Chapter 329 - Did She Call Me?
In the twilight of wakefulness I imagined she called me. Was I dreaming? As I drifted deeper into sleep I heard my name. I rose to assist her. 3am and dark except for the glow of the bathroom light, left on these nights, one less thing for her to bother with. Back in bed she began looking for a Sinemet in a pill bottle containing three different strengths in different colours. "The blue" she said, but in the dimness that looked white, so on with the room light to be sure. Laying down she chewed the pill and swallowed water; sooner the kick in I suppose. The number of times she rises at night fluctuates; last night she thinks twice, other nights 4 or 5 times. Sometimes she needs my help, sometimes not.
At 8am she called me loudly. She was having a small accident seated on the side of the bed. Clammy & sweaty all over, nightie wet enough to wring out, we had difficulty standing, initiating forward steps toward the loo. "BIG! BIG STEPS!" I said loudly and she responded, as she usually does; that's one benefit of LSVT BIG. She sat on the bidet, head dripping wet, held in her hands. I decided she should shower first, so I took down the APO pump while she was seated. Then onto the shower chair, she showered and dried herself while I prepared the APO syringe. She returned to the bedroom and attempted to partially dress. As I approached with the pump the damn thing began to beep every 10 seconds or so; a battery indicator was showing on the screen, so I replaced the battery, then attached the infusion to her tummy. On my return from showering she was still attempting to replace the incontinence pants I had ripped earlier in my efforts to pull them up over her clammy skin. I helped her dress; we were both becoming irritable.
By 9am she was on her way out to her recliner. I switched on the air conditioner, not so much for the cooling, rather to dry her a little. She has always had perspiration problems which I attributed to autonomic issues with PD; yet one of the side effects of apomorphine is sweating. Months yet to cold weather.
Saturday a week ago I forgot to empty the commode pot and the piddle changed from a light straw colour to chocolate brown by mid afternoon. When I emptied the pot, a slimy gluey mess was left behind, difficult to wash out. On Sunday I again left the commode pot with contents which I photographed throughout the day as the colour changed from straw to dark brown. I sent the photos to Polly the PD nurse who had not seen such an effect, advised checking with a GP. Dr Flower (now left our town) had given us a referral for a urine test at pathology so on Tuesday I attempted to catch a mid-stream sample while she was seated on the commode sans pot, which I held in position by hand. In my opinion, she is not built appropriately to direct a stream anywhere, rather a dribble which flows any which where, so a "clean" capture is not really possible. This aspect of female engineering in her case is of a very poor design. As expected, the analysis returned the usual technical terms indicating a contaminated sample. I made an appointment for her to see a GP, one she has not seen before, next Wednesday.
Last Tuesday back to Hot Air City for a final assessment of her LSVT BIG sessions. We attempt to have her perform the exercises when she is ON following the "adapted" methods as shown on the official DVD we bought. Sometimes she performs well, at other times leg pains or numbness, fear of left leg collapsing, curtails the sessions.
On Tuesday one of her cousins and his wife made a surprise visit just as we were about to leave for Hot Air City. We invited them back for a meal Thursday evening. We had an enjoyable evening, going to bed at midnight. Then the following day, Friday, we had decided to cancel her 10am 0.5mg Sifrol. Unfortunately, the preceding late night caused us to wake late to the Apo pump beeping because the syringe was empty. All told, not a good start to the day. By 11am she had a headache, went to sleep on her recliner, then about 12.30pm she felt both legs collapse but was able to seat herself on a chair in her sewing room. Her blood pressure soon after was 99/62 61 but by 13.20pm was 152/95 69.
Yesterday, Saturday, was not good either. At 10.20am she came out to my dungeon (rather than call on the CB) saying she needed to lay down. I helped her to her bed. She was not feeling well, coming over cold, pains in both legs from toes to waist, strong tingles in toes and feet, tingles up legs, but no headache, a poor sense of balance and felt peculiar. her BP was 117/67 78 laying down. At 12.25pm her BP was 135/98 69. Around 3.20pm she attempted the LSVT BIG exercises, with rests between each due to painful legs and I had her go no further than the sixth exercise.
Last Monday morning she was interviewed by a hospital physio to have her back at their Falls Group. Then that afternoon she was interviewed to see whether the new Re-hab section of the hospital can help her; we came away thinking not, one seemingly insurmountable problem is "self administered medication", including the Apo pump, which fails to comply with regulations and in turn the regulations seem to hinder nurses feeding pills to patients outside prescribed times. And the Apo pump runs for 24 hours so syringe change-over time can occur at any convenient time; what's a little wasted apomorphine? Supposedly the Apo company came to town some time ago to provide "training" but I suppose that may not have filtered through the bureaucracy.
