Chapter 533 - Onwards Down a Slippery Slope
Last Wednesday 2nd October for a checkup by the ophthalmologist. Her eye pressures were 34 and 23, higher than was expected. She was unable to read by either eye further than the top to lines on the eye chart. I was asked to reduce the frequency of Prednefrin eye drops from three time to once per day in the morning and to continue Ilevro as before, once at night. Prednefrin increases eye pressures. These eye drops are to be discontinued from next Wednesday and Optifresh can be used for eye lubrication. She continues to read on her eBook, but the font is so large there are only 7 or 8 lines displayed on the tablet.
I have spent this last week stressed because a re-application questionnaire for incontinence support arrived in the post for her from Medicare. This is the first time since she became eligible for the support that her eligibility has been questioned. I have now learnt that having a Home Care Package cancels her eligibility. In consequence her additional incontinence support from the state government also ceases because its eligibility criteria depends on the other. I imagine there is a strong possibility that the value of the benefits may have to be refunded. Woe is us.
While parked at our village hall last week collecting our mail one of our neighbours from around the corner began chatting to me than asked permission whether it was OK to speak to her seated in the front seat of the car. A few words were exchanged then the woman left. Her cognitive decline must be more evident than I realised even though it has been evident to me for about a decade. Yet obviously not to the geriatrician she no longer wishes to see, and at the last appointment with him he stated that there had been no decline since the previous one some 6 months before. And that reminds me of the time I was asked by the coordinator of the Dementia Carers' Group I attend that I not speak of PD because other potential attendees may think any one caring for a PD victim may think they are can readily attend. I accidentally found "The Parkinson's You Don't See: Cognitive and Non-motor Symptoms" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2LP_5PC9LU which dates from 2014.
I collected her repaired Brother sewing machine yesterday. Several weeks ago I caught her disassembling the machine to fix it because "it would not sew". Previously I had been able to "fix" her problems and demonstrate that the machine worked. This time a spring was removed and an adjustment cam was loose. This time I was unable to make the needle threader to work after replacing the parts. The repair report states "Repair needle threader, reset needle bar alignment and adjust auto thread cutter". The screwdriver that is part of the machine's tools has been "lost", not that doing so prevents her from using scissors and such like to "repair" anything.
She needs to open boxes, drawers, folders to see what is inside. This past week she decided to re-file her many folders of embroidery, quilting, knitting etc designs all contained in plastic sleeves in 3 ring binders or the type with many plastic fingers. The latter were dismantled and some of which were broken. The many fingers of those don't align with 3 ring binders so she did not ask for a hole punch but instead attempted to force metal rings through the plastic sleeves, a mess resulted, so now there are loose covers, sleeves and broken plastic bits pushed, by me, into cupboard space just to get rid of it all.
We often buy balls of wool (not really wool is it?) at the junk shops, some of which she knits into squares for no specific purpose that I know of, usually dropping a few stitches unnoticed until the ball runs out, then she decides to undo the knitting, resulting in knots and tangles, so what was once a large ball becomes a number of smaller balls after knots are cut out.
She has wrecked a number of slacks after finding loose threads in the cuffs and, well, pulling one thread loosens others and so one. Several have been cut along the leg seams because they were not made correctly and need fixing. Such things eventually find their way into the rubbish after she returns to the task, weeks later, unable to remember what she had intended to do with the repairing.
Today she has taken a set of "hand made" cups and saucers out of her tall cupboard and lined them up on the lounge room floor. I attempted to discourage her but she becomes aggressive and compulsive, so I am learning that my attempts to direct her to other activities. This morning I took four washing baskets of washed clothes into the bedroom for her to put away, a task she likes to do even though she takes hours to do a little of a normally half hour job, usually done on Wednesdays when a Wild Dog Carer is looking after her. Today I must have been too early or too late with my suggestion for the activity. Anyway she has now distracted herself by arranging the contents of another cupboard. I suspect much of her problem is her eyesight, needing to busy herself and realising that knitting and sewing are presently beyond her abilities. I try to interest her in watching TV but she does not concentrate, becoming easily distracted, and even though we subscribe to four streaming sources (which is mostly juvenile crap for immature adults from the USA) perhaps her eyesight is a problem here as well; I suppose it has to be.
