Chapter 47 - A Weary Week

Just as I opened Blogger she called on the CB. I found her in a jumble on the bed. "I tried turning to face the window, but can't & now I'm too high on the pillow. What's the time?" "About twenty to eight." "Too early for anything to have worked yet." Without ceremony I pulled her bare thighs enough to position her in the middle of the bed (I should write for Mills & Boon). I tried pulling the doona higher but she said that makes her too hot. And here it is still winter without any heating on last night.

Earlier this morning she needed the loo a little after 6am, perhaps some hours before as well but I forget. The usual scrambling on the floor for her soft shoes (they help her balance as she totters down the hall) to place on her feet in the dark between our beds. She relies on torch light, easier for her to turn on & off and doesn't wake us as much as normal room lighting. At 7am she woke slowly to the alarm for 7am meds. I sat her on the side of her bed. As she took her pills & drank from her Microsoft water bottle she slipped sideways in rag-doll style. I righted her. "Any aches & pains?" "No." "Hips OK? Legs, back OK?" "Yes." You see, last night was her first night on her new mattress!! A call on Thursday said it had arrived. So yesterday to hot-air town to collect it. Then over the border to Q to a rag shop to buy a few metres of slippery stuff for a sheet. She wishes to stop laying on a sleeping bad. Back home I placed the new mattress on the sheet of MDF I bought earlier in the week (on advice from the lady at the mattress shop), then with a jig-saw I rounded the corners of it at the foot end to avoid injury on the sharp corners. She was not up to making her new sheet. She attempted to fit the old sheet. I found her, on the window side of her bed, knuckles leaning on the mattress, sobbing quietly, for she had jammed herself into the narrow space, unable to tuck in the sheet or to get out. I finished the task.

I look back at my notes of this week. Each night she had to get up 4 or 5 times, not for the loo, but to attempt to lay comfortably in bed. That method seems to have a more lasting effect than when I try to rotate her, for that often results in very stiff legs & toe curl. But often she still needs me to give a hip & shoulder adjustment after getting back into bed. And those 4 or 5 times occur after she went to bed around 1am, so she has needed to sleep until mid-morning. Our experiments to synchronise her to more acceptable sleep patterns have failed. So about 1am Thursday morning we debated the evils of taking "Stillnox", a short half life sleeping pill prescribed by the caring local physician. She felt that the only time she took one resulted in zombie problems the following day. We compromised; she took half a tablet; slept reasonably well. The following night the other half of that tablet had no effect at all.

A few nights will tell how successful is the new mattress. In case readers are interested, the mattress is a "Sleepmaker Evolve Support Visco" king single marked down from $1599 to $1200 and a Dunlopillow Classic pillow ($50 instead of $100). The latter was collected when we ordered the mattress, so has been in use a week now, the size was determined by the shop attendant for correct height and the patient has declared she has lacked stiff neck pains during this past week.

We now have two king single beds in our bedroom, a spare king single on the lounge room floor, a double bed in the second bedroom and two single beds up in the ceiling space. And two single beds in the caravan. All we need now are a couple of workers (office of course!) to set up a small line of business; unfortunately, any potential clients in our village are far too old. And in great danger of coronaries.

Tomorrow we take a short holiday from retirement to visit an aunt & others on the far side of the big smoke. So much for getting used to a new bed. Meanwhile she still sleeps at 9am.

Chapter 46 - Mattress Matters

I had just settled down to scribe this waffle when she called me on the radio. "I have to get up. My feet want to stick out and my legs have pains in them. And they're stuck together." Some 10 minutes earlier I had settled her back into bed after she needed the loo when I came back from a shower. I think I told you that her feet migrate from beneath the covers then she is unable to retract them. One would think the same mechanism was involved in walking. Different sub-routine I suppose. Anyway, as she came back "You're not wearing those trousers are you?" "I'm dressed for church." "Well, don't put anything in those pockets, they're ugly." Referring to those low-down pockets where one keeps pieces of string, stones & such if one was still young. "I don't care just so long as I'm not ugly." Enlightening conversation at 8am. So she is now having some breakfast to make use of the time when she is unable to do much else.

