Chapter 540 - Some Days are Diamond ........
A scare last Tuesday when readying her for for the Wild Dog Carer to put her to bed; I noticed that her right eye was blood shot in the outer corner. She did not remember rubbing or bumping it. Her sight was OK; if anything, the right eye was better than her left. I sent an email with images to the ophthalmologist who responded the next morning saying it seemed a "simple bleed" and to increase Optifresh drops to 4 per day.
She has had "Intense" dyskinesias (Intense as defined by the FitBit charts when the bars are green and I assume represents 1500 steps and greater in a 15 minute window, the width of the bars, and I think think this is meant to look "technical" for some people) at the following times:
Tue 12th 1500-1730
Wed 13th 1400-1600 2000-2100
Thu 14th 1300-1400
Fri 15th 0400-0500 1430-1900
Sat 16th insignificant
Sun 17th insignificant
Mon 18th 1500-1600 1800-1900
For Tuesday through Friday listed above she was given a small tin of spaghetti in sauce for lunch This represented about 3gm of protein each lunch time. Since Saturday I have given her a piece of toasted sticky bun with a little margarine plus on Sunday a piece of toast and lemon butter. Then for Monday lunch two slices of bread spread with margarine and avocado and sliced tomato.
On Monday I took her to an appointment to see a dietitian who was interested in the FitBit results. She suggested increasing the protein content of the evening meals to ensure intake is somewhat greater than 1gm/kg of body weight, now about 51.5 kg. There were no dyskinesias while seeing the dietitian, who may have been puzzled that I was sprouting that protein at lunch may have been the cause. Lunch today is only 1/2 an hour away as I type, so today I'll give her bread covered in lemon butter which caused her no bother. Otherwise I may need to consider that protein may not be the cause of her dyskinesias. I just realised that her evening meal last night contained 70gms of protein (calculated roughly) which is excessive although she did not eat some pastry of a meat pie. So tonight I will guestimate closer to 55gms. The dietitian recommended weighing her monthly and having a blood test in 3 months to specifically monitor B12.
When she suffers no dyskinesia she becomes obsessed with cleaning, in particular, floors and sliding door runners. Carpet will be scraped and rubbed with pieces of plastic and such to produce fluff and on the timber flooring she tries to clean the gaps between the boards, especially where the old dishwasher once damaged the timber. Also, the worn finish on the timber appears as "dirt" to her so she wets and rubs the areas which only worsens the appearance once dried. Last week she had all the available cleaning products out from the cupboard beneath the sink, spraying and spreading various solutions across the floor. I took all those cleaning products out to the laundry cupboard, a place she can't reach in her wheel chair, leaving her with a mauve spray bottle for a stain remover containing only tap water which she now uses without being aware. Last Saturday morning she rubbed the surface of the TV cabinet with tissues before moving to other pieces of furniture and cupboards. We use a lot of tissues these days. On Sunday she spent most of the day scrubbing the patio chairs with a brush and water before soaking and washing the foam seats from the chairs. I had to discourage her from pulling at loose threads on the pillows, for once started, removal of a few threads becomes a hole or worse. Anyway, the whole lot looks better now.
I ordered a brightly coloured pillow onto which are stitched various fabric textures, even a small zipper, and some velcro, a touch and feel device for dementia sufferers. It arrived this morning. Not very interested, she suggested I place it on the lounge. I said I would leave it with her other pillows near the TV. Later I noticed her picking it up and kneading it briefly before putting it down again.
The dyskinesias this morning made her feel bad enough not to wish to attend the Dance for Wellbeing group this morning. Instead she has had her feet up a lot without going to sleep and when the dyskinesias cease she sorted stuff in her sewing room for awhile then in between bouts of dyskinesia she began cleaning in corners and behind the TV, I having to assist when dyskinesias returned. The last time she was in the bathroom doorway pulling fluff off the mop head so I changed the mop head and vacuumed the bits of fluff off the floor. So proceeds our day.