Last Sunday R&K passed through on the way to some where else. We were to meet at the Soldiers' for lunch. On such a beautiful morning we went down the street early, partly so I could buy a cheap photo frame (that's a non-relevant story to this waffle). She was half asleep and dyskinetic so I left her in the car where she slept for an hour before I took her inside. Inside her leg dyskinetics worsened so I rang R&K to say "let's cancel" and to call in on their return on Thursday. Thursday was little better but we met for a bit of lunch although she was unable to swallow much of the fettuccine she ordered and her legs were bad. On Friday morning she complained of two painful toes on her left foot; skin had been damaged on the joints of two toes; whether from her shoes on Thursday or rubbing on bed clothes that night. I have placed band aids and later bandage over the toes, which remain painful this morning.
My left foot plantar fasciitis problem was not mending after buying new shoes and using an ice pack so yesterday I took myself to the podiatrist who attends to her toe nails, bought a pair of $60 shoe inserts from him and following his advice bought a pair of $160 casual lace up shoes. The most expensive shoes I have ever bought, remembering that my early years at school were attended in bare feet and I can still remember the sensation of walking into the chook yard to retrieve eggs with greenish-whitish-blackish chook shit oozing between my toes. I'm telling myself my left foot is feeling better. Should this become worse she may end up in a nursing home sooner rather than later.
Postscript Sunday 6th October.
Between 1315 and 1730 yesterday afternoon she was sorting, handling, counting her best cutlery trying to find a missing splayed. Only one drawer full not needing the time spent in repetitious activity. I was not involved in counting the items. She just said one was missing. I do not see why, I'm sure we haven't used them in years. She was not stressed, simply kept handling the utensils, removing each set from the drawer then replacing them, she said she was not counting but knew that one was missing. I am tempted to check myself but fear she will return to this pointless task she wasted 4 hours on yesterday. Today Daylight Saving is upon us once more causing some impact with her medication timing.
I have spent this last week stressed because a re-application questionnaire for incontinence support arrived in the post for her from Medicare. This is the first time since she became eligible for the support that her eligibility has been questioned. I have now learnt that having a Home Care Package cancels her eligibility. In consequence her additional incontinence support from the state government also ceases because its eligibility criteria depends on the other. I imagine there is a strong possibility that the value of the benefits may have to be refunded. Woe is us.
While parked at our village hall last week collecting our mail one of our neighbours from around the corner began chatting to me than asked permission whether it was OK to speak to her seated in the front seat of the car. A few words were exchanged then the woman left. Her cognitive decline must be more evident than I realised even though it has been evident to me for about a decade. Yet obviously not to the geriatrician she no longer wishes to see, and at the last appointment with him he stated that there had been no decline since the previous one some 6 months before. And that reminds me of the time I was asked by the coordinator of the Dementia Carers' Group I attend that I not speak of PD because other potential attendees may think any one caring for a PD victim may think they are can readily attend. I accidentally found "The Parkinson's You Don't See: Cognitive and Non-motor Symptoms" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2LP_5PC9LU which dates from 2014.
I collected her repaired Brother sewing machine yesterday. Several weeks ago I caught her disassembling the machine to fix it because "it would not sew". Previously I had been able to "fix" her problems and demonstrate that the machine worked. This time a spring was removed and an adjustment cam was loose. This time I was unable to make the needle threader to work after replacing the parts. The repair report states "Repair needle threader, reset needle bar alignment and adjust auto thread cutter". The screwdriver that is part of the machine's tools has been "lost", not that doing so prevents her from using scissors and such like to "repair" anything.