Earlier she was snoring disturbingly before and after her 7am meds. Since I was not called for between midnight & 7am I assumed she had had a good night. Not so, she had been up & down seeking comfort 3 or 4 times during the night. We have been for long walks (long for us, 20 minutes or so) this week & I suspect the exercise has helped. During the week more experiments with bedding. Foam underlay in the shape of an egg crate(loaned by a friend), blow-up air mattress retrieved from where it was stored in the ceiling and now resides in the garbage bin. When I pumped it full of air several of the internal struts broke, also when she was laying on it - she thought she had been shot, the sound quite loud & sharp.

So at lunch time on Friday we left for the town-of-hot-air to visit a mattress shop we had researched on the net. I was pleased to find that the shop contained only beds; no sign of plastic potted palms, nor of surround sound entertainment systems for bedroom use, nor heavy furniture of rainforest timbers in dark brown. Just beds. The well-trained youngish woman queried our budget by asking how much we wished to pay for comfort. "It's more like the cost of pain" I said. With that we were guided straight to the most expensive demo model. The patient road tested (what a stupid imported expression that is; I shouldn't use it) the mattress & then asked me to help her roll onto her back. Brilliant! Normally, she is unable to lay on her back without needing to raise both legs to ease pain down both. On this mattress though there was no sign of pain. "If you can remain there on your back with legs straight for 10 minutes then we'll buy it." The attendant returned to check on our testing. We told her of our experiment, then waited out the time. Successful. Another mattress was tested just to say we had completed a satisfactory evaluation. Unfortunately, no free deliveries to our town. The mattress can be bent to fit the rear of our "truck" so we will return for it in the coming week, since a king-sized single was not in stock.

As I finish this on the radio the voice of that boof-head who relies on bigoted, right-wing, conservative, literal, inerrant self-serving "Christian" principles (I don't call them Christian) to decree that US Federal funds must not be used for stem cell research yet out of the other side of his empty head he justifies the murderous adventures into Lebanon by that parasitic Western created "nation-state" his kind supports with their excessive military production. What is the price of life? I wonder why so many in his country fail to understand why what they stand for is hated so much by human beings of other faiths. They who see themselves as gods giving enlightenment & democracy to the world. What does He think of what they do in His name?

I notice the time! I find her on the side of the bed in tears unable to put on her bra. Then as I stoop to put on her shoes I sense a tear falling on my hair. We will get to church late today.

Thirty minutes later. This is real time blogging. She cleaned her teeth; I helped her on with her jacket; she was badly stooped; I helped her straighten. "No, it's no good. I can't go. Help me sit down." She sits in her chair, sipping hot chocolate, watching talking heads evaluate the chess-like acts of the players in the Middle East. Soon a more enlightening and peaceful programme to watch.

Chapter 45 - Take up Thy bed ...

Somewhere around 2am Wednesday I sat up rigid in bed. A scream from her. I expected the worst. But no, just a night mare, more snuffles & whimpers while she remained asleep. Half an hour later she woke to tell me she was slipping out of bed. She wasn't, but sleeping on the slippery sleeping bag on a narrow (but firm) mattress on top of her king-size single bed base may have given her that sensation and was probably the cause of the scream earlier.

