Chapter 19 - Down
Tonight the plot of the final episode of my currently favourite "who-done-it" was reaching its climax as she said "I'm feeling very slow. I'm going too bed." At 9:30pm that is early for her. Torn between asking her to wait 5 minutes & rushing, I hurried her to bed. She stands on a little shelf a friend made me for other things so that she is able to kneel further into the bed, tumbled down on her right side, I rotated her hips into position, eased her right shoulder, pulled up the quilt and back to the TV. She called just as the titles rolled up the screen. Her toes protruded from beneath the sheet & over the side of the bed. "Can you push my feet in?" As I did so I tickled the sole of her left foot, she giggled. Back in the kitchen to clean up when she called a few minutes later. I found her attempting to reverse off the bed. "What's wrong?" "I can't get comfortable - I need to lay on my left side." So through the gymnastics again. I puffed up her feather pillow into a ball beneath her head. "Oh, that's nice" she murmured. She sleeps.
Puzzling, isn't it? She is able to maintain her balance, walk or shuffle at varying pace yet when she lays in bed the lower half of her body seems paralysed. Somehow, her legs had moved her feet over the edge of the bed, she was able to detect that her feet were uncovered yet was unable to draw her feet back. And she responded to my tickling. She sometimes says that her legs are "stuck" together, that to move one both must.
Wednesday just an average day. Our group met in the afternoon, she was comfortable.
By Thursday her lower back became painful again, but without the leg pains. We had decided to move her med times as far as possible from her meal times, so meds at 6am, 12 noon & 6pm when she takes 1 Sinemet CR 200/50 1 Inderal (Deralin) 40, and meals about 2 hours later. This is quite low compared with what she was on when she had those horrible panic attacks and although she is afraid of inducing those horror times I feel she will need to increase her dosage, perhaps with another late at night which may help her through the night. Many PD sufferers take much more. She tends to suffer bad tremors about an hour after meds (peak dose dyskinesia) and also as the medication wears off, about an 1 - 2 hours before taking her next dose. But this is far from consistent; especially in the afternoon when there may be no relief at all. She experiences an increasing restlessness somewhat pacified by a walk around the village. That will be uncomfortable as the weather turns colder. Anyway, her regular Bowen therapy was at 11am and that relieved her problems considerably. In the afternoon she slept for an hour & a half. Toilet help was needed each visit. After a late evening meal her tremors eased. She said she had not sweated nearly as much today. Friends emailed they would visit on Friday after lunch; we suggested they come for lunch. She looked forward to that.
Last night only one trip down the hall. Waking at 5am she was uncomfortable & restless so sat in the lounge recliner, at 6am there were no tremors or pain although she needed to move. By 9:15 the tremors were bad, a dull ache in her lower back, she feels miserable and distressed. She asked me to ring to cancel our friends' visit. After a shower she was unable to dry herself. Restlessness continued then after her midday meds bed called. She slept, woken by the door bell a little later then dozed off again to wake 2 hours later. Two hours before her 6pm meds the tremors returned. And so back to the top of this chapter, somewhat depressed.
Puzzling, isn't it? She is able to maintain her balance, walk or shuffle at varying pace yet when she lays in bed the lower half of her body seems paralysed. Somehow, her legs had moved her feet over the edge of the bed, she was able to detect that her feet were uncovered yet was unable to draw her feet back. And she responded to my tickling. She sometimes says that her legs are "stuck" together, that to move one both must.
Wednesday just an average day. Our group met in the afternoon, she was comfortable.
By Thursday her lower back became painful again, but without the leg pains. We had decided to move her med times as far as possible from her meal times, so meds at 6am, 12 noon & 6pm when she takes 1 Sinemet CR 200/50 1 Inderal (Deralin) 40, and meals about 2 hours later. This is quite low compared with what she was on when she had those horrible panic attacks and although she is afraid of inducing those horror times I feel she will need to increase her dosage, perhaps with another late at night which may help her through the night. Many PD sufferers take much more. She tends to suffer bad tremors about an hour after meds (peak dose dyskinesia) and also as the medication wears off, about an 1 - 2 hours before taking her next dose. But this is far from consistent; especially in the afternoon when there may be no relief at all. She experiences an increasing restlessness somewhat pacified by a walk around the village. That will be uncomfortable as the weather turns colder. Anyway, her regular Bowen therapy was at 11am and that relieved her problems considerably. In the afternoon she slept for an hour & a half. Toilet help was needed each visit. After a late evening meal her tremors eased. She said she had not sweated nearly as much today. Friends emailed they would visit on Friday after lunch; we suggested they come for lunch. She looked forward to that.
Last night only one trip down the hall. Waking at 5am she was uncomfortable & restless so sat in the lounge recliner, at 6am there were no tremors or pain although she needed to move. By 9:15 the tremors were bad, a dull ache in her lower back, she feels miserable and distressed. She asked me to ring to cancel our friends' visit. After a shower she was unable to dry herself. Restlessness continued then after her midday meds bed called. She slept, woken by the door bell a little later then dozed off again to wake 2 hours later. Two hours before her 6pm meds the tremors returned. And so back to the top of this chapter, somewhat depressed.
posted by Kilpike | 10:27 pm
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