Chapter Nine - Experiments

I came to at 8am chilled by the fan blowing across the room. She remains asleep. Nights have been bad lately. I was supposed to be at the barbers to repair my shaggy-dog look at this time this morning but another day added to a month overdue doesn't matter much. We were in bed asleep by 12:30am. Awake at 3am uncomfortable, restless, slow, sluggish and unable to find relief by shuffling about the hoses, she took half a CR at 3.30am (not usually done) then woke me because she had difficulty moving. By 4am I had her seated in one of our new collapsible chairs that I positioned at the end of her bed. She began showing signs of stress so I gave her one of the sedatives she has not needed in a long time. An anxiety attack was forming. I made her some warm milk & honey. For a time she looked glassy-eyed, staring around the bedroom dimly lit by my bedside lamp. Her restlessness increased until she needed to stand. A trip to the toilet. A few yawns thankfully. Then into bed. An attempt to play one of her favourite movie tapes failed because for unknown reasons the damned VCR would not display on the TV in the wardrobe. I gave up, my reasoning powers a little sluggish at this hour. Slight snoring. I fell asleep also.

This portion of our saga began last Sunday. After church she needed to sit in the truck while I said a few words about our Wednesday group to someone. Back at home she felt off so she decided to have half of a rapid release tablet (none of this has been taken in about 6 months) as her scheduled medication was due some time away. A bad decision. Within 20 minutes she felt bad, her feet were stiff & toes curled within 50 minutes. Two walking circuits of the village after which she attempted to follow some taped exercises which she discovered she was unable to perform as well as the last time she did them. Her early afternoon meds were skipped. She was showing the signs of over-medication she experienced some months earlier. Her evening meds failed to kick-in.

Monday morning was good, able to move easily, down to the Cottage. By mid-afternoon sweating, toes curling, bad tremor in right hand & both legs, her bad ankle began to swell from the "exercise". Much the same at 11pm, so we walked around the village for some relief. By 1am she moved easily, no tremor, to bed. Her meds this day had remained at the level accustomed to over the last few months. It seemed she was over-reacting to the second & third doses.

On Tuesday after she woke at 5am forced by discomfort to walk the house for a few hours we decided to reduce her meds slightly. Normal dose first & last but half around midday. There was some discomfort after the morning dose and more so after the evening dose.

Wednesday began with early morning blood tests for a routine checkup requested by our GP. Always stressful to her because of the difficulty they have to find her veins. After yesterday's reduction in discomfort after a half dose, we decided her 3 doses today should be halved. In hindsight not a good idea. Her symptoms which I now record at half-hourly intervals show that Wednesday was much worse for her than on Tuesday. We seem to have forgotten that her time constant for changes to be effective is about a week. At our afternoon group meeting we both sat outside the lounge room area where I was able to assist her to rise when she became uncomfortable so that she could stand leaning against the kitchen bench top. This time she was able to speak more loudly to attract attention. More circuits of the village in the evening.

She called me on the CB a little while ago. I helped her shuffle to the toilet and back to bed after taking her meds. "What time will G. come?" "At 11am". "Make sure I'm up by 10am". We will celebrate a birthday at our favourite country hospitality restaurant in a little town not far away.