Then on Thursday morning she washed her hair under the shower. That is always a strain for her. Doesn't like sitting on a chair under the shower while washing herself. The result was sciatica like pains (not so, as our Bowen friend around the corner explained during her visit there in the afternoon; other muscles, other nerves) across the small of her back extending down the fronts of her legs. She needed help drying & dressing. We were on our way to another PD group meeting down at the club at 10:30am. She persevered an hour & a half sitting at a table (such positions present a barrier to her, stressful) for a constructive meeting, which concluded as she needed her meds. We walked, she hanging tightly on my arm, down to the newsagents to buy her puzzle magazines. Then a little before two we walked around for a Bowen session that removed the pains down her legs. That night she went to bed at 9pm!! However,10:30pm turned her, 12:15am sat her up for meds, 1:15am call from her to turn her & as a consequence needed the toilet, 3:30am helped out of bed so she could get back in to lay on her other side (sometimes just turning her doesn't work), 7am Friday alarm for morning meds, 8:45 rose for toilet and finally got up for the day without backache although a little soreness near Bowen contact areas. An average sort of night and maybe the harder mattress from the van is useful. We have been looking for mattress data on the net. Friday a pleasant day, including a tough walk around the local park where the roses are. But that night she sat on the side of her bed for 30 minutes around 1am deciding that the van mattress tilts slightly due to the wider base it rests upon. So I moved the van mattress to the middle of the lounge room. She slept until her Saturday 7am meds, rose at 8:30 with no kick-in, then slept between 10 & 11am then a shower after which she needed dressing help. During the afternoon she felt worn out after 4 loads of washing (she says I don't do washing, dusting or toilets - we all have our own skill repertoire). That night at 10:30pm she was back on the larger mattress on the lounge room floor, the theory being that she would feel easier on a larger bed that had firmer support beneath, ie, a concrete floor. But an hour later she woke with shakes, aches in her left hip & leg, culminating in her feeling that she was in a "hole". So she returned to the small mattress on the floor. At 1am she called on the CB radio she was stuck attempting to roll to her other side. We gave up. So the larger mattress was returned to its base in the bedroom where she slept until 5:45am Sunday, rising with a backache for the loo. Back to bed, wake for 7am meds and needed help to rise at 8:15am without aches. After a shower she needed a little assistance to dress for church where we arrived on time. She sat through the service with bad shakes, needed help to stand to go for communion after which we left for some grocery shopping. We arrived home just in time to leave for a noon-time lunch with friends just around the bend (geographically that is) to welcome new neighbours. We left there late in the afternoon with just enough time to spare to drive to other friends who put on a dinner party with us and several other people we only knew by sight. And from there we arrived back home at midnight. Is this self inflicted punishment or not? I'm sure it would be were it not for such very pleasant friends & great food, plus a little red fruit juice. I suspect by the end of the evening (if not earlier) I was speaking too much & too loudly. She seemed surprised that she weathered the day so well, saying that sitting down all day & evening helped. Asleep on her usual bed in the bedroom until 5:45am this morning for toilet, then until her 7am meds. Up at 7:45am with cramp-like pains in her legs, then returned to bed to sleep in which state she remains at 10:15am.

So where are we with bed experimentation? I dunno. It's so hard to control the variables.

Another day, another week ..............

Chapter 44 - A Great Escape

The following notes were prepared on my lap top during a short caravan trip we made to a couple of nearby towns. I decided not to post in real time to economise on mobile phone calls. We left our village on Wednesday last week & arrived home yesterday Tuesday 11th July.

