Chapter 403 - One Step Back, Two Forward
When I woke this morning she was sitting on the side of the bed (must have released the locking pin on the side rail of the bed herself?), positioning the commode so that she could sit on it and fiddling with the tabs on the incontinence bloomers in order to remove them. Being half asleep, I'm unable to remember how or when the bloomers were removed. I wheeled her into the bathroom where she stood without assistance and sat on the loo, then returned to the commode to be wheeled back to the bedroom. After showering, the Wild Dog care person assisted her on the transfer trolley to the bedroom, dressed her & pulled her pants up while on the transfer trolley then transferred her out to her wheel chair for breakfast. My assistance was not needed so I concentrated on breakfast preparation.
The Duodopa pump was kept running 24 hours each day through the past week. For the first couple of nights I reduced the flow rate in steps down to 2.4 mL/hour without signs of improvement, if anything her mobility decreased. So on Thursday night I did not reduce the flow rate but left it at 4.8mL/hour as during the day.
Friday morning she transferred from bed to commode with much more agility than usual. Around 0830 she took herself to the loo without assistance. Great! I thought, until at 1045 she did require assistance for the same task. This time her legs/feet were rapidly shaking; dyskinesia or a "nervous" problem? That night pump was left on again at the day flow rate of 4.8 mL/hour.
Saturday morning began well and I didn't note any leg tremors (maybe I just didn't notice) but she was sitting-standing with greater ease. By 0945 it was time to be ready to attend respite at Wild Dog. I found her attempting to tie thin green ribbon around the straps of the Duodopa pump bag in order to somehow suspend the bag without having the strap around her neck. She exclaimed "I'm trying to tie a bow in the ribbon but I can't! I know what I want to do but I can't do it!!!" Green ribbon was wrapped and knotted around the straps of the bag. With a little difficulty I disentangled the green ribbon, adjusted the straps to be shorter and threaded them through the shoulder straps of her bra. She was happy. Off to respite. Her feet tingled all day but only up to just above her ankles, rather than up to her knees.
Last night (Saturday) I gave her the first 25mg Endep prescribed by Dr M. the neurosurgeon. I had some days previously trialled her on 10mg Endep (my GP had prescribed it for me when I had insomnia problems recently) without ill effect to her. This morning she described her head as "heavy, as if a headache was coming." Now at mid morning her head feels the same, there is no shaking of her legs and feet, when her feet are off the floor only her feet tingle, when her feet touch the floor the tingling extends half way up her shins. She says "This is too good to be true!" (referring to her mobility) and then wonders why Parkies are told to only run their pumps from 0600 to 2200, perhaps longer periods are harmful? I replied "We'll ask at your next clinic (at West Beer), on the 3rd of February. Of course tomorrow may be a bad day."
And tomorrow is but a day away.
The Duodopa pump was kept running 24 hours each day through the past week. For the first couple of nights I reduced the flow rate in steps down to 2.4 mL/hour without signs of improvement, if anything her mobility decreased. So on Thursday night I did not reduce the flow rate but left it at 4.8mL/hour as during the day.
Friday morning she transferred from bed to commode with much more agility than usual. Around 0830 she took herself to the loo without assistance. Great! I thought, until at 1045 she did require assistance for the same task. This time her legs/feet were rapidly shaking; dyskinesia or a "nervous" problem? That night pump was left on again at the day flow rate of 4.8 mL/hour.
Saturday morning began well and I didn't note any leg tremors (maybe I just didn't notice) but she was sitting-standing with greater ease. By 0945 it was time to be ready to attend respite at Wild Dog. I found her attempting to tie thin green ribbon around the straps of the Duodopa pump bag in order to somehow suspend the bag without having the strap around her neck. She exclaimed "I'm trying to tie a bow in the ribbon but I can't! I know what I want to do but I can't do it!!!" Green ribbon was wrapped and knotted around the straps of the bag. With a little difficulty I disentangled the green ribbon, adjusted the straps to be shorter and threaded them through the shoulder straps of her bra. She was happy. Off to respite. Her feet tingled all day but only up to just above her ankles, rather than up to her knees.
Last night (Saturday) I gave her the first 25mg Endep prescribed by Dr M. the neurosurgeon. I had some days previously trialled her on 10mg Endep (my GP had prescribed it for me when I had insomnia problems recently) without ill effect to her. This morning she described her head as "heavy, as if a headache was coming." Now at mid morning her head feels the same, there is no shaking of her legs and feet, when her feet are off the floor only her feet tingle, when her feet touch the floor the tingling extends half way up her shins. She says "This is too good to be true!" (referring to her mobility) and then wonders why Parkies are told to only run their pumps from 0600 to 2200, perhaps longer periods are harmful? I replied "We'll ask at your next clinic (at West Beer), on the 3rd of February. Of course tomorrow may be a bad day."
And tomorrow is but a day away.
posted by Kilpike | 10:22 am
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