The expensive camera I bought a week ago has been played with several times; perhaps tomorrow, respite day, I may have an hour or two to capture an image or two about town. I'm unsure which is worse, dyskinesia or obsessive compulsive problems. Meanwhile, with respect to dyskinesia and protein, I feel much like a sorcerer's apprentice.
She has had "Intense" dyskinesias (Intense as defined by the FitBit charts when the bars are green and I assume represents 1500 steps and greater in a 15 minute window, the width of the bars, and I think think this is meant to look "technical" for some people) at the following times:
Tue 12th 1500-1730
Wed 13th 1400-1600 2000-2100
Thu 14th 1300-1400
Fri 15th 0400-0500 1430-1900
Sat 16th insignificant
Sun 17th insignificant
Mon 18th 1500-1600 1800-1900
For Tuesday through Friday listed above she was given a small tin of spaghetti in sauce for lunch This represented about 3gm of protein each lunch time. Since Saturday I have given her a piece of toasted sticky bun with a little margarine plus on Sunday a piece of toast and lemon butter. Then for Monday lunch two slices of bread spread with margarine and avocado and sliced tomato.
On Monday I took her to an appointment to see a dietitian who was interested in the FitBit results. She suggested increasing the protein content of the evening meals to ensure intake is somewhat greater than 1gm/kg of body weight, now about 51.5 kg. There were no dyskinesias while seeing the dietitian, who may have been puzzled that I was sprouting that protein at lunch may have been the cause. Lunch today is only 1/2 an hour away as I type, so today I'll give her bread covered in lemon butter which caused her no bother. Otherwise I may need to consider that protein may not be the cause of her dyskinesias. I just realised that her evening meal last night contained 70gms of protein (calculated roughly) which is excessive although she did not eat some pastry of a meat pie. So tonight I will guestimate closer to 55gms. The dietitian recommended weighing her monthly and having a blood test in 3 months to specifically monitor B12.
When she suffers no dyskinesia she becomes obsessed with cleaning, in particular, floors and sliding door runners. Carpet will be scraped and rubbed with pieces of plastic and such to produce fluff and on the timber flooring she tries to clean the gaps between the boards, especially where the old dishwasher once damaged the timber. Also, the worn finish on the timber appears as "dirt" to her so she wets and rubs the areas which only worsens the appearance once dried. Last week she had all the available cleaning products out from the cupboard beneath the sink, spraying and spreading various solutions across the floor. I took all those cleaning products out to the laundry cupboard, a place she can't reach in her wheel chair, leaving her with a mauve spray bottle for a stain remover containing only tap water which she now uses without being aware. Last Saturday morning she rubbed the surface of the TV cabinet with tissues before moving to other pieces of furniture and cupboards. We use a lot of tissues these days. On Sunday she spent most of the day scrubbing the patio chairs with a brush and water before soaking and washing the foam seats from the chairs. I had to discourage her from pulling at loose threads on the pillows, for once started, removal of a few threads becomes a hole or worse. Anyway, the whole lot looks better now.
I ordered a brightly coloured pillow onto which are stitched various fabric textures, even a small zipper, and some velcro, a touch and feel device for dementia sufferers. It arrived this morning. Not very interested, she suggested I place it on the lounge. I said I would leave it with her other pillows near the TV. Later I noticed her picking it up and kneading it briefly before putting it down again.
The dyskinesias this morning made her feel bad enough not to wish to attend the Dance for Wellbeing group this morning. Instead she has had her feet up a lot without going to sleep and when the dyskinesias cease she sorted stuff in her sewing room for awhile then in between bouts of dyskinesia she began cleaning in corners and behind the TV, I having to assist when dyskinesias returned. The last time she was in the bathroom doorway pulling fluff off the mop head so I changed the mop head and vacuumed the bits of fluff off the floor. So proceeds our day.
The expensive camera I bought a week ago has been played with several times; perhaps tomorrow, respite day, I may have an hour or two to capture an image or two about town. I'm unsure which is worse, dyskinesia or obsessive compulsive problems. Meanwhile, with respect to dyskinesia and protein, I feel much like a sorcerer's apprentice.
posted by Kilpike | 2:12 pm
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