Some Things Better, Progress with Others

I've been busy the last few days trying to get used to the TAP and regulating my meds and diet to try to deal with the colon problems I've had for well over a year now. The TAP dental appliance is doing as well as I would expect. I slept about 7 hours last night, which is a huge improvement for me. I am still waking up a couple of times in the night to go to the bathroom, though, so it's not yet a completely restful sleep. It's time for me to make an appointment for a new Sleep Study, to see if the device is handling my Apnea appropriately. That will be the determining factor on whether I can get my insurance to pay for the TAP or not, and whether it's worth using.

I am pleased to see that there is a way to use the TAP device as the anchoring mechanism for a CPAP mask, if it becomes necessary to go back on that. A nasal pillow delivery system can be attached directly to the dental appliance, so there would be no straps or mask all over my face. That's encouraging, as it means I can look forward to either getting by with just the TAP, or the TAP plus CPAP - but NO MASK!!! So, I'm very optimistic about the coming Sleep Study.

As for the elimination situation, I am somewhat improved, although certainly not where I would like to be. I'm still belching and having gas problems, but not having as much trouble actually going to the bathroom as I was. So, the Acidophilus, the Bentyl prescription, and an extra Metamucil capsule a day seem to be the right plan of attack for that problem.

DH and I have been searching for some practical ways for me to keep track of all my pills, the dosing times, and a way to effectively keep me on schedule. I seem to have some kind of Freudian aversion to remembering to take my pills. I hate having to take so much medicine, and I think it's causing some kind of passive aggressive reaction that I'm going to have to overcome. We've taken some positive steps to get over this hump. We bought two Plano tool/fishing tackle boxes, each with 4 storage boxes in it. That gives me enough boxes for 8 days, so I can make up meds once a week and have a spare. Right now I am taking medicine at 12 different times a day, so I put a numbered sticker in the bottom of each little compartment, with the dosing time on it. I can take the small box for one day with me wherever I go fairly easily. I even found that I could use my Bible cover to "hide" my pills on Sunday. I just carried my Bible loose and put the pill box in where the Bible would have been. I have to take a dose between Sunday School and Church, so this worked nicely.

Getting me on a dependable schedule was the next problem to handle. I searched for days all over the Internet, looking for pill reminder systems that I thought would work for me. Most would not give enough alarms to suit my needs, or any PWP's needs, for that matter. PWP tend to take our meds closer and closer to each other as the disease progresses, so it's not unusual for a Parkie to be taking something every hour during the day, and even getting up in the night to take something. Also, some of the more promising systems only allowed you to set pill reminders from say 8:00AM to midnight, and my first pill is at 5:00 AM.

So, I ended up buying a Timex Ironman Data Link watch, which can be connected to the computer via USB. It's like having a PDA on your wrist. It came yesterday, but I have been studying everything I could find about it while I waited for it to come, and I had my pill schedule all ready to send to the watch. It worked like a charm. It beeps and the face lights up and flashes for several seconds, and the names of the pills I need to take scroll across the watch face. If I don't push a button on the watch, I get another reminder in 5 minutes. Since I'll be wearing it, I'm much more likely to heed the reminder. I also have the reminders set up on Outlook, since the computer is on all day long, anyway.

The watch needs to be quite large, as you might expect, so it's the size of a man's sports watch. I don't mind that, if it keeps me from forgetting a pill, as I have been prone to do. For now, it's in my pocket, because I'm going to have some links taken out of the band. There's a lot to learn about this watch, but the main thing for me was the Alarm mode, as it allows up to 200 alarms a day! And that was super easy to get up and running.

My tremors still remain, not as bad as they were when I went to the ER, but still enough to make me feel like I'm trying to walk on Jello, and it gets worse as I get tired later on in the day. I use the walls and the furniture here in the house to steady myself, and I have managed to do without my cane at church, by the hardest. But anywhere else we go, like our Date Day, or to go out to eat, I'm using the cane. The hand tremors are also more prominent, and don't seem to ever go away completely, but I can handle a fork and spoon OK, and type, so I can live with that.

My biggest problem has been the odd about to pass out feeling I've been getting after lunch and supper, but not breakfast. We've checked my blood pressure during a couple of these attacks, and it's always low, like 98/58 low. I can't do much but sit very still and wait for the feeling to pass. I have found that eating something sweet makes me feel better, but that may just be because it's a comfort food for me. Or, it may means that this feeling is from a low blood sugar situation, rather than a low blood pressure one.

We may have narrowed it down to being an interaction between the Sinemet and the protein in my meals. Yesterday, just as a test, I had a vegetable lunch without any meat, and I did not have the weird feeling later on. So, I'll try that again for a few days, and see what happens.

Dear sweet hubby took over the compost making task for me for the last couple of weeks, but I did it all by myself this morning. I'm very tired, but feeling good that I was able to accomplish it. I'm also sweeping off parts of the driveway almost daily now, and the deck and patio underneath every once in awhile. That gives my arms and shoulders a good workout, and it's good for my balance, too. I'm also using the trekking poles the whole time at the track now, where I usually do 3 laps, and then the leg exercises and my Tai Chi. My balance is still way off, so the Tai Chi looks pretty ragged, but I'm doing it anyway. After all, nobody but me knows just how pitiful my form is, right? ;)

So, I see progress with several areas of concern, but disappointment that I am in nowhere near as good a shape as I was before I had the Celestone shot that sent me to the ER.

I continue to try my best to live each day with a positive outlook, and I think the Bentyl has helped with the depression I was dealing with.

Time I Tried to Catch Up

I've ended up doing the very thing I really didn't want to do, and that's not keep this blog as a daily journal. It's just that so much has been happening lately that I just had to put blogging way down on my priority list.

