Chapter 354 - "What's Wrong With Your Hand?"
"What's Wrong with your hand?" was the question over the phone. "What do you mean?" she responded. "Can't you pick-up the phone sometime and ring me?" was the reply. This from a close rellie without empathy for a Parky; not dissimilar I suppose from the rest of us. Honestly, I don't think she wishes to speak to people about her day to day issues, reporting what happens at medical appointments, attempting to describe her day to day problems. She has difficulty using the correct terms to describe her symptoms or treatment, in their turn they do not understand.
In like manner when I bump into people asking about her condition I tend to brush off the question with "Not too bad" and similar meaningless replies, rather than go into long rambling responses filled with suitable words and phrases which in themselves need clarification. "How long have you got?" I should ask, standing in the middle of a shopping centre, to which one would hope a polite response to be "Another time perhaps".
People fail to understand that wearing incontinence pants (plus an extra pad for safety), and the instability of her left leg, tends to discourage her from "going out" for more than an hour or two; that public toilets, even if marked "Disabled" or whatever the more recent PC term is, and fitted with a token grab rail are usually not user friendly (some are even inside the female toilets meaning the disabled need to be independent enough to enter); that wearing overnight nappy bloomers are not easily disposed of either in motels or private homes without some embarrassment.
To encourage those living in Big Smoke to ring her, I configured our VOIP phone system to have a Big Smoke Direct Dial In number, meaning from that place calls to her are free or at local rates. So it costs us money to provide others with a service. Similarly with cards for birthdays and the like; she chooses electronic cards (which are not free) to send with personal messages attached. More personal than stocking up on a bundle of $1 cards bought in bulk at a junk shop.
Did I mention the right side of her face swelling a few weeks ago? She was disinterested in seeing our dentist where she needs to ascend in two chair lifts before fitting into a cramped waiting room. I found another dentist sporting wheel chair access. So last Monday she had a tooth removed without any drama so Wednesday she goes back for a general check up which will surely result in further work.
Recently her throat "whistles" as she breathes and she often complains of shortness of breath. And sometimes as I help her to or from the loo her breathing is quite rapid and loud, as if she were a stressed animal. So I made an appointment for her to see our GP on Monday, tomorrow. Last night, after settling down in bed after the incontinence bloomers and additional pad were fitted, she said breathing was difficult. She raised the head end of the bed to reduce the feeling. She said her breathing had given her problems all day at Wild dog Respite. She does not have a wog, her BP was 146/98 78 and her ear temperature was 36.1. Her usual foot tingling extended all the way up to her hips, something she has not mentioned in quite awhile. Even her head tingled. After returning from Respite, having been on the loo, she said she felt "strange" unable to better describe her feelings and was hesitant about shuffling her trolley back to her recliner.
Just now at 10:30 I went to her sewing room to ask whether she may like to have lunch down at the Club. An outing on a sunny day. She declined, although had I insisted, she was willing to go. She was making progress making repairs to a poorly constructed child's cardigan brought home from Wild Dog, something donated to them to sell. She has spent at least 3 days removing bands from the item and attempting to make paper templates to construct fabric bands in their place. A great waste of time, I offered to buy some cheap wool for her to knit a new cardigan in less time but she wants to defeat this problem her way. I am sure in days gone by the repair of the cardigan would have been no challenge to her. For several days I have watched her shuffling pieces of paper and fabric, as if they were part of a jig-saw. A moment ago she had the sewing machine going so I hope that quite soon she has the repair completed. Success will be good for her. Better than an outing for lunch.
In like manner when I bump into people asking about her condition I tend to brush off the question with "Not too bad" and similar meaningless replies, rather than go into long rambling responses filled with suitable words and phrases which in themselves need clarification. "How long have you got?" I should ask, standing in the middle of a shopping centre, to which one would hope a polite response to be "Another time perhaps".
People fail to understand that wearing incontinence pants (plus an extra pad for safety), and the instability of her left leg, tends to discourage her from "going out" for more than an hour or two; that public toilets, even if marked "Disabled" or whatever the more recent PC term is, and fitted with a token grab rail are usually not user friendly (some are even inside the female toilets meaning the disabled need to be independent enough to enter); that wearing overnight nappy bloomers are not easily disposed of either in motels or private homes without some embarrassment.
To encourage those living in Big Smoke to ring her, I configured our VOIP phone system to have a Big Smoke Direct Dial In number, meaning from that place calls to her are free or at local rates. So it costs us money to provide others with a service. Similarly with cards for birthdays and the like; she chooses electronic cards (which are not free) to send with personal messages attached. More personal than stocking up on a bundle of $1 cards bought in bulk at a junk shop.
Did I mention the right side of her face swelling a few weeks ago? She was disinterested in seeing our dentist where she needs to ascend in two chair lifts before fitting into a cramped waiting room. I found another dentist sporting wheel chair access. So last Monday she had a tooth removed without any drama so Wednesday she goes back for a general check up which will surely result in further work.
Recently her throat "whistles" as she breathes and she often complains of shortness of breath. And sometimes as I help her to or from the loo her breathing is quite rapid and loud, as if she were a stressed animal. So I made an appointment for her to see our GP on Monday, tomorrow. Last night, after settling down in bed after the incontinence bloomers and additional pad were fitted, she said breathing was difficult. She raised the head end of the bed to reduce the feeling. She said her breathing had given her problems all day at Wild dog Respite. She does not have a wog, her BP was 146/98 78 and her ear temperature was 36.1. Her usual foot tingling extended all the way up to her hips, something she has not mentioned in quite awhile. Even her head tingled. After returning from Respite, having been on the loo, she said she felt "strange" unable to better describe her feelings and was hesitant about shuffling her trolley back to her recliner.
Just now at 10:30 I went to her sewing room to ask whether she may like to have lunch down at the Club. An outing on a sunny day. She declined, although had I insisted, she was willing to go. She was making progress making repairs to a poorly constructed child's cardigan brought home from Wild Dog, something donated to them to sell. She has spent at least 3 days removing bands from the item and attempting to make paper templates to construct fabric bands in their place. A great waste of time, I offered to buy some cheap wool for her to knit a new cardigan in less time but she wants to defeat this problem her way. I am sure in days gone by the repair of the cardigan would have been no challenge to her. For several days I have watched her shuffling pieces of paper and fabric, as if they were part of a jig-saw. A moment ago she had the sewing machine going so I hope that quite soon she has the repair completed. Success will be good for her. Better than an outing for lunch.
posted by Kilpike | 10:47 am
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