Chapter 628 - Catching Up

A friend on reading my last post, when I referred to what I call Zombie mode, responded by email "I should have twigged to this possibility some time ago. Google:  Catalepsy,  Wikipedia has a brief article and it mentions PWP. If it isn’t this it might take you elsewhere." and then followed up with "I forgot to mention, I became familiar with the condition when reading Silas Marner in High School 60 years ago. (pity I can’t remember all the other stuff)". I myself read most of George Elliott's novels way back in the early '60's but missed reading her (yes, she was an authoress) "Silas Marner". And, perhaps, had I read the novel I may have answered my own question about Zombie Mode. Let me quote from Chapter 1 of "Silas Marner", a novel written in 1861:

......Jem Rodney, the mole-catcher, averred that one evening as he was returning homeward, he saw Silas Marner leaning against a stile with a heavy bag on his back, instead of resting the bag on the stile as a man in his senses would have done; and that, on coming up to him. he saw that Marner's eyes were set like a dead man's, and he spoke to him, and shook him, and his limbs were stiff, and his hands clutched the bag as if they'd been made of iron; but just as he had made up his mind that the weaver was dead, he came all right again, like, as you might say, in the twinkly of an eye, and said "Good-night", and walked off.

....... Silas's cataleptic fit occurred during the prayer-meeting.....

Although I have yet to read beyond Chapter 1, that short excerpt describes fairly accurately what I observe when she enters her trance-like state when seated on her commode. After some Googling, I replied to my friend "I am finding there are numerous similar disabilities each named cataxxxxxxx where xxxx can be substituted with -atonia, -lepsy, -plexy, etc etc and if I had ever studied Greek or Latin I'm sure all these variations would be meaningful and memorable without having to plough through obscure learned papers." So now I am reasonably content, and although unable to exactly name her condition, I can let it go as a problem and at leisure further research it or, perhaps, one day soon, query someone of the medical profession.

On Monday 28th March, I came down with my annual Man 'Flu (although last year it ignored me) so I tested myself with a RAT which returned a negative result, as did similar tests on Tuesday and Wednesday then on Thursday my result was positive. On testing her, she was positive too. I took myself to a drive though PCR test station and the result that night was positive. I did not inconvenience her by organising a wheel chair friendly cab to take her for a PCR test and I doubt the cabbie would have been thrilled either. Although I warned Wild Dog Care last Monday, I reaffirmed my situation on Thursday. Since then, our lifestyle has not changed because our lives are similar to that of a celibate monk living in a cave. Respite sessions for last Friday and also tomorrow were cancelled. I have a document from NSW Health  saying my period of self isolation completes next Wednesday. During my isolation period I have felt "better" than when I assumed I had Man Flu' a week ago; except my left shoulder and my left arm were painful for a week and that I thought was due to physical stress of moving her to and from bed (although heart problems came to mind) and yesterday my right fore arm was also very painful. She has frequently needed to return to bed during the day and is having increasing difficulty eating even soft foods so much so I'm now giving her Sustagen in milk and often Milo the last few days. Several times she dry retched after sipping fluids. PD progression or Covid side effects?