Chapter 238 - Plateaued

We continue to go our respective ways on Fridays, she to Respite at the other nearby retirement village and I to Men's Shed. Each Friday afternoon we compare notes, almost deciding to not attend either again. She because only a little conversation happens between respite-ees (some have very little to say anyway) while doing hand crafts consisting of  cutting and colouring cardboard pieces, crossword puzzles and the like. Suitable activities for persons in early or late child hood. She has taken examples of her embroidery and quilting, with which everyone is impressed, and has been asked to show them some machine embroidery in process at a later date. Last Friday she was able to shorten the sleeves on a lady's coat by placing tucks in the lining, for which she refused to accept payment. She was saddened to make contact with a lady who had attended our PD group for awhile but is now in permanent residence because the husband believes he can no longer act as carer, although the woman seems to go home on weekends to do a bit of washing & ironing, although that may be only personal items.

Last weekend we visited friends in a town south west of here where we stayed Saturday & Sunday nights at a motel, visiting the friends for lunch on the Sunday. He is undergoing chemo. He lost his first wife to cancer some 15 years ago. She and mine had been best friends since their very early school days. She coped quite well with both the 3 hour drive each way and the motel accommodation.

Several weeks ago, after completing the most recent antibiotics, another urine test showed no UTI. Her leg and lower back pains have not returned to their earlier severity and her leg cramps occur much less. When I attempted to associate the reduction & timing of vitamin C & Omega 3 intake with reducing the pain our GP thought it "more likely coincidental" without suggesting another reason. Our GP suggested not having her lower back scanned as requested by the neurologist at Hot Air City. A visit to her dentist last week resulted in only some cleaning so that has been a real success story in that general anaesthetic and/or physical restraints are not required to cope with a Parky in a dentist's chair, but just a caring, confident and professional dentist, and I wonder whether it matters that the dentist is a woman?

She continues with embroidery activities and, although the Christmas Carol table cloth is yet to be completed, she has taken to manufacturing embroidered date pad calendars for 2012. Just another year.

Chapter 237 - Stools- Things People never talk About

Time has galloped away with me. A few weeks ago she had a routine visit to the Caring Physician, not long after her falls. when I told him about her jabbing her wrist with scissors in her fall in her sewing room he immediately gave her a tetanus injection. Although she had no reaction to the injection at that time for the last few days the area on her right shoulder near the injection site has been very itchy; she has been rubbing the area & now there are several small bruises there. She thinks she has been bitten by something. A friend believes some puncture marks can be seen. She mentioned to the doctor that she had been losing weight. He immediately wanted to know "how quickly"? I sensed his concern. I don't think our diet has changed much in the past year or so, but I remember when we were both exercising on the Wii my weight was dropping from high to low 80's while hers remained around 90kgs. Mine has been rising again now that I have been eating too many muffins (she likes to make them) & slices of toast during the winter months. She just poked her head in the door to ask my opinion of a pair of slacks she had on; she had just taken the waist in. "I'm down to 79.7" she said. When I commented that she may be losing weight too quickly she said "I was 82 last visit to the dietitian". That was on Saturday 17th September, fully clothed only two weeks ago (I had not made a note of that here). This morning she was in the nuddy when she weighed herself. The dietitian was surprised that she was taking 10 500mg tablets of Vitamin C and 10 1000mg Omega 3 capsules daily. Then I came across a reference that acidic foods taken too close to PD meds can cause problems, so she reduced her intake of Vitamin C & Omega 3 and at my suggestion she takes vitamin supplements at different times to PD meds.

A list of her current vitamin supplements is:

1x Vitamin D Caltrate 1000iu at 1400
1x Cranberry 10000+ at 1400
1x Magnesium Forte at 2000
1x CoQ10 at 1100, 1500, 1900, 2300
1x Folate at 1400
1x Grape Seed 19000 at 2000
1x Vitamin E 500iu at 1400
2x Vitamin C at 2200
1x Omega 3 at 1400, 2000

Some days after she reduced her Vitamin C intake & re-arranged her supplement intake I puzzled that she was complaining much less about leg cramps and lower back pains. I asked her about this. Her pains are far less crippling. Her silence about pains was much more indicative,to me, of relief than if she had spoken to me about it. What initiated the relief? The magnesium has finally worked, or taking much less Vitamin C, or taking supplements at different times? I will not suggest she reverse the changes for me to find out.

