Chapter 241 - Just Another Xmas

It's not that we are ageing, rather Xmas's become closer together as the years race by. We are going nowhere, visiting no one, being visited by no one, except some are calling for breakfast on Boxing Day, on their way south to the island state for holidays. She believes Xmas Day is unsafe on the roads, so minimising stress, discomfort, avoiding tinselled artificial portrayals of mythical sentimental scenery (read the texts & wonder at the discrepancies) imported into a different climate in a different hemisphere then overlaid with Disney cartoon culture crap, we stay at home. She donated the large artificial (is there any symbolism in an object made in dead plastic?) to our village hall a few weeks ago. Last year a neighbour friend took pity on her by donating a smaller artificial tree and that she has decorated to sit on a cupboard in our living area. She made an attractive patchwork wall hanging of a candle that she had me hang in our lounge room window. It is quite attractive. The neighbour friend says, looking at the hanging from outside on the street, she sees a cross displayed, must be in the eye of the beholder viewing the colours used as such was unintended. Hidden in our attic space I found the metal plate manger scene to which I had attached, on the rear, Xmas lights some years ago. Although the figures displayed are distinctly of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, I felt guilty a few moments ago, having written the above, so climbed the ladder, retrieved the object, suction-cupped it to the kitchen window and plugged it into a power point. As I read/heard somewhere recently, western civilisations (i.e. "Christian") are crippled (maybe motivated?) by guilt, whereas others by shame, a generalisation that explains much.

After I was critical of her not following the neurologist's suggestion to halve the 3PM Stalevo dose she decided to do so about a week ago for 2 days, finding her tremors increased as the dyskinesia reduced but she was frightened by a perceived loss of balance, probably due to increased stiffness & freezing, so she returned to the higher dose. She failed to tell me that she had experimented for only two days; we have agreed after Xmas for her to try for a longer period before reporting back to the neurologist in February. Google, search Wikipedia, to learn what Dyskinesia looks like. She says she prefers dyskinesia, a rolling, squirming, writhing of the upper body to tremors and loss of balance. I tend not to notice it in her; in a woman that used to attend our PD group I always noticed the movement, a sort of dance of the upper body parts.

From the beginning of this week she felt a gold filled molar in her lower right jaw was increasingly sensitive, the gum was sore and her face began to swell. Fearful that she may have complications over the holiday period she contacted her excellent dentist; booked solid, although promised to find an appointment time for her. The same message each day when she rang, until Wednesday when, after making an appointment to see a doctor, the dentist asked me to call in for an anti-biotic script. Then Thursday she was asked to the dentist's at 2:45PM, so she brought her meds forward 1 hour for the whole day, waited about 1/2 an hour at the surgery, the offending tooth was removed, her gum required several stitches and she left the surgery with a lop-sided smile on her face. In the spirit of the season her dentist is an angel. Last night soup & some pain killers and she continues with the anti-biotics. Today the swelling has reduced & she is feeling OK.

Her current meds:

0700
Stalevo 200/50/200
Deralin 40
Sifrol 1.0
Cresta
Astrix

1100
Stalevo 200/50/200
Deralin 40

1300
Sifrol 1.0

1500

Stalevo 200/50/200
Deralin 40

1900
Stalevo 200/50/200
Deralin 40

2230
Sifrol 1.0

2400
Sinemet CR 200/50
Deralin 40