Chapter 518 - Another Scare
Last Monday a call from the doctor's surgery had us visit there about 1400 to hear the report about her thyroid scan which showed some nodules seemingly of little interest to doctor J. After we returned home she was hot, cardigan off, feet up, fans on, chilled water and by 1600 too cold then asleep in the wheel chair 30 minutes later.
Early Tuesday morning she fiddled, for no known reason, with her bedside clock and the alarm sounded at 0600, so even though I was waking listening to the news on an ear bud, I jumped out of bed searching for the source of the beeping.
On Wednesday, my respite day, she had the carer woman take her outside (beautiful weather) where she weeded the terracotta pots. I must tell them she is not to get her hands in the dirt; she finds doing so a pleasure. That evening in bed she was breathing heavily and noisily, was very dyskinetic and sweaty so I gave her a Kalma pill to quieten her at 2110. At 2150 her right foot needed rubbing to ease a cramp and I noticed that her right leg and foot were hotter than the left.
She was breathing noisily and was hard to wake on Thursday morning as I cleaned the stoma and re-taped the pump tubing and returned to sleep so I administered her Optifresh and Ganfort eye drops an hour later at 0730. Since our postal voting papers had not arrived, we went to the pre-polling place mid afternoon.
In the early hours of Friday morning she kept waking me with loud snorting, loud breathing and yelling out. At 0615 I carried out the usual pump changes but left the eye drops for later. Her breathing and snorting were still loud so I rolled her onto her right side and she was much quieter. She muttered that she needed to piddle before saying "I'm doing it" and falling asleep again. From 0730 I tried to wake her by shaking her and patting her face and at 0740 her eyes suddenly opened. I swivelled her to sit on the side of the bed but was unable to lift her into the Sara so I gave her a bolus dose. The Wild Dog carer arrived and between us we were able to transfer her to the commode then since she was "wet" under the shower. We dried her, new incontinence pants and a clean nightie before returning her to bed at 0808. She was not lucid, eyes open but unable to answer questions so I pressed the emergency button at 0815. The ambulance arrived about 0830, she was checked over and their tests only indicated that her body temperature was 34C and she was "cool to the touch". I signed a screen to say I didn't wish her to be taken to the hospital. She remained in bed, At 0930 she drank her breakfast fruit juice with Benefiber then asked for chocolate. By 1020 I dressed her and she was seated in the wheel chair accepting a chai latte and a piece of buttered sticky bun. I rang the doctor's surgery and then took her there but there was no useful advise given so home again by 1230 where she did some leg exercise on the pedals. I attempted to ring her neuro at West Beer but the number was always busy so I sent an email to the consultant nurse before ringing her to ask her to pass the message on to Dr F. The nurse suggested increasing the Duodopa night flow rate to 2.5 mL/hr, which I did from then on. That afternoon she was trimming and fiddling with clothes she had attempted to modify weeks ago without success. Dyskinesias were minimal all day. I was asleep about 2230 when she began calling out after adjusting her bed positions and tossing pillows about and attempting to remove a quilt because she was too hot and her dyskinesias were bad.
Saturday saw us walking up and down the main street on a sunny morning after I learned that a cousin who had intended to meet us at the Bakery for coffee was running hours late. She attempted a chicken and avacado salad lunch at the Club but ate very little of due to swallowing difficulties. Then home to more snipping of clothes being modified. Minimal dyskinesia. By the way, the FitBit has not been around her right ankle for weeks now because it causes her discomfort and medical professionals take little notice of the results.
Today just quietly snipping and trimming the clothes being modified. I don't object to her doing this; she is kept occupied and interested for hours and if new clothes are needed on our shopping trips down the street each weekend then such is the cost of our Progression.
Early Tuesday morning she fiddled, for no known reason, with her bedside clock and the alarm sounded at 0600, so even though I was waking listening to the news on an ear bud, I jumped out of bed searching for the source of the beeping.
On Wednesday, my respite day, she had the carer woman take her outside (beautiful weather) where she weeded the terracotta pots. I must tell them she is not to get her hands in the dirt; she finds doing so a pleasure. That evening in bed she was breathing heavily and noisily, was very dyskinetic and sweaty so I gave her a Kalma pill to quieten her at 2110. At 2150 her right foot needed rubbing to ease a cramp and I noticed that her right leg and foot were hotter than the left.
She was breathing noisily and was hard to wake on Thursday morning as I cleaned the stoma and re-taped the pump tubing and returned to sleep so I administered her Optifresh and Ganfort eye drops an hour later at 0730. Since our postal voting papers had not arrived, we went to the pre-polling place mid afternoon.
In the early hours of Friday morning she kept waking me with loud snorting, loud breathing and yelling out. At 0615 I carried out the usual pump changes but left the eye drops for later. Her breathing and snorting were still loud so I rolled her onto her right side and she was much quieter. She muttered that she needed to piddle before saying "I'm doing it" and falling asleep again. From 0730 I tried to wake her by shaking her and patting her face and at 0740 her eyes suddenly opened. I swivelled her to sit on the side of the bed but was unable to lift her into the Sara so I gave her a bolus dose. The Wild Dog carer arrived and between us we were able to transfer her to the commode then since she was "wet" under the shower. We dried her, new incontinence pants and a clean nightie before returning her to bed at 0808. She was not lucid, eyes open but unable to answer questions so I pressed the emergency button at 0815. The ambulance arrived about 0830, she was checked over and their tests only indicated that her body temperature was 34C and she was "cool to the touch". I signed a screen to say I didn't wish her to be taken to the hospital. She remained in bed, At 0930 she drank her breakfast fruit juice with Benefiber then asked for chocolate. By 1020 I dressed her and she was seated in the wheel chair accepting a chai latte and a piece of buttered sticky bun. I rang the doctor's surgery and then took her there but there was no useful advise given so home again by 1230 where she did some leg exercise on the pedals. I attempted to ring her neuro at West Beer but the number was always busy so I sent an email to the consultant nurse before ringing her to ask her to pass the message on to Dr F. The nurse suggested increasing the Duodopa night flow rate to 2.5 mL/hr, which I did from then on. That afternoon she was trimming and fiddling with clothes she had attempted to modify weeks ago without success. Dyskinesias were minimal all day. I was asleep about 2230 when she began calling out after adjusting her bed positions and tossing pillows about and attempting to remove a quilt because she was too hot and her dyskinesias were bad.
Saturday saw us walking up and down the main street on a sunny morning after I learned that a cousin who had intended to meet us at the Bakery for coffee was running hours late. She attempted a chicken and avacado salad lunch at the Club but ate very little of due to swallowing difficulties. Then home to more snipping of clothes being modified. Minimal dyskinesia. By the way, the FitBit has not been around her right ankle for weeks now because it causes her discomfort and medical professionals take little notice of the results.
Today just quietly snipping and trimming the clothes being modified. I don't object to her doing this; she is kept occupied and interested for hours and if new clothes are needed on our shopping trips down the street each weekend then such is the cost of our Progression.
posted by Kilpike | 3:56 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home