Chapter 84 - In Hot Water
By 10:45 Wednesday morning she was feeling "agitated, don't know where to put myself." Most of her "get up from chair counts" (GUFCC, reminds me of a clinic she was once at, perhaps that is where I subconsciously remembered this type of procedure) were 5, except at 2:30pm for count of 12 & 4:30pm for count of 7, then up again at 8pm for a count of 9. A little after 10pm she had a "funny feeling down my back, need to go to bed." Asleep by 10:30pm she was up at 12:30am & 4am.
Thursday was a pretty good day. Her GUFCC counts (sounds a little like a clearing of the throat?) were 5 all day except at 8am (8), 8pm (7) & 8:30pm (7). We are wondering whether because I count out loud she is cuing herself to my voice; I am thinking of buying a stop watch for this purpose (I lost my $20 wrist watch which was able to do such things whenever I read the badly translated manual). Also she sits on her little red blow-up woopee cushion as an aid to rising; a couple of days ago she became red in the face trying to force herself to rise, only being able to get halfway into a stooped position, & that gave me the idea (memory?) to measure the time taken. Rising from her chair as well as hauling herself around the bed at night by pulling on her bed poles causes her pain in the arms, especially her right. I noticed she is wearing the support glove on her right wrist this morning (Friday). She spent most of Thursday afternoon machine embroidering monograms on some towels, but required my help to hoop them. About 9pm we did our grocery shopping, she careering around the supermarket flat out at low speed (she hesitates to increase the speed) while I pushed 2 tonnes of groceries in a wobbly trolley. The checkout girl actually laughed when I replied "OK until this thing filled up" in response to her monotonous & programmed question "How are you today?" Usually they look puzzled, maybe fearful, when I give an honest answer.
To bed around midnight for 3 or 4 risings. First thing this morning, Friday, the alarm rang out & I called before she woke for 6am Madopar Rapid, dissolved in water last evening in an old pill bottle as usual. (For non-PD'ers MR is a soluable Sinemet formulated to give the patient a quick kick-start & an equally quick finish.) Normally she requires the pill bottle to be refilled with water at least once for her to swallow all the granular residue left in the bottom of the pill bottle. This morning she muttered "That's funny, there are no grains left in the bottom." "Oh hell, did you forget to put the pill in?" "I'm not sure. I remember using the hot water from the kettle after you made a cuppa." We debated whether she should take another just in case. Decided to wait. Glad she did, because by 7:30 she was reasonably agile, relatively speaking. Otherwise there may have been a panic attack of sorts. She then showered and dressed, a little help with her blouse needed & of course the bra clip. "This morning I never had that horrible feeling that rushes through my head when the MR kicks in." She uses that as a signal that she will be capable of taking a shower. She has often mentioned that effect, I assumed it quite normal, but taken in conjunction with her comments that water near the boil was used to dissolve the MR, and no grains at the bottom of the pill bottle this morning, suggests to me that erratic side-effects may be caused by incompletely dissolved MR. Extra hot water again tonight!
Thursday was a pretty good day. Her GUFCC counts (sounds a little like a clearing of the throat?) were 5 all day except at 8am (8), 8pm (7) & 8:30pm (7). We are wondering whether because I count out loud she is cuing herself to my voice; I am thinking of buying a stop watch for this purpose (I lost my $20 wrist watch which was able to do such things whenever I read the badly translated manual). Also she sits on her little red blow-up woopee cushion as an aid to rising; a couple of days ago she became red in the face trying to force herself to rise, only being able to get halfway into a stooped position, & that gave me the idea (memory?) to measure the time taken. Rising from her chair as well as hauling herself around the bed at night by pulling on her bed poles causes her pain in the arms, especially her right. I noticed she is wearing the support glove on her right wrist this morning (Friday). She spent most of Thursday afternoon machine embroidering monograms on some towels, but required my help to hoop them. About 9pm we did our grocery shopping, she careering around the supermarket flat out at low speed (she hesitates to increase the speed) while I pushed 2 tonnes of groceries in a wobbly trolley. The checkout girl actually laughed when I replied "OK until this thing filled up" in response to her monotonous & programmed question "How are you today?" Usually they look puzzled, maybe fearful, when I give an honest answer.
To bed around midnight for 3 or 4 risings. First thing this morning, Friday, the alarm rang out & I called before she woke for 6am Madopar Rapid, dissolved in water last evening in an old pill bottle as usual. (For non-PD'ers MR is a soluable Sinemet formulated to give the patient a quick kick-start & an equally quick finish.) Normally she requires the pill bottle to be refilled with water at least once for her to swallow all the granular residue left in the bottom of the pill bottle. This morning she muttered "That's funny, there are no grains left in the bottom." "Oh hell, did you forget to put the pill in?" "I'm not sure. I remember using the hot water from the kettle after you made a cuppa." We debated whether she should take another just in case. Decided to wait. Glad she did, because by 7:30 she was reasonably agile, relatively speaking. Otherwise there may have been a panic attack of sorts. She then showered and dressed, a little help with her blouse needed & of course the bra clip. "This morning I never had that horrible feeling that rushes through my head when the MR kicks in." She uses that as a signal that she will be capable of taking a shower. She has often mentioned that effect, I assumed it quite normal, but taken in conjunction with her comments that water near the boil was used to dissolve the MR, and no grains at the bottom of the pill bottle this morning, suggests to me that erratic side-effects may be caused by incompletely dissolved MR. Extra hot water again tonight!
posted by Kilpike | 9:43 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home