A Trip to the Shops

I had intended to carry out a bit of external house cleaning. We have a multitude of spiders and other creatures living around our windows and stuck to the walls. When the time came I decided it was much too hot and humid for outside work and anyway the spiders kept the other bugs under control.

Margaret was feeling quite well so about 10.30 am I got her dressed and took her out to the shops for morning tea and a little shopping. Margaret wanted to buy some cosmetics. One of the side effects of continuous treatment with steroids is that her, once, flawless pale British facial skin has now a fine network of veins across it. Margaret bought herself some foundation makeup which would cover these up. After morning tea and dough nuts for Margaret and coffee and dough nuts for me we looked around some other shops and came home in time for lunch.

Margaret was very tired and I helped her to get undressed and put on a clean nightie so she could rest. Unfortunately one of the other little features of Margaret's confusion returning is her obsession with time and appointments. She got up several times to check her next medical appointments. These are blood tests on 4th Jan, specialist appointment 6th Jan and GP appointment 7th Jan. All these are clearly written on our new 2010 calendar but she checks it every couple of hours and then checks with me that they are accurate.

Margaret went to bed at 9.30 pm and had a good night's sleep. When she woke up this morning she was quite breathless but now appears to be OK. We have a long weekend ahead when the only medical support is the hospital emergency centre so I hope she lasts out to Monday without any crisis. Her feet are quite swollen in spite of the restricted fluid intake and this is not a good sign.

K in South Australia tells me that he is not running a restaurant.

Still Quiet

When I got back from shopping yesterday Margaret said she felt better and was breathing more easily. I think that she builds up fluid on her chest (a totally unsubstantiated assumption by me!) which makes her early morning breathing more laboured. Anyway the rest of the day was nice and peaceful. Margaret rested most of the day in her bedroom and got up for dinner before watching TV until about 9.30 pm.

Before her most recent visit to hospital she was quite confused and having, I think, hallucinations which formed part of her conscious life. These decreased markedly while in hospital leaving only her dementia where her short term memory is shot. Last night her hallucinations made a reappearance. She told me that she missed getting e-mails from her friend K in South Australia but then he must be very busy since he started his restaurant!.. K is 72 and well retired. Perhaps he can explain this?

Margaret was puffing a lot this morning but is settling down now.

A Quiet Period

The last couple of days, Boxing Day Saturday and Sunday, have both been very quiet. I have been feeling a bit flat and apart from a little shopping, tidying up around the house, cooking and walking Louis have mainly watched the cricket on TV. Margaret is pretty well bed bound as she hasn't got the "moon boot" to support her injured Achilles Tendon. She is also getting very "chesty" and short of breath if she moves around too much. With her reduced fluid intake she is not on any diuretics and I am a little worried about fluid on the lungs - one of Margaret's chronic problems. Unfortunately our local GPs are not available until tomorrow and Margaret doesn't fancy a four hour wait in our local emergency dept and she in not ill enough, yet, to call an ambulance.

Her specialist is not available until 4th January and she is seeing him on the 6th after more blood tests on the 4th.

I think that the specialist treats the blood mineral deficiency problems and her chronic kidney failure and cancels any medications likely to exacerbate them while her GP treats her cardiovascular problems and pulmonary oedema and re-prescribes them. I would like to get somebody controlling the overall situation. We do have a geriatric specialist in Noosa who could be the answer.

I shall be going shopping in a little while while Margaret stays in bed with Louis lying next to her. She will be on her own for about two hours but she can contact me on my mobile phone in an emergency providing she remembers to just press 2 on her mobile!

A Quiet Christmas Day

Christmas lunch at the Reef Hotel Noosa was a great success. I had managed to get Margaret dressed in a colourful kaftan instead of her normal blouse and pants. Lunch was due to start at 11.30 am so I got there early to maneuver her wheelchair into position. Unfortunately the access from the car park to the restaurant was locked and the only other access was up a steep flight of stairs. I had the Hotel's phone number and after a couple of minutes we were let in.

We had a nice central table with just enough space for the wheel chair protected by a rail which meant that Margaret could see everything that was going on but was out of the way of passing diners and of course playing kids.

