Chapter 286 - Coping Difficulties
Things are changing; we are stressed coming to grips with our current situation. She has become more alert, dogged in her approach to matters, yet impulsive and I am puzzled for normally she is reasonably passive & co-operative. And I am grumpier than ever.
Poly the PD Nurse spoke to her on the phone a few days ago suggesting the 10am Sifrol be brought forward to 6am. She had forgotten about that and hadn't told me. The Sifrol was moved to 6am starting yesterday.
On Tuesday she was so out of whack that around 10am I rang the Sheltered Workshop to tell them she was unable to make it that day. She needed wheeling in to the shower and help drying and dressing then wasn't up and about till about 11am. I cancelled the lunch I usually have with my mate on Tuesdays while she is at Respite. He came around mid-afternoon for a coffee, perhaps wondering why she was her usual self contentedly self sitting at the table sewing, maybe that is just my self-conscious thoughts.
As in today, now 0900, she has showered herself, called me on the CB to the bathroom, where she showed me red itchy patches on each side of her lower back where she applied red Tiger Balm yesterday afternoon when she found her back sore from stooping over the raised garden bed around our back patio. A confused story. She had suddenly decided to weed & tidy the long narrow garden strips. In so doing to broke off pieces of lavender bush to plant in the bare areas of the garden strip. Also ripped up pieces of that so-called butterfly plant in the far corner and planted those as well. She was unconcerned when I said most of those pieces will die "Maybe some won't" she said. She had been discussing making a booking with the hairdresser around at Respite, because she has been having difficulties at the tiny cluttered hair dresser place down the street. Anyway she made a phone call for an appointment. She was out the back "gardening" when the door bell barked (ours doorbells don't ring, they are set to dog bark) - there was a youngish women carrying bags & stuff. "Mrs ######?" she asked. "No, I'm Mr" I replied but as the woman turned to leave she mentioned a hair dressing appointment, so I realised what this must be about so invited her in. In the middle of the haircut I queried whether she had money to pay for the service. She said there was loose change in her purse; I hate counting out a bucketful of silver, so checked the old pill container the absorbs all my loose $2 coins, finding 10 of them. After the haircut she returned to gardening. When I next looked she had "trimmed" the old leaves on the gramma plants we have been interested in encouraging to produce squash type fruit, only one so far, now the couple of immature fruit may not survive, the remaining leaves on the vines are wilted. I then needed to sweep up all the spilled soil on the pavers before she began spraying the area with water. After spending several hours out doors gardening her back ached, so that was when she applied the red Tiger Balm. So that must be avoided now for pain relief. A day or so ago she applied the clear Tiger Balm oil to her legs (I'm unsure why, the rash & itching of her legs have gone) without any re-occurrence of itchiness.
For the last two nights she says she slept soundly from 10pm at her last meds to 1am then remained awake until 6am, then slept again till almost 8am. I remained asleep so did not notice, although each morning she has been the wrong way round in bed. The shuddery weird feeling she has in the back of her head is lessened when her head is at the foot of the bed. When in bed she says her leg pains have reduced. At times she fears going to bed.
Some days ago she was unable to find some butterfly embroidery designs our daughter had sent her; she persisted for quite some time before asking for help. Meanwhile she sent a request to our daughter to resend the files; a response asking which particular files. The application she uses for cataloguing and retrieving the designs always irritates me and she has never learned to use it well. After collating dozens of zipped email attachments into one folder she thought she found what was needed but she wouldn't tell our daughter to stop looking. Last evening she said she was unable to find the files found the evening before "They are just gone!". I went to bed.
Since she needs to make a decision in June to be assessed for DBS, apomorphine or to continue on her never ending path of pills, I decided to clear away some of the logistic uncertainty by asking our medical fund, to which we continue to pay ever increasing subscriptions, what benefits she may expect if the DBS route was taken. We have heard it is expensive, so a ball park figure of the out-of-pocket expenses will be helpful to make the decision, since we will need to draw down on our superannuation funds and that has the potential for taxation and other governmental penalties. Below is the legalistic, very correct, response from an individual paid a healthy salary, to which we contribute. I wonder how many seconds were needed to choose the appropriate boiler plate legally approved response?
