Chapter 123 - Some Tears

A short note updating on her recent problems.

During Monday her shaking continued to disturb her. She went to bed at 10:30pm but an hour later her legs gave her so much trouble that got out of bed for her chair where she read a book until she was calmer an hour later.

Yesterday I woke her at 8am. She showered , dried and dressed herself with some difficulty but didn't need any help. I took her and her director's chair (for her comfort & her stability, plastic stackables are no good for her) to KYB at 10am. I sat in the truck reading for an hour, then returned for her. I waited outside the hall for another 40 minutes. It seems the study was rather difficult. I helped her out of her chair then as we stepped outside she burst into tears. Her tremors did not lessen after her 10am meds so she was trapped for 1 hour 40 minutes. Torture, in the midst of kindly but non-understanding ladies. At lunch at home she took 2 Panamax while cooling herself in front of a fan; hot & sweaty. She went to bed at 2pm; I woke her 2 hours later. Two friends had telephoned; she rang them back. Around 8pm we walked the village.

Last night tremors continued to bother her. She rose for the loo every 2 hours. I woke her at 8am and she tended to her shower and dressing without needing help. Her tremors may have lessened somewhat today.

Time to prepare an evening meal.

Chapter 122 - Recovering

She sleeps. She has not showered yet and has returned to bed after taking 2 Panamax. After sleeping well last night she woke with pains in both legs. She referred to the pains as "sharp, fine pain. Between knees and feet, in the centres of the legs". "Not in the muscles?" I queried. "No, up & down there" as she rubbed a shin. The pains were there while seated, not moving. She circumnavigated the kitchen table slowly several times before deciding on bed at 8:40am. She had had her usual breakfast cereal earlier.

On Saturday last we drove north to see our youngest granddaughter for her birthday. Just for a couple of hours when family outlaws were not present, so we had an enjoyable quiet time with the kids. We left home about 10:30, stopped for a little junk food, arrived early afternoon then took the family to the local pub bistro for dinner at 6pm. She only had fish & chips, then a slice of cheese cake. A lemon squash. The timing of such evening meals disturbs her meds so the usual 7pm CR & Inderal were delayed until 8:30 as we were leaving to return home.

Sunday morning she suffered. She woke at 7am from sleep following her normal 6am meds with violent shakes, a dull headach and the sweats. She dozed again before rising for a shower about 9:30am. Drying & dressing were no problem to her. By 11:45 her headache had lessened to that "thick head" feeling, as if she had been hit in the head. I thought she sounded rather stuffy in the nose. Her throat was rough she said. A little after midday she needed to lay down and woke close to 2pm in time for her meds. Her afternoon & early evening were filled completing questions for next Tuesday's KYB meeting. Questions requiring a literal interpretation of the texts expecting conformist answers. She struggled to understand. Tension building, stress inducing. Last Tuesday she did not attend the meeting; a rainy morning, she was afraid of walking on the sloping wet path beside the church to the hall at the rear. The woman who runs the meetings rang later to tell her that she & her husband were soaked by the rain; I suppose some sort of self sacrificing risk at their octogenarian time of life for which they may have felt blessed.

So what event/s during the last few days induced her current difficulties? Four hours of my driving, seeing the kids, dining out, delayed meds, stress from completing the KYB study? I don't know. I know you don't; all you who see her and possibly wonder why she looks so well.

The 2am Sinemet CR remains off her meds menu. Perhaps she has been stiffer since discontinuing that dose.

She is still sleeping at 10am so I must wake her for her 10am meds. The routine rolls on.

Chapter 121 - A Remission of Sorts

I called at the bathroom door this morning, as I usually do, "Are you OK Dear?" "No" she replied "I washed my hair. The mat was in the wrong place. The shower rose was at a different angle." There she was dripping wet, needing help, the first morning she has needed help in what seems weeks. "I'm a creature of habit" she referred to my having disturbed things by cleaning the shower. I dried her then helped her with dressing back in the bedroom.

So where is the remission you ask? Since last weekend she has daily made at least one piece of lace on her embroidery machine, each piece taking between 2 and 3 hours. She has threaded the machine, replaced bobbin thread, hooped the soluble plastic, transferred files and coped with small difficulties. Almost as good as old times. When the plastic began to tear near the end of one stitch-out she realised her legs began to shake a lot, more than "normal". The barrier to embroidery seems to have been the difficulty hooping the fabric, whereas a few layers of plastic she finds easy.

She spent a lot of time watching the tennis last weekend. After the men's final she took a couple of Panamax to calm her shaking legs, aggravated by the excitement & tension.

Mid-week she made a cream cheese & jelly sweet in paper cups then kept in the fridge (I was called upon to do some of the stirring), one each for late evening indulgence, complete with a small drop of liqueur. Amazing, she has avoided small doses of alcohol for a long time!

Sometime about 4am last Saturday I woke to see her little torch shining in the dark, she must have stopped her 2am alarm for her usual CR and returned to sleep. It was then too late to take it. The alarm was mucked up and we slept through till 6:30am, she then took her usual Sinemet Cr & Inderal saying as she sat on the side of the bed "I should not be able to move now after missing that CR." The joints of her right leg were more painfull than usual, so she took 2 Panamax then a little later walked out to the laundry & return without difficulty and on the way back to the bedroom began another piece of lace embroidery on her machine. A little later, puzzled, I went looking to see why a machine noise was coming from her sewing room.

Since early Sunday morning she has missed another two 2am Sinemet CRs, on purpose or not I don't know. Perhaps this morning's relapse is just her system's response.