Chapter 523 - Muddling Along
After hearing that way down south has record numbers of 'flu cases this season I have decided we will not go down that way for a while yet. I was contemplating visiting town W for a weekend but since it is south west of here best we avoid that as well. She has decided she does not wish to visit her very elderly aunt on the central coast either, partly because of the traffic on the way there and someone told her that the aunt would not remember her anyway, a comment that was best left unsaid.
Last week the shredding of the wool-like fibres of the pillows we bought recently was discontinued and she was trimming quilt wadding to size to make a quilt I suppose, although I suspect the wadding is normally cut to size once fabric squares are sewn together. I came upon her hacking at a "rectangular" piece of wadding about 0.5 x 1.0 metres. I offered to help her and trimmed it square. Returning shortly after I found her still hacking at the stuff so using a tape measure I "proved" to her that the piece was square. But no, she still had to cut in from one end, overlapping where she had cut to produce an overall trapezoid shape, suggesting to me that her vision is in some manner distorted. Her attempt to sew around the edges of the wadding resulted in a broken needle in her sewing machine, which she is now unable to replace, then the machine became "broken" (I need to look at it). Left to herself in such a situation she disassembles any accessible parts on the machine. Recently she told me that the sewing machine "will not make stitches"; the top thread had not been threaded and once I did that stitching was perfect.The next day she began rolling the pieces of wadding, tying them with wool and packing them all into a large bin liner.
On the weekend she returned to decorating a pillow she had made, although the seams were only pinned together. And the decorations, from a kit of baubles bought at the Hot Air City craft show last year (I kept quiet about the show this year), are just being pinned on as well. I often find her trying to thread hand sewing needles, seems to spend ages trying without success so I thread them for her. On one occasion I took some images of her holding a small magnifying glass as an aid to threading a needle before I did the job for her.
Sunday, a miserable day, we went down to the shops. I suggested she buy a couple of small pillows to decorate but she seems to prefer her own odd shaped creations. Any coins I acquire from shopping are left for her to collect into plastic containers until there are sufficient (over $100) to warrant dropping them into a coin ATM for her own personal account. She spent Sunday afternoon sorting the coins into piles and attempting to determine their total value and even after scribbling on a note pad she failed to do so. Coins tended to fall on the floor quite frequently.
Quite frequently she drops needles and pins on the floor and uses the piece of dowel with a magnet glued to one end to pick them up. However, she is unable to see most of the needles and pins on the floor so just swigs the magnet end of the dowel in semi-circles hoping to locate them all
When dyskinesias begin in her legs I increase the Duodopa flow rate, usually by 0.5 ml/hr but late morning today I raised it from 6.5 to 7.5 resulting in a reasonable afternoon. Today being a cool sunny day I wheel chaired to the hall to check for the mail, hoping a brief outing in the sunshine is good for her.
Yesterday morning I found her stoma red and weeping. Noticeably better today. One of the Wild Dog carers thought her left eye was redder than usual; I hope she is not developing another allergy to glaucoma medications; but perhaps that may encourage her to have the cataract and glaucoma stent operation.
Last week the shredding of the wool-like fibres of the pillows we bought recently was discontinued and she was trimming quilt wadding to size to make a quilt I suppose, although I suspect the wadding is normally cut to size once fabric squares are sewn together. I came upon her hacking at a "rectangular" piece of wadding about 0.5 x 1.0 metres. I offered to help her and trimmed it square. Returning shortly after I found her still hacking at the stuff so using a tape measure I "proved" to her that the piece was square. But no, she still had to cut in from one end, overlapping where she had cut to produce an overall trapezoid shape, suggesting to me that her vision is in some manner distorted. Her attempt to sew around the edges of the wadding resulted in a broken needle in her sewing machine, which she is now unable to replace, then the machine became "broken" (I need to look at it). Left to herself in such a situation she disassembles any accessible parts on the machine. Recently she told me that the sewing machine "will not make stitches"; the top thread had not been threaded and once I did that stitching was perfect.The next day she began rolling the pieces of wadding, tying them with wool and packing them all into a large bin liner.
On the weekend she returned to decorating a pillow she had made, although the seams were only pinned together. And the decorations, from a kit of baubles bought at the Hot Air City craft show last year (I kept quiet about the show this year), are just being pinned on as well. I often find her trying to thread hand sewing needles, seems to spend ages trying without success so I thread them for her. On one occasion I took some images of her holding a small magnifying glass as an aid to threading a needle before I did the job for her.
Sunday, a miserable day, we went down to the shops. I suggested she buy a couple of small pillows to decorate but she seems to prefer her own odd shaped creations. Any coins I acquire from shopping are left for her to collect into plastic containers until there are sufficient (over $100) to warrant dropping them into a coin ATM for her own personal account. She spent Sunday afternoon sorting the coins into piles and attempting to determine their total value and even after scribbling on a note pad she failed to do so. Coins tended to fall on the floor quite frequently.
Quite frequently she drops needles and pins on the floor and uses the piece of dowel with a magnet glued to one end to pick them up. However, she is unable to see most of the needles and pins on the floor so just swigs the magnet end of the dowel in semi-circles hoping to locate them all
When dyskinesias begin in her legs I increase the Duodopa flow rate, usually by 0.5 ml/hr but late morning today I raised it from 6.5 to 7.5 resulting in a reasonable afternoon. Today being a cool sunny day I wheel chaired to the hall to check for the mail, hoping a brief outing in the sunshine is good for her.
Yesterday morning I found her stoma red and weeping. Noticeably better today. One of the Wild Dog carers thought her left eye was redder than usual; I hope she is not developing another allergy to glaucoma medications; but perhaps that may encourage her to have the cataract and glaucoma stent operation.
posted by Kilpike | 5:06 pm
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