Chapter 2 - A Few Days Later
I really don't know why I'm up at this hour of the morning. The clock on the monitor desktop shows 03:43. I woke about an hour ago after staggering off to bed at maybe 22:00 last night (actually this night as it's very dark outside still). She called me once on the CB radio ( we carry a small handheld CB so she can call me should there be difficulties) to say "Have you gone to bed?" and I muffled through my CPAP mask "I said I was" so I have no idea how easily she managed to position herself in bed. She was breathing noisily when I rose at 02:30 for a short walk down the hall and then for the next hour while I attempted to sleep again. So having switched on the CB's again (we leave them on the charger cradle each night) I came out to my dungeon to search for information on a "Jackaroo" BBQ we placed on lay-by at Kmart yesterday. She has been making suggestions that we need a new one which could be plumbed into the town gas supply to the house. Unfortunately Kmart have them on special at the moment. So I was interested to find the company's web site to seek information about the burner jets. But the company seems to lack this very necessary marketing tool - should we really wish to buy their products? I may have to rely on telephonic communications.
Did I mention that in the past week she noticed toe curling symptoms? I'm too lazy to check what I wrote. Yesterday we called around to Margaret's for another Bowen session. Bowen is really improving her physical condition as she no longer feels a build-up in her movement problems as her fortnightly visit approaches, and that I see as a good sign. We mentioned the toe curling. I had already searched for info about this so we were not surprised when Margaret suggested rolling a ball under each foot. The surprise was that Margaret reached to a shoe box on top of her book case to retrieve a pre-loved tennis ball, from a collection kept for such purposes & donated by her tennis coaching gardener. It seems such exercise is beneficial for a number of foot problems. So last evening before I staggered off to bed early (withdrawal symptoms on my part because a storm had encouraged me to shut down our systems) I frequently asked whether her toes were curling. They weren't, because as she told me after a number or queries, "I have my shoes on". How can useful experiments be conducted when the parameters are changed? So I sat in front of her to remove her shoes. A short time later I needed bed, so I have no idea whether toe curling occured and whether the tennis ball was used. She says the toe curling happens about an hour & a half after taking Sinemet, which almost suggests she experiences dystonia due to over-medication, like in the horror days of a few months ago. But now she is taking a much lower dose. This is illogical.
The night before last I prepared our meal at 17:00 just in time to watch my daily dose of Yank politics on the "News Hour" (rather than synchronising at 18:30 with the SBS news) in an attempt to move her Sinemet meds well away from her evening's protein intake. At 19:00 we went up to our village hall where a small group of quilters gather every Wednesday fortnight. She remembered her meds an hour late at 20:30 thus providing plenty of separation! Since yesterday morning was a good one, although she slowed down considerably during the afternoon while visiting that all-intrusive Big Brother department we expect to regularly dispense some tax payers' contributions to us & while shopping for the BBQ, we repeated the timing of food intake & meds last night. Yet to find out how well she was able to get into bed. When we resolve the bed/sleeping problems we will know that progress has been made. She is making comments that after 12 hours or so without meds overnight her walking & general movements are good although she slows & stiffens as the day goes on - I would expect the Sinemet to improve matters during the day.
On the return trip from downtown yesterday she had intended to visit our next-door neighbour in hospital but lacked the energy to do so.
I will now return to bed - yawn. And the sodding spell checker remains dead - I must read the help file.
Did I mention that in the past week she noticed toe curling symptoms? I'm too lazy to check what I wrote. Yesterday we called around to Margaret's for another Bowen session. Bowen is really improving her physical condition as she no longer feels a build-up in her movement problems as her fortnightly visit approaches, and that I see as a good sign. We mentioned the toe curling. I had already searched for info about this so we were not surprised when Margaret suggested rolling a ball under each foot. The surprise was that Margaret reached to a shoe box on top of her book case to retrieve a pre-loved tennis ball, from a collection kept for such purposes & donated by her tennis coaching gardener. It seems such exercise is beneficial for a number of foot problems. So last evening before I staggered off to bed early (withdrawal symptoms on my part because a storm had encouraged me to shut down our systems) I frequently asked whether her toes were curling. They weren't, because as she told me after a number or queries, "I have my shoes on". How can useful experiments be conducted when the parameters are changed? So I sat in front of her to remove her shoes. A short time later I needed bed, so I have no idea whether toe curling occured and whether the tennis ball was used. She says the toe curling happens about an hour & a half after taking Sinemet, which almost suggests she experiences dystonia due to over-medication, like in the horror days of a few months ago. But now she is taking a much lower dose. This is illogical.
The night before last I prepared our meal at 17:00 just in time to watch my daily dose of Yank politics on the "News Hour" (rather than synchronising at 18:30 with the SBS news) in an attempt to move her Sinemet meds well away from her evening's protein intake. At 19:00 we went up to our village hall where a small group of quilters gather every Wednesday fortnight. She remembered her meds an hour late at 20:30 thus providing plenty of separation! Since yesterday morning was a good one, although she slowed down considerably during the afternoon while visiting that all-intrusive Big Brother department we expect to regularly dispense some tax payers' contributions to us & while shopping for the BBQ, we repeated the timing of food intake & meds last night. Yet to find out how well she was able to get into bed. When we resolve the bed/sleeping problems we will know that progress has been made. She is making comments that after 12 hours or so without meds overnight her walking & general movements are good although she slows & stiffens as the day goes on - I would expect the Sinemet to improve matters during the day.
On the return trip from downtown yesterday she had intended to visit our next-door neighbour in hospital but lacked the energy to do so.
I will now return to bed - yawn. And the sodding spell checker remains dead - I must read the help file.
posted by Kilpike | 3:42 am
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