We started with a selection of nuts and fruits accompanied by a crusty wholemeal loaf and herb butter. Next was a huge seafood platter with prawns, oysters, sushi rolls, smoked salmon and some lobster. It was a meal on its own. I ate the oysters and Margaret most of the prawns and we made inroads into the salmon, sushi and lobster but were couldn't eat it all. I saved six large tiger prawns for later along with some beautiful peaches and plums.

We had a good half an hour's break until the main course of cooked honey glazed ham, roast chicken, roast potatoes etc. We managed to eat some of this.

During dinner we had a visit from Father Christmas - not just the kids. We were given little presents and sweets etc as gifts. Margaret really enjoyed it, especially a cuddle from Santa!

We finished off with Christmas Pudding, custard and ice cream. Margaret had two glasses of sparkling white wine and I had two diet cokes but caught up at home later with beer. We left about 2.00 pm and Margaret was very tired so I got her in a nightie and put her to bed.

I snoozed in the lounge for while before taking Louis, who had been sleeping of a massive Christmas bone, for a walk.

Margaret got up about 7.00 pm and had her prawns with bread and butter for tea while I just had some Christmas Cake.

We watched a movie together before getting Margaret to bed about 10.00 pm.

This morning Margaret is a little breathless and needs watching as she also says she has a sore throat. She had a good night's sleep in spite of it being a warm humid night.

Margaret resting after the Sea Food Platter

Your's truly doing the same

Margaret getting into the spirit of things.

Good old Santa

Margaret is Home

Yesterday morning I was at the hospital by 9.30 pm. Margaret was sitting in a chair occupying the space where her bed used to be. Her room mate, also Margaret, was quite ill during the night and they had moved our Margaret to another room for the night to get some sleep. After her shower it was decided that she could sit up until it was decided whether the came home or not. She had had another blood test at 8.00 am and the results were being rushed through.

G Pavilion was in chaos. Those patients who were not going home were all being moved to D Pavilion as there were so few that it was not worth keeping the ward open. The other Margaret disappeared at about 10.30 am and by 11.00 am there were only two other patients on the ward also awaiting discharge. Finally at 11.30 am the specialist dropped by with the test results. They were not too great as her sodium levels had stabilized at 127 mmol/L, still well below the 140 normal low. The specialist said that he thought Margaret would be better of at home for a few days on certain conditions. One was that she went on a restricted fluid intake of 1.2 L per day - that's everything tea, water and alcohol. This is equivalent of 6 cups of tea a day Margaret's normal tea intake! The next is restricted walking as her boot hasn't arrived yet and finally not to over tire herself.

I queried her kidney function and he said it was normal for Margaret and above the level requiring dialysis! Her kidneys are shot and a eGFT of 30 is good for her. As I have said before above 90 is good below 60 is some kidney failure ,below 30 chronic failure, below 20 acute failure and below 10 dialysis is required. Margaret's were below 20 on admission and had clawed their way up to 30 on discharge. He was more worried about her sodium levels. She will have more blood tests on Jan 4 and a follow up visit to the specialist on Jan 6. If there are any signs of increased confusion it's back to emergency and on a saline drip. Happy Christmas!

We got home at 12.30 pm to a rapturous welcome from Louis. He wouldn't let me wheel Margaret in her chair from the garage and just stood there with his paws in Margaret's lap licking her face. Margaret has been resting up as much as possible and watched the Carols by Candle Light on TV before going to bed.

Today she is quite bright but has had two cups of tea before 8.00 am! I will help her get showered and wash and set her hair (it's very short) before going out to Christmas Lunch at the Reef Hotel at 11.30 am. I will take my camera and try and get some photos.

She is Still in Hospital

Yesterday I went to the hospital at 9.00 am so as not to miss Margaret's specialist. I got a funny look from the Unit Manager (Senior Nurse) so I asked if it was true that Margaret was to be allowed home later in the morning as the nurse has said on the previous night. She said that was so provided her blood tests came back OK. This confused me as Margaret had not had any more tests since Tuesday and those results were why she was still in hospital!

