Chapter 272 - A Usual Week

Her pain was unbearable at the beginning of the week; I convinced her that we make another appointment for cortisone injections. I rang the imaging place (cortisone was to be injected under CT scan control) and when I mentioned the patient had PD I was put on hold to speak to the technician; she said the patient needed to remain "still" for at least 15 minutes, I handed the phone over to the PWP; conclusion - the procedure was likely to fail in wasted time and effort. The appointment was not made. So I rang for an appointment with our GP who was unavailable until 5th December, so I opted for an appointment with Sub-continent GP we had seen before. He's a nice friendly doctor although his accent gives me some difficulty. After asking questions he had her lay on the bed then prodded around her left hip; she yelped when he touched the tender spot. He believes she has "bursitis", a word I have never heard. He printed a short description of bursitis; no exercise, apply heat or cold packs, maybe rub the area with Tiger Balm and the like. So off to the supermarket to replenish her stock of Ice Gel and buy some Tiger Balm. So I have been regularly rubbing her left hip, lower back, left knee and lower leg several times a day. Tiger Balm reminds me of the odour of old ladies; a childhood memory perhaps?

Last Monday she attended physio for the first time in weeks, perhaps she should not go again until the bursitis (if it is that) disappears. Then on Tuesday she went to Respite, leaving at 4pm saying that being seated in the chairs had increased her pain even though she had taken regular walks with her walker up and down the hallway.

We have heard nothing from Hot Air City about apomorphine trials. I decided to contact the neuro over in the West that had attempted a trial way back in 1999 when a minimal injection of the stuff knocked her out for 3 or 4 hours. I spent most of a morning searching through old records so that I could quote the dates of her stay in hospital for the apomorphine trial and other tests performed. I was surprised to find that she had been in hospital for 13 days, I was still working at that time so mustn't have noticed how long she was away. I composed a long email to the neuro in the West asking him to send any records available direct to the neuro in Hot Air City.

Every night she needs to urinate at least 3 times, quite often a lot more. She often needs to wake me; I find her sitting on the side of her bed, centimetres away from the commode positioned conveniently at the side of the bed. She only needs to stand and pivot 90 degrees, she can't. Her legs and feet are frozen; they simply do not function. She sits there for some time attempting to stand until she gives up and calls me until I wake. I link an arm around one of hers, lift and pivot her, both of us scrambling to pull her incontinence pants and nighty out of the way. Afterwards I help her stand up from the commode, help her raise her right leg so her knee rests on the bed, then push her foot so her knee moves toward the centre of the bed then a flipping action tumbles her onto her right side (never her left side!). We go back to sleep, until next time, an hour or two away.

Quite often during the day, when her legs and feet are so frozen, her pains so severe, her steps not even shuffles, when she breathes through her nose like a frightened animal, I seat her on the wheel chair to take her to the toilet. When she is "good", she is able to shuffle there pushing her walker.

As always, from the hips up she is great, making a patchwork wall hanging during the week for a friend, now beginning another from the scraps left over from the first.

I wanted her to come with me for 2 hours yesterday when I needed to be at our Computer Club; she refused, suggesting she didn't wish to be on display. Fortunately, there were no problems while I was away. Next Saturday we plan to meet with friends at the club up the 4 lane, maybe.