Chapter 561 - Caught In The Act

This morning I received an email from PMD Alliance to view the YouTube recording of Prof/Dr Simon Lewis speaking recently on the latest research for freezing of gait, patient advocacy and identifying unmet needs, all excellent PD topics, except of course my PWP has no problem with gait since she is unable to walk anymore. Simon Lewis is one of those down-to-earth blokes who can wear a suit without becoming a puffed up academic. Years ago in Hot Air City we attended a PD seminar at which he spoke; before the speaking began Simon toured the over filled room, speaking to people at random, including my PWP. I had the feeling he chose to speak to her, perhaps partly because she was in a wheel chair, but more because he empathised with her about her condition. I have since wondered the outcome had she been a patient of his.

Anyway, after watching some minutes of Simon Lewis' presentation, I paused it to check on her. I was horrified to find her backed into our kitchen alcove, the pantry door open, a large carving knife in her hand and heaps of dark brown stuff on the floor. As I noticed a plastic Tuppaware container full of the stuff, I realised I was looking at brown sugar, not poop. "Where did it come from?" I asked; she said "Beneath the 'fridge." She was very subdued, child-like, caught in the act of a misdemeanor. I asked her to stay where she was until I swept the sugar into a heap and then into the dust pan. On tipping the pan contents into the bin I noticed the cellophane packet that had contained the sugar.

To keep her attention away from the pantry I suggested some Meccano (the stock car we made together had been disassembled days ago) but she was disinterested; "How about some Leggo?" but the same reaction. I pulled out the boxes of drawers bought to put the Leggo pieces into, suggesting the pieces might be sorted into colours, sizes and shapes. That activity has grabbed her attention, she is still at it 2 1/2 hours later, having allowed a mug of Milo to grow cold in the process.

A few days ago I ordered a considerable number of magnetic plastic shapes (well the plastic is not magnetic of course, there must be ferrite particles within). To my horror, I discovered I had bought such things before, maybe a few months ago, and she had stored them in the cupboard along with Leggo and other game objects. I found some plastic Leggo containers full of the torn apart Leggo cardboard boxes which I do remember attempting to stop her tearing apart months ago. I threw out the cardboard pieces, she no longer wished to keep them.

Did I describe the days about a week ago when most mornings she needed to return to bed after showering, and one morning I sent the Wild Dog Carer away and showered her later myself? The night I videoed her dyskinesia, turning her in bed, missing a text message for a tele-health consultation with the neurologist? I'm not up to checking my recent blogs posts just now so I'll force myself to return to the subject later. Bursts of dyskinesia last night at 0230, 0435 and 0500 were "stopped" by rotating her using the new Slide and Turn sheet which arrived from Pelican a few days ago.