At 11.45am I wonder whether she wishes to LSVT BIG?
At 8am she called me loudly. She was having a small accident seated on the side of the bed. Clammy & sweaty all over, nightie wet enough to wring out, we had difficulty standing, initiating forward steps toward the loo. "BIG! BIG STEPS!" I said loudly and she responded, as she usually does; that's one benefit of LSVT BIG. She sat on the bidet, head dripping wet, held in her hands. I decided she should shower first, so I took down the APO pump while she was seated. Then onto the shower chair, she showered and dried herself while I prepared the APO syringe. She returned to the bedroom and attempted to partially dress. As I approached with the pump the damn thing began to beep every 10 seconds or so; a battery indicator was showing on the screen, so I replaced the battery, then attached the infusion to her tummy. On my return from showering she was still attempting to replace the incontinence pants I had ripped earlier in my efforts to pull them up over her clammy skin. I helped her dress; we were both becoming irritable.
By 9am she was on her way out to her recliner. I switched on the air conditioner, not so much for the cooling, rather to dry her a little. She has always had perspiration problems which I attributed to autonomic issues with PD; yet one of the side effects of apomorphine is sweating. Months yet to cold weather.
Saturday a week ago I forgot to empty the commode pot and the piddle changed from a light straw colour to chocolate brown by mid afternoon. When I emptied the pot, a slimy gluey mess was left behind, difficult to wash out. On Sunday I again left the commode pot with contents which I photographed throughout the day as the colour changed from straw to dark brown. I sent the photos to Polly the PD nurse who had not seen such an effect, advised checking with a GP. Dr Flower (now left our town) had given us a referral for a urine test at pathology so on Tuesday I attempted to catch a mid-stream sample while she was seated on the commode sans pot, which I held in position by hand. In my opinion, she is not built appropriately to direct a stream anywhere, rather a dribble which flows any which where, so a "clean" capture is not really possible. This aspect of female engineering in her case is of a very poor design. As expected, the analysis returned the usual technical terms indicating a contaminated sample. I made an appointment for her to see a GP, one she has not seen before, next Wednesday.
Last Tuesday back to Hot Air City for a final assessment of her LSVT BIG sessions. We attempt to have her perform the exercises when she is ON following the "adapted" methods as shown on the official DVD we bought. Sometimes she performs well, at other times leg pains or numbness, fear of left leg collapsing, curtails the sessions.
On Tuesday one of her cousins and his wife made a surprise visit just as we were about to leave for Hot Air City. We invited them back for a meal Thursday evening. We had an enjoyable evening, going to bed at midnight. Then the following day, Friday, we had decided to cancel her 10am 0.5mg Sifrol. Unfortunately, the preceding late night caused us to wake late to the Apo pump beeping because the syringe was empty. All told, not a good start to the day. By 11am she had a headache, went to sleep on her recliner, then about 12.30pm she felt both legs collapse but was able to seat herself on a chair in her sewing room. Her blood pressure soon after was 99/62 61 but by 13.20pm was 152/95 69.
Yesterday, Saturday, was not good either. At 10.20am she came out to my dungeon (rather than call on the CB) saying she needed to lay down. I helped her to her bed. She was not feeling well, coming over cold, pains in both legs from toes to waist, strong tingles in toes and feet, tingles up legs, but no headache, a poor sense of balance and felt peculiar. her BP was 117/67 78 laying down. At 12.25pm her BP was 135/98 69. Around 3.20pm she attempted the LSVT BIG exercises, with rests between each due to painful legs and I had her go no further than the sixth exercise.
Last Monday morning she was interviewed by a hospital physio to have her back at their Falls Group. Then that afternoon she was interviewed to see whether the new Re-hab section of the hospital can help her; we came away thinking not, one seemingly insurmountable problem is "self administered medication", including the Apo pump, which fails to comply with regulations and in turn the regulations seem to hinder nurses feeding pills to patients outside prescribed times. And the Apo pump runs for 24 hours so syringe change-over time can occur at any convenient time; what's a little wasted apomorphine? Supposedly the Apo company came to town some time ago to provide "training" but I suppose that may not have filtered through the bureaucracy.
At 11.45am I wonder whether she wishes to LSVT BIG?
posted by Kilpike | 11:46 am
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