I went and sat with Margaret who, like yesterday, was sure that she was coming home although she had very sore arms from the cannulas and failed drip from the day before. At about 10.15 am the pathology lab's blood collector came by and took more blood from Margaret and I knew that she wasn't coming home that day. I left her for a while to get a coffee and on the way met her specialist. He asked how Margaret was and I told him that she was upset because she thought that she was going home. He was surprised and told me that he not told anyone that and the nursing stall were making assumptions. He was to say the least "not amused".

He explained that following Margaret's problems with cannulas and drips he had decided to postpone the saline drip until she had more blood tests that day. He said that another patient had had anomalous results similar to Margaret and it could be a testing error.

After coffee I returned to Margaret and her specialist dropped in to see her and apologize for keeping her in for at least another day and assured her that, come what may, she would get out for her Christmas Lunch even if she has to return afterwards.

At 5.00 pm I visited Margaret once again and she had just seen her specialist. He had chased up her blood test Sodium levels results and they were still low but rising. The normal lower pass level is 137 mmol/l and Margaret's were now 127 from a low of 120 a couple of days earlier. On this he would release Margaret over Christmas but further blood tests would be required to check that the trend continues. Low Sodium is not a life threatening condition but does affect the brain function and hence Margaret's hallucinations. If left untreated and it falls too low the brain can swell and the patient die so it has to be watched.

On the down side the results showed that Margaret's kidney function is still in the chronic failure mode. For example the lower level for normal eGFT is 59 ml/min hers is 31 and the Urea maximum level for normal is 7.5 umol/L while her is, at best this week, 11.4 and has been as high as 26.5. I think that you and I would be in hospital with these readings but they are just "normal" for Margaret and part of the chronic state of poor health.

I am off to pick up Margaret at 10.00 am.

A Confusing Situation

On Monday I met Margaret's specialist who said that her sodium levels were not serious and that she could come home yesterday (Tuesday) after the results of her latest blood tests were back.

So yesterday morning I quickly dusted and vacuumed the house and did some last minute shopping before going to hospital to pick up Margaret at 10.00 am. She was already to go. Her medications were being documented by the hospital pharmacy so we just needed the specialist's "off you go" signal and Margaret was coming home.

At about 11.00 am the specialist arrived and said "No!"... Margaret's sodium levels had continued to fall and she could get quite sick if she didn't have an intravenous saline drip. This should put her right to be home for Christmas. Margaret was very upset so I popped out to the car and brought in some flowers that I had bought her as a welcome home gift. This cheered her up somewhat.

Just before 12.00 noon, after three goes, they go a cannula inserted and the drip started so I went home to lunch. When I returned at 5.00 pm there was the drip disconnected and the cannula removed but the saline bag was still full. The drip had failed and no other suitable veins were available. A passing nurse said that Margaret was going home today (Wednesday) and the drip didn't matter. I am now very confused and unless I can see the specialist and get a satisfactory explanation for how she was likely to be seriously ill in the morning without the drip and OK to go home in the evening when it had not been administered.

Stay tuned!

A Quick Update

On Saturday I found out a bit more about Margaret's Achilles Tendon Injury. While not requiring surgery Margaret will have to wear an orthopedic boot to hold her ankle at 15 degrees for some time. This will lessen the strain on the ruptured tendon so it can heal naturally. There are also some degenerative changes to both Margaret's ankles causing the fluid build up in the joints. This will be addresseds later.

Her ribs are much better and breathing exercises begin today.

Unfortunately her sodium levels have dropped once again and her potassium levels have risen both of which are not good. Her medications will be discussed and a conference today when her on going treatment will be reviewed.

We still hope that she will be home in time for Christmas but if not I will be able to take her out to lunch using her wheel chair. She really wants to go to the Reef Hotel where we have booked lunch.

Some Developments

On Thursday Margaret was in a great deal of pain in the ankle area. She had X-rays and was given Morphine to help her relax. She didn't feel well enough to get out of bed without assistance.

Friday morning she was a lot brighter and had showered with assistance. By luck her Specialist came round while I was visiting her and said that she had fluid in her ankle joints as well as the surrounding tissue. She has also partially ruptured her Achilles Tendon in one ankle and he would get an Orthopedic Surgeon to have a look at it. Margaret would remain in hospital over the weekend and there would be a conference to determine what the way ahead on Monday. All things being well she would probably be released on Wednesday, possibly with some limitations on her mobility.