So.... here goes .........

Since I wrote last, Daddy has been much worse. There was a large bulge in his upper right colon area that no amount of enemas, suppositories, stool softeners, or laxatives seemed to be effecting at all. We are fortunate enough to live in the country, where doctors still treat their patients as individuals. So Friday, a week ago, Daddy's primary care physician came out to the house after work! After feeling around on the area, he really didn't think it was a bowel impaction, but there was no way for him to be sure. He suggested we put Daddy in the hospital for some tests. I spent the weekend deeply upset by that prospect, not knowing what was best for him. Dr. Mc understood that we had no intention of any type of surgery, if they did find anything other than fecal matter. On top of the rest of my misery over making this decision, he would be in the hospital I swore I would never take anyone to ever again.

I finally decided that I would be in worse shape emotionally if I didn't at least give it a try, so I was in the hospital with Daddy for several days this last week. We came home Thursday, after the tests they did showed conclusively that it was not fecal matter. We stopped them from running any more tests, so it was left as a diagnosis of a soft tissue mass. I don't need to know what it is ... only that I can give him pain medicine, because it won't be causing more constipation on a blocked bowel.

We also brought home new pressure sores, because it took lots of complaining to get them to change him and turn him. And, when they did handle him, most of them were not gentle with his skin. Did I say I hate that hospital??

One of the two really caring PCA's gave me four hospital gowns to take home, which is a big help at this point.

Yesterday evening, when DH and I started to turn Daddy to change his Depends, he threw up all over the place. Considering the amount of food and liquid Frances had gotten in him, everything must have been sitting in his stomach all day!! He was obviously in pain, so I called the Hospice nurse, who advised that I not try to give him his night medicines or move him for at least an hour. We cleaned him up the best we could and managed to get towels between his skin and the sheets, etc., that were soaked.

After an hour, we changed everything out to clean, but it was obvious we were really hurting him with every turn. After reporting in to the nurse, she said not to feed him or give him any medicine, but to call again if he didn't go to sleep comfortably on his own.

I called her back at 2:00AM, as things were worse again, and she told me to give him the morphine that absorbs through his mouth. She arrived about an hour later, as we are on the outside reach of this Hospice territory. He was running a temp, and his blood pressure was very high. We managed to get the blood pressure med in him that he had missed at supper time, plus a sublingual tablet for fever. I'm not sure what that was.

She then suggested I try to get some sleep, and she sat up with him for three hours, while I napped!! There's a lot about this hospice I don't like, but she moved them up a few notches in my estimation, in the wee hours of this morning!!!!!

Part of the reason I haven't been blogging is that my right arm and hand have been in considerable pain and swelling since we went to the hospital. Thinking it would be enough, I only took my cane. By the time I had walked all over the place as they took Daddy for tests, I had put too much pressure on my arm, and I paid the price for not remembering to swap to the left hand often. Thank goodness, I had thought to pack my hot pad. So I spent his hospital time doping myself up with as much pain medicine as I dared to, and still staying awake enough to be harassing them to do their job. I just couldn't manage the computer very well at all!! It looks like I'm going to have to learn how to use a mouse left handed ... I'm pitifully uncoordinated as a lefty ... far more so now with the PD.

I'm also fortunate that we had bought a really nice wheel walker with the seat in it some time ago at an Estate Sale. DH was very depressed when we bought it, but it was a blessing when my arm hurt so much.

I can't thank you all enough for your prayers and kind thoughts while all this was going on. I knew you were worried about my sudden disappearance, and appreciate the emails I received. Just know that you have been supporting me, even though you didn't know what was going on.

Another Day Goes By

Thank goodness the headache was gone yesterday. I can't say the same for the cramping tummy, though. I started out OK enough, but Daddy had a bathroom accident, and cleaning him up really unsettled my stomach. I managed pretty well while the cleaning was being done, holding my breath a time or two, but once everything should have been through with, then I started feeling nauseated. I spent the rest of the day with the hot pad on my stomach and abdomen, trying to ease the cramping.

I've checked my blood pressure, too, thinking that might have something to do with how bad I've been feeling. Sometimes it's been too high, like 144 over 80, but most of the time it's been just fine. I keep getting these fleeting feelings of lightheadedness or dizziness, which could just be due to tiredness, since the BP is usually OK.

At least I did accomplish something yesterday afternoon. DH wanted me to go to the house for a couple of hours, just to get away, but I really didn't feel good enough to want to move. So I told him to just pretend I wasn't here, and I'd rest where I was. So, while he took care of Daddy, I did the research and wrote the descriptions for 5 baby toys to put on eBay just as soon as I can get the photographs taken.

I'm looking forward to Francis coming this morning to give me some more time away from Daddy. That should help. If my tummy seems OK after breakfast, I'll go to church. If I'm still uncomfortable, I'll probably just stay home and rest. Whatever I do, being at home or at church and away from the care giving responsibility momentarily will do me good.

Hopefully, I'll feel good enough to get the photos of the toys done, so we'll have some items on auction this week. This should have been our busy time online, but under the circumstances, there was just no way to make that a priority. After all, it's only a hobby, but it's a hobby that gives me a lot of pleasure, and I need that release right now, too. So I have to balance my time and energy to keep myself as calm and relaxed as possible and still be helpful with Daddy. It's not fair to DH for him to end up doing everything, particularly since Daddy is such a pain to deal with most of the time.

If anybody's BP is high, it would be my DH's, who finds himself constantly stifling the urge to come back with an equally sharp remark, after Daddy has said something particularly insensitive or controlling. He's always been that way, although I know he loves me, and for the most part I can let it go in one ear and out the other. But DH is overprotective of me, and Daddy makes him mad now.