Chapter 126 - A Meaningless Benchmark
I had mentioned to someone (ACAT team?) that her ability to shower and dress was a useful indicator of her progress. Yet for quite a few weeks now she no longer surprises me when I find her showered, dressed and breakfasted without my help. Except occasionally for the odd bra clip. I would need to go back through my note books to find when I last dried her.
Today is different. She called through the 7am gloom to help her untangle. She said through tears that she had not slept all night. She had taken a CR at 2am (some time ago she resumed taking that dose), some Panamax at 3:30am and a CR & an Inderal at 6am (I heard the alarm but dozed off) yet her shaking had not allowed her to sleep. So at 7am I tried to make her comfortable, but failed. She decided within a short time to shower, thinking that may help, so she called me on the CB at 8:20am. I needed to help her undress in the bathroom. She asked me to stay close by while she showered. Out of the shower she called for help. I had her grasp the fireman's pole in front of the toilet so that she stood almost vertically rather than bent horizontally from her middle, dried her, then helped her back into the bedroom where we dressed her in clean underwear & her nightie. She changed her mind about returning to bed to sleep, the shakes had not eased, so she sat in her favourite chair, I brought her breakfast & switched on the TV. At 9am she called for me to break a couple of Panamax for her to take. She has not mentioned any pain.
Over the last week our lives have been average. We take a short walk around the village most evenings. Early Sunday morning she had intense pain in the "bone" of her lower right leg; we were to meet some business friends passing up the highway for coffee, I went on my own. For several days the air conditioning has been running during the day in an attempt to alleviate her "sweats" aggravated by the unusual hot weather. We attended our local PD group last Thursday & lunched at the Workers afterwards. On Saturday she did 3 loads of washing although of course she did not put it on the line or bring it in. Some sense of achievement in the chore. She has been searching on line for more lace embroideries to do, yet she has not stitched anything more yet. She has had some long phone conversations with an MS friend whose husband has heart/stroke problems needing attention. We aren't too badly off.
So how is she really? Well, take samples of anything I have described going back to whenever, mix the samples in various combinations, and you have her status. Except she sits too much. She is still doing her weekly puzzle magazines; if her interest wains there I will be most concerned.
Often when asked by some of the "oldies" in our village about her condition and I mention, sleeplessness, etc, they reply "Oh, I often have that problem etc etc" going off into a litany of stuff I don't need to know. One of these days I hope I don't say "You don't know shit".
Today is different. She called through the 7am gloom to help her untangle. She said through tears that she had not slept all night. She had taken a CR at 2am (some time ago she resumed taking that dose), some Panamax at 3:30am and a CR & an Inderal at 6am (I heard the alarm but dozed off) yet her shaking had not allowed her to sleep. So at 7am I tried to make her comfortable, but failed. She decided within a short time to shower, thinking that may help, so she called me on the CB at 8:20am. I needed to help her undress in the bathroom. She asked me to stay close by while she showered. Out of the shower she called for help. I had her grasp the fireman's pole in front of the toilet so that she stood almost vertically rather than bent horizontally from her middle, dried her, then helped her back into the bedroom where we dressed her in clean underwear & her nightie. She changed her mind about returning to bed to sleep, the shakes had not eased, so she sat in her favourite chair, I brought her breakfast & switched on the TV. At 9am she called for me to break a couple of Panamax for her to take. She has not mentioned any pain.
Over the last week our lives have been average. We take a short walk around the village most evenings. Early Sunday morning she had intense pain in the "bone" of her lower right leg; we were to meet some business friends passing up the highway for coffee, I went on my own. For several days the air conditioning has been running during the day in an attempt to alleviate her "sweats" aggravated by the unusual hot weather. We attended our local PD group last Thursday & lunched at the Workers afterwards. On Saturday she did 3 loads of washing although of course she did not put it on the line or bring it in. Some sense of achievement in the chore. She has been searching on line for more lace embroideries to do, yet she has not stitched anything more yet. She has had some long phone conversations with an MS friend whose husband has heart/stroke problems needing attention. We aren't too badly off.
So how is she really? Well, take samples of anything I have described going back to whenever, mix the samples in various combinations, and you have her status. Except she sits too much. She is still doing her weekly puzzle magazines; if her interest wains there I will be most concerned.
Often when asked by some of the "oldies" in our village about her condition and I mention, sleeplessness, etc, they reply "Oh, I often have that problem etc etc" going off into a litany of stuff I don't need to know. One of these days I hope I don't say "You don't know shit".
posted by Kilpike | 9:17 am
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