The Ortho guy visited Margaret on Friday evening and after reviewing the X-ray determined that she did not require surgery but she would require physiotherapy to rectify the damage and strengthen up her legs. Remember it is just two months since her release from rehabilitation to do just that. At least she wont be in a cast for six weeks.

My days have developed into a routine. Up at 5.00 am, shower and breakfast then walk Louis for an hour. Work around the home or garden until about 9.00 am and go shopping. Home at 10.00 am and have a cuppa before cycling off to hospital for my morning visit. Home about 12.30 pm for lunch and catch up with any clerical work and bills (Christmas Cards this week) check my e-mails etc.. Read a book and snooze until 3.30 pm the take Louis for his afternoon walk. 4.300 pm drive to hospital to visit Margaret. Home at 6.15 pm to cook and eat dinner. 7.30 pm settle down in front of TV, usually Louis sleeps by my side until 9.30 to10.00 pm when it's off to bed. I normally read a book for half an hour before going to sleep. I even forget what day of the week it is!

Margaret's main concern is that she won't be home for Christmas as we have booked lunch at one of the local hotels and she doesn't want to miss out. She was not amused when I said I could go with one of my dog walking ladies to save wasting money.

Margaret is Still in Hospital

There has been little to report for Monday of Tuesday. Margaret is feeling more comfortable and he hallucinations appear to have reduced,. She still has little or no short term memory. This is best shown at meals times when she looks amazed at what she receives. As she orders it by ticking a printed menu the day before it is all her request. She gets very annoyed if I point this out to her.

She is still waiting for the physiotherapists to see if she can breath properly but she is getting up an showering and using her wheely walker to walk around the ward.

I haven't caught up with her specialist for a day of so.

A Quiet Sunday

There is not much to report today. I met Margaret's specialist yesterday morning and he is happy with Margaret's progress. She is getting by with less morphine and he hopes to start physio soon to help her get back on her feet and breath easily.

In the evening I found Margaret had been moved to a private shared room in G Pavilion. She misses her friend back in the public ward she was in. She is not doing much – not even watching TV. I have taken in a short romance type novel in large print to try and to encourage her to read.

I am taking advantage of the morning visits to hospital to get in some cycling on my little folding bike. It's about 7 km each way to the hospital and I do it in about 25 minutes. It also means that I don't have to find a parking place which is difficult during the day time.

A Talk With the Specialist

I arrived at the hospital just before 10.00 am to ensure that I was available when the specialist made his rounds. Now Noosa Hospital is different to most hospitals in the area which are either private and one pays your way or public where all is funded by the state. Noosa Hospital was built on 1999 using state funding but then leased to a private company to run. This company in turn receives state funding to run a public facility on their behalf in parallel to their private operation. Margaret is a private patient but due to her late admission on Thursday and the fact that the private facility was full she was placed in a public ward which she is sharing with 3 other ladies. I got to know these quite well as we waited nearly two hours for the specialist to arrive.

The rural nature of Noosa Hospital also means that most specialists don't work at weekends and generally one specialist physician takes over all medical cases, both private and public, from the other specialists over the weekend. This weekend, by chance, it was Margaret's private physician on duty but his rounds followed the following routine. A quick check of all the public patients at about 10.00 am all of whom are in Pavilion D (no wards in Noosa) and then on to Pavilion G, the private wards, to check up on all the other physicians private patients plus his own private patients who he spends more time with. Then finally back to Pavilion D to consult his own private patients temporarily housed there. In this case Margaret. Actually he had assumed that as she was paying full whack she would have been transferred to a private room by now so apologised for the lateness of his visit.

By now Margaret had got herself in a state. She told him that she just wanted to die. He told her that he understood and that her pain and poor state of health would make most people feel that way and that his primary job was to relieve the pain then treat her underlying condition. He explained to her that she would continue to receive morphine while the ribs healed. Then he would ensure that her lungs were clear and functioning, properly and finally he would try and restore the balance of the minerals in her blood which would make her feel better. Then she could go home until the next time. He told us once again that Margaret could expect problems to arise on a regular basis due to her normal body functions being destroyed by the steroids used to control her Chron,s disease over the years and now essential to replace her failed adrenal gland cortisone production.

