Chapter 338 - Nowhere Very Much
In the gloom of 5am last Monday morning I peered across toward her bed; noted that her overnight catheter bag appeared empty; thought "She will need to be taken to hospital if she has not produced 500-1000ml of urine over night"; then noticed a circular dark patch beneath the bag then thought "Damn, I must have forgotten to close the tap!!". Late Sunday night I had replaced the overnight bag as a matter of routine to avoid bacterial problems. The overnight bag sits on the floor mounted upon a blue plastic stand, its long hose plugged into her leg bag. But no, the tap on the bottom of the bag was closed and I found a leak in the plastic welding at the bottom edge of the bag; which almost made me feel relieved (no pun intended) until I soaked up the urine with paper towelling, and after running out of that, toilet roll paper. Then some spray on carpet cleaner. I should've gone looking for a carpet cleaning machine. We once had a small steam cleaner but gave it away. Moral: Never give anything away; hoard instead. The overnight bag and stand now sit in a plastic box.
That same morning the woman scheduled to arrive at 8am failed to arrive until 8.35am by which time I had completed the shower duties, she having patiently sat in the nude on the shower chair for 15 minutes. When the woman arrived she said she slept through the alarm. Fair enough, happens to anyone occasionally. However what she wrote in the daily report sheet was that because of our catheter bag leak I had given her a shower "early". So I wrote a few words indicating the woman's arrival and departure times and when I had given my PWP a shower. Each morning a different woman comes to shower and one of them must have read my note, reporting it to their supervisor who rang and visited at 8am on a morning later in the week. I pointed out to the supervisor that had the woman written that she had been just plain late I would not have written any comments at all.
Tuesday was Respite as usual.
Physio J. returned on Wednesday to bind her left foot in an attempt to ease the discomfort and foot "turning". Mildly successful for a few days until the top of her foot became slightly itchy several days later, so I removed the bandaging, replacing it the following day. I think I bound to tightly because by day's end her foot was uncomfortable.
On Thursday physio A. brought out a podiatrist to inspect the errant foot and clip toe nails. There was much discussion about the foot; decision to obtain some sort of fabric brace to prevent the ankle rolling over. Whenever I massage the foot with lotion or adjust the bandaging I note that she experiences pain, even though I attempt to be careful. Later the RN arrived to give her a check-up. There is consensus that her leg bag should be filling more rapidly, rather than not requiring emptying until afternoon each day; she needs to drink more fluid each morning; she doesn't. I learnt something - laying in bed at night tends to force fluid retained in the legs back into the blood stream, causing the kidneys to produce more urine; although her legs do not show signs of excessive swelling during the day.
The Uglies and the good husbands visited on Friday. We had an enjoyable day with a BBQ lunch.
This morning she had me inspecting her bed and the carpet beneath. Part of the skirt around her adjustable bed gave her the illusion that the carpet was coming adrift from along the skirting board. The bed was hollow in the middle and sloped to one side; a length of timber and a spirit level showed that she was correct so I reversed and rotated her mattress, hoping that doing so (the slope is barely detectable now) will remove this bother for her, at least foe awhile. I am surprised that she is so sensitive to levels in her environment, both actual physical gradients as well as perceptions by eye.
Even though she is no longer rising up to 6 times each night, she wakes around 2-3am for a "tide-her-over Sinemet" and again at 6am for her first daily dose of meds. Although she doesn't wake me, I must be disturbed enough to wake around the same times then have difficulty returning to sleep, trying various techniques to induce sleep, yet thoughts tumbling around in my head discourage sleep. My only satisfying sleep inducer is reading a book and that of course is not recommended, as in the book "Night School" which I had great expectations about from a review I heard on the radio and ordered from the UK at great expense. I probably know a lot more about sleep now yet my days are growing wearier and more irritable. So far sleep deprivation has only minor impact on my Lumosity scoring; should my BPI figure decline quickly I will be very worried.
Her stomach bloatedness tends to persist. I give her a "Yakut" as often as I remember. Frequent mugs of warm water help her ease the discomfort. In like manner, the catheter, although resolving the need to rise so often during the night, is a discomfort to her and as yet there is no solution to that.
That same morning the woman scheduled to arrive at 8am failed to arrive until 8.35am by which time I had completed the shower duties, she having patiently sat in the nude on the shower chair for 15 minutes. When the woman arrived she said she slept through the alarm. Fair enough, happens to anyone occasionally. However what she wrote in the daily report sheet was that because of our catheter bag leak I had given her a shower "early". So I wrote a few words indicating the woman's arrival and departure times and when I had given my PWP a shower. Each morning a different woman comes to shower and one of them must have read my note, reporting it to their supervisor who rang and visited at 8am on a morning later in the week. I pointed out to the supervisor that had the woman written that she had been just plain late I would not have written any comments at all.
Tuesday was Respite as usual.
Physio J. returned on Wednesday to bind her left foot in an attempt to ease the discomfort and foot "turning". Mildly successful for a few days until the top of her foot became slightly itchy several days later, so I removed the bandaging, replacing it the following day. I think I bound to tightly because by day's end her foot was uncomfortable.
On Thursday physio A. brought out a podiatrist to inspect the errant foot and clip toe nails. There was much discussion about the foot; decision to obtain some sort of fabric brace to prevent the ankle rolling over. Whenever I massage the foot with lotion or adjust the bandaging I note that she experiences pain, even though I attempt to be careful. Later the RN arrived to give her a check-up. There is consensus that her leg bag should be filling more rapidly, rather than not requiring emptying until afternoon each day; she needs to drink more fluid each morning; she doesn't. I learnt something - laying in bed at night tends to force fluid retained in the legs back into the blood stream, causing the kidneys to produce more urine; although her legs do not show signs of excessive swelling during the day.
The Uglies and the good husbands visited on Friday. We had an enjoyable day with a BBQ lunch.
This morning she had me inspecting her bed and the carpet beneath. Part of the skirt around her adjustable bed gave her the illusion that the carpet was coming adrift from along the skirting board. The bed was hollow in the middle and sloped to one side; a length of timber and a spirit level showed that she was correct so I reversed and rotated her mattress, hoping that doing so (the slope is barely detectable now) will remove this bother for her, at least foe awhile. I am surprised that she is so sensitive to levels in her environment, both actual physical gradients as well as perceptions by eye.
Even though she is no longer rising up to 6 times each night, she wakes around 2-3am for a "tide-her-over Sinemet" and again at 6am for her first daily dose of meds. Although she doesn't wake me, I must be disturbed enough to wake around the same times then have difficulty returning to sleep, trying various techniques to induce sleep, yet thoughts tumbling around in my head discourage sleep. My only satisfying sleep inducer is reading a book and that of course is not recommended, as in the book "Night School" which I had great expectations about from a review I heard on the radio and ordered from the UK at great expense. I probably know a lot more about sleep now yet my days are growing wearier and more irritable. So far sleep deprivation has only minor impact on my Lumosity scoring; should my BPI figure decline quickly I will be very worried.
Her stomach bloatedness tends to persist. I give her a "Yakut" as often as I remember. Frequent mugs of warm water help her ease the discomfort. In like manner, the catheter, although resolving the need to rise so often during the night, is a discomfort to her and as yet there is no solution to that.
posted by Kilpike | 11:53 am
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