Chapter 220 - Fear in the Night

About 10PM last night I decided to go to bed to read on my eBook. I have noticed recently that when I go to bed early she becomes slightly agitated to go to bed as well. I try to tell her that she doesn't need to, that I have my CB radio. She suspects I may fall asleep & not hear should she call. She doesn't mind when I am out the back on-line in my Dungeon, I usually don't go to sleep out there. She needed help to rise from her chair, unable to walk, just shuffle behind her trolley. "How about a little treadmill?" I suggested. A little slow treadmill usually frees her legs & feet. Hanging onto the doorways, the shelving in the built-in wardrobe, and me (although she says I am "unsafe" because I "move") we approached the treadmill which was in a position where she had to figuratively leap across space to reach the bars on the treadmill. She couldn't do it. She was breathing in bursts, huffing/puffing on the verge of a panic attack. So I had to reverse her out of the room to her trolley. Do you remember that episode of "Wallace & Gromet" where Wallace designed those robotic trousers? Well, she was walking like that - clump, clump, clump, as if there were magnets on her feet. So once again she sat in the bedroom in her director's chair and I set up her small portable DVD player. Unfortunately I chose a movie for her that became too dramatic for her; I should choose something light for her.

On the floor of the aisle between our beds she asked me to lay strips of masking tape. "Why?" "When I enter there to get into bed I freeze. Strips across the path may help." "How far apart?" "About the length of your foot." I stuck 4 or 5 strips to the carpet. They seem to help her get to the place where she hesitates before lifting her right knee to topple into bed. Often I need to help to lift her knee high enough. She is unable to roll into bed, either forwards or backwards as I can.

Her original hard mattress has been replaced on her bed; the super-dooper "mould to your body" mattress creates a hollow beneath her hip, preventing her from turning easily. It now leans against the wall in the hall; easier than returning it to the ceiling where we keep spare mattresses.

At one of those god forsaken hours, maybe 4AM, she woke unable to walk to the bathroom. I rose to help. I don't remember, I think she used the commode. I think she rose again about 5AM. Then we both slept in until a glorious grey 9AM on a rainy day.

About a week ago she made a discovery. I doubted her, going along with her idea anyway. For ages now she has used a satin draw sheet across any bed she sleeps on, at home or away. The person who made the sheets added a piece on each side to cover the width of her king single bed. So there are two seams running parallel to each edge of the bed. She believed that she tended to lay on one of these seams on her right leg, causing tenderness & pain. I couldn't see that such a small ridge of the seam was causing her the pain. But on the other hand, after many visits for Bowen therapy perhaps, I thought, the removal of the more intense sciatic pain may have exposed other underlying pain. So last Sunday we went down to one of her favourite rag/junk shops to buy several metres of satin which have been turned into quilted wider draw sheets. She says the experiment has been successful.

One night she rose for the 'loo 6 times in 3 hours. After deciding that she needed meds to help retain the fluids she made an appointment to see the doctor. He was not much impressed with the idea, and as well the meds she asked for is contra-indicated for Parky meds. He asked her to have some blood tests. Next day 7 phials of blood were taken at the pathology place, then a call from the doctor to pay him a return visit. She has a UTI for which he has prescribed anti-biotics. Within a couple of days her nightly frequency dropped down to one or two 'loo trips.

Unfortunately, the anti-biotics have caused her to have up to 3 bowel movements each day and that she now blames for her severe freezing of her legs. She is probably correct; something in this last week has caused her legs to become almost paralysed. One day she thinks she forgot to take her Sifrol; not good.

On Thursday she endured an hour in the dentists chair. Her dentist, a woman, must be the world's best dentist to be able to drill & fill a cavity beneath a gold cap without causing undue stress to the patient. I have heard none of the usual choking problems. Although I could, I do not sit with her during the ordeal, preferring to sit in the waiting room with my eBook. her jaw was quite numb from the procedure and on return home she slept for an hour or two.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, good for photography. Although she was agreeable for a country road drive, I remembered other trips down country roads when she became stressed with the narrowness, stopping in "dangerous" places to take perfect shots, she never wishing to get out of the vehicle anyway, that the thought of a pleasant country drive depressed me. I compensated by on-line buying some hardware, some CDs, some books for her & me as well as a kid's birthday present.

This morning she tried the treadmill in its new position I moved it to at 11PM last night and then used her circulation booster.

She has suffered enough this week.