He asked me to talk with him outside where he explained that the main problems were with the diuretics used to control Margaret's fluid retention. These are necessary to prevent excessive retention affecting her already poor cardiovascular system and leading to congestive heart failure. Her GP and other doctors just prescribe more and more Lasics/Frusimide as required. These reduce the fluid retention but literally leach all of the mineral out of Margaret's body hence the low Sodium levels. He is trying different diuretics to overcome the problem. Without diuretics she is likely to become critically ill. With Lasics she is now in a precarious position. Over the next 10 days he will try and stabilise the situation. We discussed her living at home and he said that she was in danger of falling but this would not be any better in a nursing home and she would be very unhappy there. I had to accept that these things can happen and not feel guilty if and when the next serious fall occurs. Her dementia wasn't too serious as she was aware of what she was doing and functioning at a reasonable level albeit with some peculiar memory loss problems. He also thought that she was suffering steroid induced hallucinations at times due to her medications but reducing these would result in her not functioning at all. She will remain in hospital until she is stable and safe to come home and I am to take advantage of her absence to build up my reserves until she comes home.

I visited her again at dinner time and she was much happier and settled. Two of the other ladies had been chatting to her and made her part of their little community. The other was very old and frail but also quite nice.

I shall visit this morningat 11.00 am.

No News Today

I visited Margaret between 11.00 am and 1.00 pm but still didn't see her specialist. Apparently he was waiting for the results of her blood tests from the night before. She was on morphine injections to keep he comfortable and being moved as little as possible as her ribs were extremely sore. She was still in her own world and I am afraid that I couldn't make head nor tail of most of what she said.

Her specialist made his visit when I wasn't there about 4.00 pm but left a message that he wanted to see me at 10.00 am today. From Margaret's reaction to his visit I learnt two things. One the ring he wore is not that big and that we deserved each other! She was also alarmed that she would be put in a nursing home where she would be raped. Unfortunately such terrible things have happened in the past and it is buried in her sub-conscious. The hospital's occupational therapist dropped by during the day. He has assessed Margaret on two previous occasions in the last two years and is now concerned that her present mental and physical conditions puts her at risk living at home. I looked forward to the specialist's opinion.

A Hectic Thursday

The bruise on Margaret's back just above the pants.

The bruise on Margaret's leg just below the pants.

Not shown the bruise under the pants!

The heading says it all. Margaret was still in pain when she woke up so I gave her more paracetamol which with her patches gives her some relief. Thursday is my normal big shopping day so I got out early and was back by 9.30 am. I found Margaret wheeling her walker around the house dressed only in heavily soiled incontinence pants.

She had had an accident and hadn't made it to the bathroom in time. Her bed sheets and nightie were soiled and her near miss in the bathroom had resulted in muck all over the floor and toilet bowl. I managed to get Margaret out of her pants and into her shower where I hosed her down, washed her with Johnson's liquid baby soap and after drying her down and applying soothing cream to her sore rear end finally dressed her and got her settled in her reclining chair in the lounge.

Next I put my shopping away as it had several frozen items and milk which don't last too well in 30 C plus heat. I also turned on the air conditioning to make us both comfortable, I stripped Margaret's bed and put the sheets into wash. Next I faced the task of cleaning up around her toilet area. Thank God for tiled floors. A bucket of hot water and disinfectant soon had the job done. Finally I made up Margaret's bed with fresh clean sheets and made us both a cup of tea it was now getting on for 11.00 am.

We had a light lunch and then it was time to visit her GP once again. He was very concerned about Margaret's pain and also her low sodium levels so he packed us off to get X-rays of Margaret's chest and ribs while he contacted her physician at Noosa Hospital. Just before the X-rays were taken we got a message from him to collect the films, when ready, and go directly to the Noosa Hospital Emergency Department where admission would be arranged.