She needs to open boxes, drawers, folders to see what is inside. This past week she decided to re-file her many folders of embroidery, quilting, knitting etc designs all contained in plastic sleeves in 3 ring binders or the type with many plastic fingers. The latter were dismantled and some of which were broken. The many fingers of those don't align with 3 ring binders so she did not ask for a hole punch but instead attempted to force metal rings through the plastic sleeves, a mess resulted, so now there are loose covers, sleeves and broken plastic bits pushed, by me, into cupboard space just to get rid of it all.
We often buy balls of wool (not really wool is it?) at the junk shops, some of which she knits into squares for no specific purpose that I know of, usually dropping a few stitches unnoticed until the ball runs out, then she decides to undo the knitting, resulting in knots and tangles, so what was once a large ball becomes a number of smaller balls after knots are cut out.
She has wrecked a number of slacks after finding loose threads in the cuffs and, well, pulling one thread loosens others and so one. Several have been cut along the leg seams because they were not made correctly and need fixing. Such things eventually find their way into the rubbish after she returns to the task, weeks later, unable to remember what she had intended to do with the repairing.
Today she has taken a set of "hand made" cups and saucers out of her tall cupboard and lined them up on the lounge room floor. I attempted to discourage her but she becomes aggressive and compulsive, so I am learning that my attempts to direct her to other activities. This morning I took four washing baskets of washed clothes into the bedroom for her to put away, a task she likes to do even though she takes hours to do a little of a normally half hour job, usually done on Wednesdays when a Wild Dog Carer is looking after her. Today I must have been too early or too late with my suggestion for the activity. Anyway she has now distracted herself by arranging the contents of another cupboard. I suspect much of her problem is her eyesight, needing to busy herself and realising that knitting and sewing are presently beyond her abilities. I try to interest her in watching TV but she does not concentrate, becoming easily distracted, and even though we subscribe to four streaming sources (which is mostly juvenile crap for immature adults from the USA) perhaps her eyesight is a problem here as well; I suppose it has to be.
Last Sunday R&K passed through on the way to some where else. We were to meet at the Soldiers' for lunch. On such a beautiful morning we went down the street early, partly so I could buy a cheap photo frame (that's a non-relevant story to this waffle). She was half asleep and dyskinetic so I left her in the car where she slept for an hour before I took her inside. Inside her leg dyskinetics worsened so I rang R&K to say "let's cancel" and to call in on their return on Thursday. Thursday was little better but we met for a bit of lunch although she was unable to swallow much of the fettuccine she ordered and her legs were bad. On Friday morning she complained of two painful toes on her left foot; skin had been damaged on the joints of two toes; whether from her shoes on Thursday or rubbing on bed clothes that night. I have placed band aids and later bandage over the toes, which remain painful this morning.
My left foot plantar fasciitis problem was not mending after buying new shoes and using an ice pack so yesterday I took myself to the podiatrist who attends to her toe nails, bought a pair of $60 shoe inserts from him and following his advice bought a pair of $160 casual lace up shoes. The most expensive shoes I have ever bought, remembering that my early years at school were attended in bare feet and I can still remember the sensation of walking into the chook yard to retrieve eggs with greenish-whitish-blackish chook shit oozing between my toes. I'm telling myself my left foot is feeling better. Should this become worse she may end up in a nursing home sooner rather than later.
Postscript Sunday 6th October.
Between 1315 and 1730 yesterday afternoon she was sorting, handling, counting her best cutlery trying to find a missing splayed. Only one drawer full not needing the time spent in repetitious activity. I was not involved in counting the items. She just said one was missing. I do not see why, I'm sure we haven't used them in years. She was not stressed, simply kept handling the utensils, removing each set from the drawer then replacing them, she said she was not counting but knew that one was missing. I am tempted to check myself but fear she will return to this pointless task she wasted 4 hours on yesterday. Today Daylight Saving is upon us once more causing some impact with her medication timing.
posted by Kilpike | 12:21 pm
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