A trial run to test her van legs after not taking the van anywhere for a year. Since she had reduced her meds last year to avoid the complications of over medicating neither of us imagined she could cope with van travelling again. She has developed such an aversion for cramped conditions, complications showering & dressing herself, untold difficulties with bed comfort that we thought the effort not worth the stress. Wednesday morning did not begin well. She rose at 9am after no extra sleep following her early morning meds then needed help drying & dressing after showering she was unable to cope with until 10:30am. I haphazardly packed the van & truck. No domestics while packing & hitching the van; she was unable to help so sat quietly in the truck. We pulled away shortly after noon bound for that little town of B. that we visited across country for a counter lunch several weeks ago. Our plan was to spend at least a night there; if she coped then we may decide to stay up to a week. About 120kms away down the 4 lane then turn off north-west as she was not keen on the cross country route to B. Not a km from home her mobile rang. Our kids from the mountains had been about to rush across to the Crow Eating capital to collect their built-to-order off-road camper-trailer when they were advised it needed a couple of stub axles not in stock. JIT manufacturing gone wrong? Anyway, not to waste the opportunity of a few days away, they decided to go as far as the town of C, about 75kms north of our destination. After some consideration of potential problems, we decided to drive straight through B to meet the kids at the caravan park where we have stayed several times outside C. She was very happy about our doing this. We are nothing if not capable of a flexible itinerary. We arrived first, set up & relaxing when some cheery young voices appeared at the door of our van. That night she felt at a loss for space. She used the back rest in bed to read for awhile until her leg cramped, then removed it without my help - I was asleep. Although she was up 4 times during the night but said it was "not a bad night." When returning to bed at 6:15am (Thursday), reversing in, stooped, she asked "How do I get there?" After the 7am meds I turned her the other way but she was soon uncomfortable. She was not keen to use our van shower and was not capable of going to the amenities block. After breakfast I had to assist with dressing. By mid-morning she was mobile so we walked with the kids to the railway & WWII museum next door to the van park. She coped quite well walking about for an hour & a half, then a BBQ lunch, some more walking, then pumpkin soup in the evening. Thursday night she needed a softer bed surface, so we spread her sleeping bag over the mattress. This also provided a slippery surface to aid her movements in bed, & may be better than a piece of satin.

Friday morning she experienced pain down the length of whichever leg she lay on. She called me on the CB while I was in the park shower. A weird experience when she saw the van wardrobe between our beds as a distorted, warped shape. As far as I could tell, the wardrobe shelf was seen in an accentuated perspective, the nearer edge to her seeming much wider than she expected. Even so, she decided to use the park's disabled shower (she is afraid of the cramped shower in our van, its lack of firm hand holds). I waited outside until called on the CB to enter to help her dry & dress. We packed for our return trip to B, and the kids left for some site seeing before heading home. At B by lunch time, we delayed eating while I faced a plumbing challenge that required a visit to a plumbing/hardware shop (with everything one needs). She needs the mat at the doorway of the van to be kept back slightly from the step to reveal the white trim around the edge of the step; this provides a defined edge for her. Then we walked up the main street, a shared "fisherman's basket" at a cafe, bought a paper, then a pair of gloves for her, some groceries at a supermarket where we met the girl who manages the van park. The town of B is being re-furbished; there are many concrete walking paths about the town. She wished to walk them. We left the van park & an hour later shuffled back to the van. We only covered half the paths, although we are slow & I used the new camera, annoyingly stopping from time to time, bad for her balance problems. My back ached, she seemed no worse for ware. The park lady arrived but she decided not to collect our money until Sunday by which time we will have decided how long we will stay. We are bold with our plans! Friday evening was for reading as I failed to bring the remote control for the VCR to tune it to local channels. I expected the worst when she woke at 2:30am , uncomfortable & shaking uncontrollably, but back to sleep until the 7am alarm for meds, then more sleep until 9:15am. I am not sure whether her voice is becoming softer or that my hearing is failing. She says it's my hearing.

Saturday she was not up to showering either in the van or the disabled shower/toilet in the park. Antiseptic wipes instead. Yuk We walked the other half of the town paths around the town. By the time we returned she had little energy left, close to midday meds. Around 1pm up to the main street for a counter lunch at the Court House pub. Hardly a counter lunch, a pokey two-table room with a roaring open fire, just off the bar. She had eggs, bacon, sausages & chips, the excessive protein not having a bad effect on her meds for once. I chatted to a local recently returned from Queensland; we compared our limited tall tales about cane toads. Returning to the van we stocked up with meat pies & sundries for dinner and a newspaper. Remainder of afternoon & evening in the van.

She only needed to get up once, 5:45am, Sunday morning without any need to rise during the night for comfort reasons. Around 10am she decided to shower in the van, too claustrophobic a few days ago. She needed no assistance during or after showering. This is progress!