After a brief wait in emergency Margaret was placed in a side ward and given morphine for pain relief while more blood and other tests were taken. The X-rays had been quickly assessed when taken and nothing noted but the emergency doctor found two cracked ribs and fluid on the lung due to inadequate breathing. I popped home to get Margaret's medications and a nightie and she was admitted at 8.00 pm.



This morning I went back to see if I could see her specialist but he had not visited the ward yet and it could have been an all day wait. While I was there the RN looking after Margaret asked me to assist her in filling out some forms concerning Margaret's previous health history. Apparently Margaret could not assist them due to her confusion. The RN had nursed Margaret earlier in the year and noted how much more confused Margaret had become in the last three months. She would be accompanying the specialist on his rounds and will pass on my concerns if I don t catch him later.

I took in Big Ted to keep Margaret company.

Another Visit to the Doctor's

I took Margaret to her GP's office yesterday morning. Before we left home I had to dress her as she was in pain and it soon became obvious why. In falling she had hurt her hip and ribs and the bruising was worse that the leg. I took her wheelchair with us as she was pretty unsteady on her feet. Her GP was appalled at her condition but soon determined that nothing was broken but the bruised rib were going to be very painful for a few days. He debated putting her in hospital but we both decided that Margaret would be happier at home. I am using osteo-paracetamol to help with the pain as these due the least damage to her kidneys. The doctor still believes that Margaret confusion is exacerbated by some chemical imbalance and sent her to have blood collected for multiple tests.

The rest of the day and evening she was in considerable pain and I was very pleased when she finally dropped of to sleep about 10.30 pm.

She had an uncomfortable night and I could her her groaning every time she moved. Today she didn't feel well enough to go out to lunch but I will get some Indian Take-away for dinner instead.

At 2.00 pm today her GP phoned to say that her Sodium levels were extremely low and he was going to consult her specialist physician at Noosa Hospital to see what is the preferable treatment. Normally one would be put on a saline drip and thinks would right themselves in a couple of days. Margaret however just fills up with fluid and has congestive heart failure. In the mean time she is at home still confused and in pain. To add to her woes she is now having massive cramps in both legs, We will see her GP tomorrow afternoon to see where we go from here. It is possible that her additional confusion is caused by the low sodium level.

Another Fall

Sunday passed with Margaret remaining in a deeply confused state most of the time. She wasn't very hungry at dinner time and left most of her meal. She went to bed at 8.30 pm and took about an hour to settle before I could watch the Sunday movie in time shift mode from ABC1.

On Monday morning I went shopping straight after Margaret's breakfast leaving her in bed. While I was out the parcel post delivery man delivered six parcels and Margaret had to get up and sign for one of them. Three were packs of incontinence underwear which were on order through The Commonwealth Incontinence Support Scheme where they provide $485 a year towards their cost. The others were from our daughter H in South Australia. These contained three pairs of cotton trousers which look like they will fit Margaret. H probably picked them up at a jumble sale or Op Shop but they will save me the problem of dragging a protesting Margaret to she shops to buy them.

Among H's gifts was a stuffed Dragon clearly marked for Louis's Christmas present which Margaret has taken to be a gift for her and it is now in bed with her. Fortunately Louis doesn't appear to mind.

Margaret continues to be off her food and wouldn't eat her dinner which was battered Barramundi fillets normally one of her favourite meals. Louis is going to have an expensive lunch today!

Margaret had another relatively early night but took over and hour to settle..

This morning, for some reason, I was lying awake at about 4.15 am when I heard a thump and soon afterwards Margaret calling out. She had had fall while coming out of her en suite bathroom and ended half in and half out of the shower cubicle. She had a big bruise coming up on her right shin but had not broken the skin. She was in some pain and very uncomfortable. I tried to get her up but couldn't do so so I phoned 000 and the paramedics were there in 15 minutes. They checked Margaret over and apart from the obvious bruise and the less obvious one on her bottom did not think that she was serious injured. As we has an appointment with her GP at 10.30 am today they decided not to take her hospital. They noted that Margaret was confused and her speech slurred but I didn't think that it was much worse than normal for the last few weeks. Note that if I hadn't been awake I probably would not have heard Margaret and she would have spent much longer on the floor. I don't wear my hearing aids to bed.