Poly the PD Nurse spoke to her on the phone a few days ago suggesting the 10am Sifrol be brought forward to 6am. She had forgotten about that and hadn't told me. The Sifrol was moved to 6am starting yesterday.
On Tuesday she was so out of whack that around 10am I rang the Sheltered Workshop to tell them she was unable to make it that day. She needed wheeling in to the shower and help drying and dressing then wasn't up and about till about 11am. I cancelled the lunch I usually have with my mate on Tuesdays while she is at Respite. He came around mid-afternoon for a coffee, perhaps wondering why she was her usual self contentedly self sitting at the table sewing, maybe that is just my self-conscious thoughts.
As in today, now 0900, she has showered herself, called me on the CB to the bathroom, where she showed me red itchy patches on each side of her lower back where she applied red Tiger Balm yesterday afternoon when she found her back sore from stooping over the raised garden bed around our back patio. A confused story. She had suddenly decided to weed & tidy the long narrow garden strips. In so doing to broke off pieces of lavender bush to plant in the bare areas of the garden strip. Also ripped up pieces of that so-called butterfly plant in the far corner and planted those as well. She was unconcerned when I said most of those pieces will die "Maybe some won't" she said. She had been discussing making a booking with the hairdresser around at Respite, because she has been having difficulties at the tiny cluttered hair dresser place down the street. Anyway she made a phone call for an appointment. She was out the back "gardening" when the door bell barked (ours doorbells don't ring, they are set to dog bark) - there was a youngish women carrying bags & stuff. "Mrs ######?" she asked. "No, I'm Mr" I replied but as the woman turned to leave she mentioned a hair dressing appointment, so I realised what this must be about so invited her in. In the middle of the haircut I queried whether she had money to pay for the service. She said there was loose change in her purse; I hate counting out a bucketful of silver, so checked the old pill container the absorbs all my loose $2 coins, finding 10 of them. After the haircut she returned to gardening. When I next looked she had "trimmed" the old leaves on the gramma plants we have been interested in encouraging to produce squash type fruit, only one so far, now the couple of immature fruit may not survive, the remaining leaves on the vines are wilted. I then needed to sweep up all the spilled soil on the pavers before she began spraying the area with water. After spending several hours out doors gardening her back ached, so that was when she applied the red Tiger Balm. So that must be avoided now for pain relief. A day or so ago she applied the clear Tiger Balm oil to her legs (I'm unsure why, the rash & itching of her legs have gone) without any re-occurrence of itchiness.
For the last two nights she says she slept soundly from 10pm at her last meds to 1am then remained awake until 6am, then slept again till almost 8am. I remained asleep so did not notice, although each morning she has been the wrong way round in bed. The shuddery weird feeling she has in the back of her head is lessened when her head is at the foot of the bed. When in bed she says her leg pains have reduced. At times she fears going to bed.
Some days ago she was unable to find some butterfly embroidery designs our daughter had sent her; she persisted for quite some time before asking for help. Meanwhile she sent a request to our daughter to resend the files; a response asking which particular files. The application she uses for cataloguing and retrieving the designs always irritates me and she has never learned to use it well. After collating dozens of zipped email attachments into one folder she thought she found what was needed but she wouldn't tell our daughter to stop looking. Last evening she said she was unable to find the files found the evening before "They are just gone!". I went to bed.
Since she needs to make a decision in June to be assessed for DBS, apomorphine or to continue on her never ending path of pills, I decided to clear away some of the logistic uncertainty by asking our medical fund, to which we continue to pay ever increasing subscriptions, what benefits she may expect if the DBS route was taken. We have heard it is expensive, so a ball park figure of the out-of-pocket expenses will be helpful to make the decision, since we will need to draw down on our superannuation funds and that has the potential for taxation and other governmental penalties. Below is the legalistic, very correct, response from an individual paid a healthy salary, to which we contribute. I wonder how many seconds were needed to choose the appropriate boiler plate legally approved response?
posted by Kilpike | 10:42 am
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