Chapter 448 - Muddling Along

On Tuesday 28th of February I raised her daily dose from 4.9 to 5.0 ml/hr. For the next week or so she experiences "over heating", a couple of soluble Panadol in a small quantity of water seems to reduce the problem. She sweats excessively, says the bedroom wall fan blows hot air, usually needs a small personal fan as well as the wall fan, rests her head on a cooling pad. Mention this problem to any woman over 40 to be given a vivid description of such symptoms and they assume she is going through the same phase! What, at 74? One of these days I will be very rude. I became concerned last week about the condition so had her use her infra red temperature monitor in her right ear; At these sweaty times her body temperature is usually 35.9C, the highest measured was 36.5C, the lowest 35.6C. Wiki says the nominal range is 36.5-37.5. While she was in NatCap for a colonoscopy last Wednesday the nursing staff became concerned and puzzled about her sweating so much but were unable to locate a pedestal fan for her. Excessive sweating, feeling overheated and differences in skin temperature between her two feet have been mentioned in the past to doctors without any advice given. I believe the problem is called dysautonomia, a problem of her autonomic nervous system. We see the neuro at West Beer this week so I'll attempt to get an answer.

There were no negative findings from her colonoscopy. The cleansing procedure was performed in hospital the previous day; for which I was very grateful. Unfortunately, insufficient attention was given to her needs so a nurse had to clean a bed full of shit and give her a shower. Also, her glaucoma medication, Ganfort, was not administered on the mornings of Tuesday and Wednesday; unless the hospital used their own supplies, for the sealed package containing the phials returned home still sealed.

After returning from hospital on Wednesday the Duodopa pump failed with an error code of 1814 which may be a motor error according to info I found on line. The spare pump is now in use. I mailed the faulty pump to the distributor and West Beer PD clinic will send a replacement.

I could write about obsessive compulsive issues I see in her, but perhaps another time. Writing this stuff is depressing.