The bruise.

I have just walked Louis and given Margaret her breakfast but she is very, very confused. She keeps asking why she has to go to the doctor's as he only deals with funerals. The last couple of days Margaret has been blaming her Mother for all of her problems as she keeps interfering. I pointed out that her mother died 10 years ago but Margaret still says that its her fault. Note that Margaret's mother had never really interfered in our lives as for the greater part of out marriage were were in Australia and she in England.

Next stop the doctor's.

A Confused Saturday

There is not an awful lot to say about Saturday which is my normal washing and housework day. Margaret was in an confused state all day. She stayed up late watching the TV but from her comments did not take much in which is probably good as the last programme was a gruesome episode of Taggert. She was very difficult to get off to bed. She was in her bathroom putting cream on her face which she would usually use for the other end. When I pointed this out she said that I had told her to use it on her face. She them proceeded to use her eyebrow pencil and put on lipstick. She told me we were going out. It is the first time she has but on “make up” for several months. Anyway I got her ready for bed, medications taken, teddies in bed and TV off when she got up and repeated putting on her make up, less the cream. Finally after about an hour she settled and was soon asleep.


This morning she put on more lipstick.

A Visit to the Eye Specialist

The rest of Thursday passed without any major incidents apart from Margaret being very confused and going to bed early. Unfortunately my brother, who lives in England, phoned and wanted to talk. I think I mentioned earlier that his wife, also Margaret's older sister, had died a few months earlier of dementia. We get together on the phone every couple of weeks to catch up on things and talk about our early lives. Margaret was woken up by the phone and I had to settle he down again.

Friday morning was the day Margaret was visiting her Specialist to get her eyes checked out. She had had a cataract in her left eye fixed two years ago and the right eye also had a cataract which would need fixing one day. The specialist said that Margaret would not benefit from an ocular transplant as her problems with reading were due to her lack of cognition not poor sight. He would normally recommend a transplant at this stage of the cataract's development but not in Margaret's case. Her eyes were both healthy and the sight adequate for normal life. Reading glasses might help but if her confusion and dementia were permanent or she had more strokes he didn't hold out much hope. This was all discussed in Margaret's presence but I don't think that she took it in. In the middle of the consultation she blamed it all on Louis not having had his bone today (he had!) and kept on about until we left. In a way I am relieved as I am not sure that Margaret would have coped with the surgery and immediate after care but I am sorry that her reading is now limited.

Margaret was very confused after dinner last night and took her self off to bed early but did not settle for an hour or so.

This morning she keeps asking when she has to get up. I have told her that she can get up when she wants to. I think that she think she has a doctor's appointment. She is not normally quite as confused this early.

A New Bruise

Soon after I completed yesterday's blog I heard Margaret call out from her bathroom. She had had another little “accident”. I helped her into her shower and cleaned her up . After she was dry and comfortable she wanted to lie down but on the way from the bathroom she began to stumble and fall. I managed to grasp her arm and steady her but this resulted in a large bruise on her right forearm. I cleaned up the bathroom and she had a rest for an hour or so before getting up to go out to lunch.



At lunch Margaret was talking all the time and caught the attention of a lady at an adjacent table. She must have recognised Margaret's dementia because she came up and talked to her as if she was a child. Although she was very nice to Margaret I found it a bit embarrassing. In this area of Queensland the average age is among the highest in Australia and there are several elderly people with dementia around the place.

After lunch Margaret wanted some cheese, she had eaten a very large lunch! I cut her of a slice and gave it to her and she promptly broke it in half and gave some to Louis. So much for his diet!!

After her afternoon rest she had a light snack instead or dinner and also shared this with Louis before going to bed. She took some time to relax and drop off to sleep and I went in several times to see if she was OK.

Today she has started off sounding quite lucid until I asked her if she needed anything from the shops and she said no but if she did need anything she would get B to go out for it. Now B is a neighbour and would probably go shopping for Margaret in an emergency but has never done so to date. She also said that G another neighbour would go if B was busy. I have no idea how Margaret's mind has worked out that our neighbours would do her shopping as she hasn't talked to them in two or three months.