During the visit to the Caring Physician I mentioned nitrite indications in stick tests of her urine and he immediately asked her to have another UTI test at pathology. He specified "mid-stream". The test results were to be sent back to him & to our GP. We found that taking a mid-stream sample was rather a challenge. We decided that she should sit on the commode chair positioned in the shower while I held the sample bottle with her grasping tongs (those lengthy trigger actuated tongs the disabled use for picking things up from the floor). This procedure seemed reasonably safe for me. Being a bloke I assumed that this was a simple matter of just getting the sample bottle into the correct position of the stream. To my surprise, there was really no stream. (I hear some saying "too much information") but many "drip" points from her thighs, buttocks & legs. When a stream of sorts formed I missed it. We made several attempts over several days, she becoming more stressed & I concerned that I would only collect a contaminated sample which would give erroneous results. In exasperation she said "Catch it in the commode pot and be done with it". That I did, waiting a few seconds for the dribbles to begin, placing the commode pot beneath until I had a little urine then removing the pot. I had asked her to attempt to pull her buttocks apart, for I thought doing so may provide a stream; she was unable to do that. This was a learning experience for me; I now understand why she is never keen to use public toilets or even those in private homes, or the toilet cramped in our caravan, rather seeking the comfort & cleansing of the bidet at home. Anyway, within a day the GP had his copy of the pathology results & called for her to see him. He prescribed anti-biotics again, only this time with a repeat dose.  I mentioned my concern that the sample I collected may have been contaminated due to the difficulty with collection but he assured me that the culturing would have revealed other products (with long names) indicating contamination & if that had happened then another sample would have been requested. She has now completed the two courses and is to wait a week before going to pathology for another UTI test, so we will do that on Thursday or Friday. Also, the GP decided that her cholesterol levels were too high so prescribed Crestor 10mg.that she now takes once each day. The muscular pain she suffered with Lipitor has not occurred with this type of statin.

She mentioned yesterday that she often notices shapes, especially faces, within objects she looks at. She referred to a car parked at the rear of our place; portion of the grill & headlight assembly looked like an old man's face. I couldn't see it but then my viewing angle was different. This may be bothering her. I told her I often see faces withing patterns on wallpaper & the like; and that we are "programmed" to recognise faces. I suspect some of the faces she sees are not nice. She is calling out much less in her sleep, although I may be sleeping more soundly.

I subscribe to several PD forums. Recently a post had an attachment of a RealPlayer file entitled "How to Relieve Constipation Naturally". Look for this title on YouTube; a short cartoon video. Well worth a look if you or yours has constipation problems. For a long time now she had complained of feeling that "something" was ready to come away but when she sat on the loo (even for extended periods), nothing happened. She seems unable to "push". Physios suggest pelvic floor exercises, which she seems incapable of performing, she says she is unable to tell which muscles she needs to exercise, she lacks "feeling" in that area. Recently she has gone to the loo 4 or 5 times a day attempting to poop. She sometimes tells me when she has been partially successful, like a little girl proud of her achievement. In her case though she has always says there is a feeling that the operation was incomplete, there is more to come. Anyway, that little cartoon, amongst other techniques, suggests raising the feet by placing them on a stool (that appeals to my sense of humour; note a stool as in a platform rather than stool as in poop) so that the body assumes more of a squatting position while perched on the loo. So I retrieved the plastic stool we had used at the door of our caravan and placed it in the bathroom, then forgot about it for a few days. When I remembered to ask her whether she had tried the stool method (expecting her to not have done so) she replied "Yes, it worked, and what is more, it all came away in one go so I only went once rather than several times during the day". Now is that a recommendation for the "stool" method or not? She did not think much of my comment when I suggested to her that the human body was designed for squatting rather than sitting on a throne; and that this in another example of Anglo-Saxon customs causing health problems. She says the Chinese are adopting the Water Closet rather than the "squat over a hole" method and she could not do that. I agree that she is unable to physically squat because she would be unable to rise to her feet without assistance.


It takes a stool to encourage a stool. A poop a day keeps the doctor away. I find simple solutions so elegant. And isn't too much information more interesting and helpful? ;-)