Chapter 100 - A Late Night Visit

Two nights ago, blood dripping from her nose, we visited emergency at our local hospital. At least this was not for a PD related medication issue. Around 9:30pm her nose began to bleed. Fifteen minutes later, after I failed to respond to her calls on the CB, she came looking for me in the garage where I have set up my embroidery workshop (our "truck" is now old enough to tolerate the weather at the front of the house). Somehow I had skilfully leaned against the radio in my pocket and turned down the volume - skillful because two buttons need to be pressed. By 10:15 I became worried that the flow had not slowed even though I placed a packet of frozen broccoli on her brow and neck as well as plugging her nose with tissue, so I said "If the flow has not eased by 10:30pm we will head to emergency". Similar thoughts must have been in her mind; she did not argue. However a loo stop was required. While she held onto her fireman's pole with one hand and pressed tissue against her nose with the other, I lowered her clothing. Did I mention that her tremors had increased with her stress level? And I had to dodge the drops of blood which made a mess of the tile floor. Seating her was easy, raising her another matter. A hand towel was then found to be a more effective drip catcher. Then we faced a challenge of the "truck", our 4WD. She must use a small plastic step to attain the running board then must hang onto grab bars to support herself while I push. Even more difficult than usual, she managed the movement using only one hand. At the hospital we reversed the action, not a drop of spilled blood. ( Most people are puzzled that she finds getting into & out of a 4WD easier than a conventional car.) The triage nurse took her details; then we waited; she occasionally needed a drink from her water bottle for her mouth was very dry and my task was to wipe blood from the spout, for it is difficult to drink while holding tissues to a leaking nose. About 10:45pm one of the doctors she remembers from her horror visits of almost two years ago called her in - he didn't remember her though. After his examination we waited some time for him to return. Blood dripped from both nostrils. He cauterised the right nostril with silver nitrate, later returned with a plug he said "worked like a Tampon" for her. He withdrew a long dark snake of clot before some 60mm of the plug was forcibly stuffed up the nostril. The last few mm hurt like hell. She later developed a headache and her left eye tended to weep until the object was removed next day. I saw her caring physician in the emergency area attending another patient. When he came over I asked "Is this the way you spend your evenings?" He said "Quite often" before asking what had happened.

We were home again a little after midnight. I made her a bedtime warm drink. She measured her blood pressure - 163/94, pulse 62. Into bed at 01:15 after sponging her face clean but by 01:45, headache, pain around her left eye and her left shoulder and a stiff neck forced her out of bed to sit in her chair until 03:30 when she returned to bed, not noticed by me.

One observation puzzled me, but experts were not interested. During the day prior to the bleeding nose I frequently found her asleep in her chair. Granted, my notes show that she had been up some 4-5 times during the previous night and needed to walk the floor for awhile at 6am. So maybe irrelevant.

Tuesday began as usual at 6am for a shot of Madopar Rapid before again seeking comfort in her chair. After an 08:30 shower she needed drying and dressing. The nose plug was now a bright red bulb protruding from her nostril. I rang our local GP for an appointment as directed by the hospital. When I began to show excitement at being told "she could be squeezed in at 4pm", another small gap was found for her at 11am. As it was, our GP was running late, so a wait of about 30 minutes. Being a man of action, our GP called the hospital to arrange for the surgeon on duty to inspect the nose. So back to the hospital shortly before noon. Some more waiting. After the plug was removed only some pale pink fluid; a nurse quipped "The GP could have done that." Home by 2pm. No sign of blood since. And today has been a reasonable day; she even dried and dressed herself this morning. Everybody has agreed she should not take any more Astrix, at least for awhile.

Since the last post, apart from the above saga, there have been a couple of incidents. One day, she was caught short and we had a couple of minor accidents. The first ever that I know of. Her symptoms fluctuate from day to day, some mornings she is able to shower, dry and dress and on others, no. Some days she needs the TENS machine for pain, most often not. We had been talking about returning to the meds level she was on before experiencing the horrors following her stay at the clinic down south, back when she was not "too bad", when the neurologist at Hot Air City believed she needed more medication. She has made a step in that direction, since reducing meds is no longer the direction to take, so now MR at 6am, then CR & I at 9am, 2pm, 7pm but only CR around midnight. She has shown no desire to use her scooter on the few times we have been shopping. She continues to have "good days" after Thursday physio sessions. For a couple of nights she needed to get up during the night maybe up to 5 times, not all to the loo, often "just to get comfortable".

One morning an interesting example of her claustrophobia. While in my dungeon I heard some very loud thumps in the house. When I found her she was in our guest bedroom (where guests hardly ever stay). She had been rummaging about in the built- in wardrobe. She had slid the three doors into a closed position before she realised there was a clothes trolley behind her and wardrobe doors close to her face. In a panic she had to fling the doors apart so that she could escape. The thumps I heard were from the doors hitting the ends of the wardrobe.

Now for the next 100 posts.