Car Service

Cooroy Main Street the garage is the buildingat th far left by the small crossing sign.

My visit to my GP was the usual non-event. My blood pressure is fine and so are my blood sugar levels although they were a little elevated during August to October when Margaret was seriously ill. I have series of test scheduled for January.

My GP looked up Margaret's latest Urine Test results which showed that there was no infection of the Urinary Tract which could have been the cause of Margaret's increased dementia. Unless there is some other, yet to be determined medical condition causing it , Margaret now has quite severe vascular dementia or Alzheimer's.

Back home Margaret was worried about going out in the afternoon. She needed assurance that we were not going out until 1.30 pm to drop of the car for it's service. I think she asked me four or five times between 11.00 am and lunch at 12.30 pm and was ready and dressed at 1.15 pm.

The drive to Cooroy is via 15 km of recently upgraded and widened road which Margaret told me was too narrow and needed widening. I am sure that the Sunshine Coast Regional Council would be disappointed that their multi million dollar upgrade was not appreciated.

Cooroy is a pretty little hinterland town just over the range from Tewantin so having dropped the car off I wheeled Margaret up and down the main street to look at the local shops. No Mall here, just small shops in old wooden buildings with a super market hidden down a side street. The walk took about 30 minutes as Margaret looked in all the shop windows before we dropped into the RSL Club for tea, coffee and cakes. This killed an hour before we went to see if the car was ready. We waited about 15 minutes in their waiting area before they delivered it to the front door. The salesman who sold us the car helped Margaret from the wheelchair into the car but in spite of having been driven by him in a demonstration car 20 months ago Margaret didn't recognise him.

We got back home at 3.45 pm and Margaret went for a nap on her bed while I walked Louis. She had enjoyed her little outing.

Last night she was particularly confused as I think she was very tired but she had to stay up and watch the “documentary” (crap) about Charles's Other Mistress and went to bed at 9.45 pm.

Today we will go out for lunch where she wants Sizzling Garlic Prawns yet again.

A Busy Day Ahead

Yesterday morning the Blue Care RN came to visit Margaret. The main purpose of these fortnightly visits is provide Margaret's GP and me with an independent overview of Margaret's physical and mental status. The RN checked the dressing on Margaret's leg where Louis had caused the skin tears and passed them as OK to left uncovered. We are to let the steri-strips fall off on their own. She was concerned a bit by Margaret's appearance and thought she looked a bit jaundiced. We will keep and eye on her to see if it gets any worse.

Throughout the RN's visit Margaret was very confused. She is included in the discussion but she was off on completely different topics and at times the RN had to apologise to Margaret for laughing out loud. She explained that at least Margaret could see that she was nor being nasty. The RN thought that Margaret's mental state had deteriorated over the last few weeks.

A good point of the visit is that the RN now thinks that Louis could remain in the room next time provided he is on a lead and kept under control. As it was another hot day I had locked him in Margaret's air conditioned bed room and he barked continuously throughout the visit.

During the morning I had contacted Margaret's ophthalmologist's office and managed to make an appointment for Margaret to have she state of her eyes checked this Friday the 4th. I also managed to book our car in for a service later today. The means that we have a busy day.

Last night I had another of those moments when Margaret upset me by her continuous chatter during a TV show which I was particularly interest in. Fortunately I kept myself under control and asked her if I could just watch the programme for thirty minutes without interruption. Margaret replied that she was watching it too and she wasn't interrupting it. Oh well I shall have to use our Hard Disk Video Recorder to provide time shift so that I can pause the programme to respond to Margaret and start again where it left off. I use this facility a lot when Margaret goes to bed early and I have to check her several times before she finally drops off. She went to bed at 8.30 pm

This morning I have to visit my GP for my three monthly check up for Type Two Diabetes and renew my one prescription. These visits are usual followed up by blood and urine tests. Te n this afternoon I have to drop the car off for a service. As the garage is 15 km away in Cooroy and it will take about 90 minutes I shall have to take Margaret with me. After dropping off the car we can go to the local RSL Club – for the non Aussies RSL equals Returned Services League and most are open to non – service members. The Cooroy RSL has a nice cafe area where we can get tea and coffee while we wait.