Chapter 33 - A Broken Cycle, Perhaps

She sleeps. About 7:45 on Saturday morning. So what? You may say. Well, last night she murmured "I feel sleepy. I might go to bed." at the unbelievable time of 10:30pm! "I'll be there in a little while" I replied as I was looking at the performance of our superannuation investments. She was asleep before 11pm. I lay there reading a good book because she needed to wake sometime about midnight for her last meds. I still had my glasses on when she woke me at 12:45am. "Well, that didn't achieve anything." "What? You've been asleep." I replied half asleep. "Not very much." I didn't argue; she took her meds, went to the loo. At 3:30 she woke me again for the loo. Help is needed for her to get out of bed; to fit her shoes for the short walk. At 7am a short time ago we both woke to the alarm for her first meds of the day. I stayed in bed for half an hour without falling asleep again, so I left for my dungeon while soft snoring came from the other bed.

Last night was the first time in months that she did not fear going to an uncomfortable bed, or rather a sleepless night. Matters became worse last weekend. Perhaps worse on Tuesday night when she was still attempting to sleep with the aid of warm milk with honey, her little red seed filled thermal pillow (heated in the microwave) and a few Panodols around 4am. She was heading toward reversing her night/day sleep cycle. On Tuesday evening we had eaten some extra spicy Dago-type sausages. Those of you who know me are familiar with my need, craving perhaps, for spicy food. My lack of a sense of smell, and therefore a poor taste sense as well. Interestingly, some experts believe that a lack of smell is an early indicator of the presence of PD. Not in our case. Just the opposite. She sniffs clothing to detect whether she has worn it before; I wonder whether I am missing something important in a stinking world. Food intake too close to PD meds upsets the uptake of Sinemet, so we have been separating meals and pills, especially in the evening. And I wondered whether strong spices aggravate the digestion or may even have an effect on brain. So since Wednesday night she has eaten salmon steaks while I finished the sausages. But on Thursday we had bland supermarket pizza we took out beyond the black stump to my genetically remote cousin's place, and the cousin has just returned from a second dose of breast surgery. Also, I decided she must not sleep through the morning. The time on this PC says 8:22am so I must leave to kick her out of bed.