her, that also has a silver lining.
"I'll have no wrinkles," she says, laughing.
• A garden walk and jewellery exhibition/sale will be held at Chris and Buster Bates' property, 49 Glenbrook Dr, Mosgiel, on Saturday, November 6, from 10am to 4pm. Sculptor Suzanne Emslie will be demonstrating her craft in the garden, which already features four of her pieces, and Devonshire tea will be served. Tickets ($10) are available by phoning the Otago Parkinson's Society office on 455-7260, or Chris Bates on 489-8691. Proceeds from the tour and from sales of Bates' tulip-shaped brooches will go to the Otago division of Parkinson's New Zealand.
About Parkinson's
• Parkinson's Awareness Week is from November 1 to 7.
• Parkinson's is a neuro-degenerative condition that occurs when the brain produces insufficient quantities of the chemical dopamine.
This can cause motor symptoms such as stiffness, slowness of movement and tremor, and non-motor symptoms such as depression, fatigue, lack of the sense of smell and trouble swallowing.
• About one in 500 people are affected.
• The cause is not yet known.
• The average age at diagnosis is 59, and about 10% of those diagnosed are under 40.
• Parkinson's is not fatal and often takes years to progress.
• There is no known cure but exercise and drug treatments can help control the symptoms.
• Surgery is an option for people who have found drug treatments unhelpful. This involves implanting neurons, connected to a pacemaker, into the patient's brain. The implant, controlled by the pacemaker, creates electrical currents that can help control some motor symptoms.
• For more information, see the Parkinson's New Zealand website, www.parkinsons.org.nz, or call Otago field officer Paula Ryan on (03) 455-7260.