Over to the "Ram & Stallion" for lunch. This is the pub we called at a few weeks ago. She demolished a "Fisherman's Basket". I have photographic evidence. Then we walked the town again for an hour or so, stopping once on a park bench, once outside an ice cream shop, having been inside. All up, we were away from the van for 3 hours. She had a can of soup for dinner. Me? Baked beans on toast and nothing to report from me. A cold night. Our reverse cycle air conditioner froze attempting to add to the chill of frost so our night was not as cozy as previously. She had a very disturbed night, getting up about 4 times.

She rose shortly after 9am on Monday, had breakfast, then showered & dressed herself in the van. I have been wasting hot water in the amenities block. Our hoses were frozen this morning. The air conditioner is back in action again. A beautiful sunny blue sky morning.

We decided to make a trip across to the town of Y. Checked out the van park, had lunch in a local cafe (no multi-national junk food this trip!) then returned via town H. As we had walked little today, back in B we parked the truck at the van park then walked up to the supermarket for a chicken & vegetables. In case of a frost overnight I hitched the truck (we leave in the morning) & drained the water hose.

Tuesday morning I rose early at 6:15 to empty the dunny can. This disturbed her after a reasonably good night, only some discomfort at 1:30am. She now sleeps at 6am.

About 9am she rose, showered & dressed herself in the van. We left for home around 10am.

Wednesday. We have returned to the routine again. It depresses me. I placed her sleeping bag as an underlay on her bed in our house. Having her sleep on the slippery surface of her sleeping bag may have given her a better night's sleep in the van. Her mattress at home is softer than the one in the van so even on the sleeping bag at 2:30am this morning I was unable to roll her over, so she had to get out then back into bed to be able to lay on her left side, where she remained until 6:45am when she called for me to help her rise. At 9:15 I found her sitting on the side of the bed, unable to stand, saying "I'm in a hole. I can't get up from here." She is surprised that she was able to rise with little difficulty from her bed in the van but not the one at home. Perhaps we will look for a new mattress.

Always one to test an hypothesis, I have now placed the narrower mattress from the van, as well as the sleeping bag, on the base of her bed in the house. A night or two will tell whether she will benefit from a firmer mattress.

Chapter 43 - Sunday bloody Sunday

I learnt during the week that "bloody" is blasphemous. Something like gosh, golly, gee etc I suppose. To bed 10pm last night, she dozed for an hour then to sleep to wake at 1:20am for her midnight meds, a little late, don't know why the alarm was off or didn't wake us. She was pretty rigid, stiff getting out of bed & in again. She called at 2:30am, unable to sleep, needed to sit in the garden chair now cramping our bedroom, till 4am by which time the meds had kicked-in allowing her a degree of comfort back in bed to sleep. Awoke at 6:45am for start of day meds then into bed saying "Don't let me sleep past eight." She must have had intentions to attend church today. A little after 8am I disturbed her from shallow sleep. She rose, "I'm too unstable to have a shower" so had a little cereal instead, then just before 9am she dared the shower. She called on the CB radio. I found her seated on the bed only in her dressing gown. After showering & drying herself she was pooped. As I, seated in front of her, helped her on with her disposable paper knickers I made the comment "I only wish we had done this when we were much younger!" When she groaned in despair I apologised "I'm sorry, that was just a joke." She sobbed "Not a very appropriate joke." In silence I finished dressing her. She pulled her hair into place, I had to rescue a few errant strands then give an extra twist on the elastic ring around her pony tail. She threatens to have her hair chopped short. "Get my black coat. No, I don't want it on till we get to church, otherwise I won't be able to get into the vehicle." We drove away as church was due to commence. On the way I reminded her that the first night we met at Auburn railway station she had had a bad hair day, but that when I saw her stomping down the ramp, hair flying in all directions, I said to myself "Wow". We were with a group going to Baptist Youth Fellowship in the city, by train in those far off days. There have been a lot of bad hair days since then, almost 50 years ago. We arrived at church seated in the back row only a little late. After communion we left the church before waiting for the service to conclude. At home she needed to move so we took a quick pace around the village. She has now prepared lunch for our "First of the Month Lunch" in our hall, even though it's the second of July.

Sunday again. Just another bloody day.