Chapter 502 - Ramblings
She turned 76 last Wednesday. I was able to throw my dressing gown over my dripping nudity when one of her presents arrived at the front door while I was showering. A new mobile phone for her which I would have bought anyway; just nice that it arrived on her birthday. That day was my respite day as well as the monthly carers' meeting so I returned with two bunches of roses, one white, one red. She was unimpressed about either present; perhaps slightly puzzled about the phone. I jammed all the roses into a large vase and afterwards she was intent on removing all the leaves on the stems. I discouraged that.
The phone is a KISA brand, limited to a maximum of 10 stored numbers plus an emergency button. Apart from the numbers for myself and 4 family members, only one friend's number, the Wild Dog Carers and the doctor numbers have been included. That leaves two buttons without a stored number for the unlikely need to call other friends. For each stored number I have had her call, partly to train her to use the phone, partly to "break the ice" because she no longer has the desire to speak on any phone; perhaps she has little to talk about, is unable to speak clearly or comprehend what others say because often her phone calls are rather short. This phone is very easy to place in speaker mode at quite a decent volume. Our CB radios have retired to a cupboard so we rely on our mobile phones now, being more reliable since her simple press of a button with my name on it effectively locks in a call to me whereas sometimes she pressed the CB radio transmit button too briefly or not in sync with what she may have said for me to detect a squawk. Since receiving the phone only one problem with it has happened; on the rear is a white button to call Emergency and by accident she has pressed it twice. I have duct taped a small piece of clear plastic over the button. Little effort is required to remove the plastic should the emergency button need pressing.
Of late her left leg tends to bend upwards at the knee by the time she wakes of a morning after laying on her back all night. It is her left foot/ankle that remains straightened and cannot be walked on. Sometimes she is unable to straighten the leg and I have needed to place downwards pressure on the knee. Rather than take her to a physio at the hospital, I took her to the GP who seemed unimpressed with the photos I showed him. We learned that he is leaving to take up a position in Batman City. When in bed she always wants a pillow beneath her left leg, even though the bottom of the bed can be raised. On a whim I ordered a shaped foam plastic cast in which to lay her left leg. Another experiment.
The local equivalent of Dance for Parkinsons begins again next Tuesday in a church hall. She looks forward to attending again. She has pleasure in doing the movements, even following along to the the classes we have on DVD. She is no longer keen on attending the Thursday ladies group in our village hall. Her knitting attempts have been put aside and I wonder whether her problems being unable to proceed more than a few rows beyond casting on is a possible cause for not attending. She has not wanted to go shopping on Sunday mornings lately, saying there are too many people there.
The neuro's plan for varying the duodopa dose rate up or down while increasing the number of Symmetrel each day is now entering its 5th week when she will take Symmetrel at 0800, 1200 and 1600. From now on when dyskinesias begin the dose rate will be reduced by 0.5 mL/hr each week. To date I see no obvious relationship between dose rates and dyskinesias. I am about to print off the last few weeks worth of FitBit charts to send to him.
Although I have not seen the report from my recent MRI scan, our GP commented as follows on a referral to a neurologist "His CT Brain showed mild atrophy of cerebellum. MRI showed generalised cerebral atrophy with wide spread T2/FLAIR hyperintensities likely due to chronic small vessel ischaemic disease. There is a 2cm x 1.7cm x 2.1cm right occipital arachnoid cyst on MRI." My appointment is several weeks away.
The phone is a KISA brand, limited to a maximum of 10 stored numbers plus an emergency button. Apart from the numbers for myself and 4 family members, only one friend's number, the Wild Dog Carers and the doctor numbers have been included. That leaves two buttons without a stored number for the unlikely need to call other friends. For each stored number I have had her call, partly to train her to use the phone, partly to "break the ice" because she no longer has the desire to speak on any phone; perhaps she has little to talk about, is unable to speak clearly or comprehend what others say because often her phone calls are rather short. This phone is very easy to place in speaker mode at quite a decent volume. Our CB radios have retired to a cupboard so we rely on our mobile phones now, being more reliable since her simple press of a button with my name on it effectively locks in a call to me whereas sometimes she pressed the CB radio transmit button too briefly or not in sync with what she may have said for me to detect a squawk. Since receiving the phone only one problem with it has happened; on the rear is a white button to call Emergency and by accident she has pressed it twice. I have duct taped a small piece of clear plastic over the button. Little effort is required to remove the plastic should the emergency button need pressing.
Of late her left leg tends to bend upwards at the knee by the time she wakes of a morning after laying on her back all night. It is her left foot/ankle that remains straightened and cannot be walked on. Sometimes she is unable to straighten the leg and I have needed to place downwards pressure on the knee. Rather than take her to a physio at the hospital, I took her to the GP who seemed unimpressed with the photos I showed him. We learned that he is leaving to take up a position in Batman City. When in bed she always wants a pillow beneath her left leg, even though the bottom of the bed can be raised. On a whim I ordered a shaped foam plastic cast in which to lay her left leg. Another experiment.
The local equivalent of Dance for Parkinsons begins again next Tuesday in a church hall. She looks forward to attending again. She has pleasure in doing the movements, even following along to the the classes we have on DVD. She is no longer keen on attending the Thursday ladies group in our village hall. Her knitting attempts have been put aside and I wonder whether her problems being unable to proceed more than a few rows beyond casting on is a possible cause for not attending. She has not wanted to go shopping on Sunday mornings lately, saying there are too many people there.
The neuro's plan for varying the duodopa dose rate up or down while increasing the number of Symmetrel each day is now entering its 5th week when she will take Symmetrel at 0800, 1200 and 1600. From now on when dyskinesias begin the dose rate will be reduced by 0.5 mL/hr each week. To date I see no obvious relationship between dose rates and dyskinesias. I am about to print off the last few weeks worth of FitBit charts to send to him.
Although I have not seen the report from my recent MRI scan, our GP commented as follows on a referral to a neurologist "His CT Brain showed mild atrophy of cerebellum. MRI showed generalised cerebral atrophy with wide spread T2/FLAIR hyperintensities likely due to chronic small vessel ischaemic disease. There is a 2cm x 1.7cm x 2.1cm right occipital arachnoid cyst on MRI." My appointment is several weeks away.
posted by Kilpike | 12:06 pm
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