On Thursday night Margaret was showing more signs of her Pre-Christmas confusion returning. As there was not too much of interest on TV I played a DVD of an episode from Foyle's War. I had bought Margaret the complete set of all the series for Christmas and she was very happy with it. We have watched about 5 episodes over six weeks and we have both enjoyed them. Now she told me that she didn't like them and can't remember watching the other episodes. She went into her bedroom to watch a local commercial channel, WIN Television, but I don't think that she actually watched it.
Later Margaret wanted to go to sleep and for the first time since Christmas wanted me to help her and she settled about 10.00 pm giving Big Ted a cuddle.
I went to bed and read for a while before going to sleep. About 11.45 pm Louis, our personal alarm system, woke me by barking and running between my room and Margaret's. Margaret was in her bathroom in a horrible mess. She had not realized that she was pooing her pants and had not made it to the toilet in time. I helped her out of her soiled incontinence pants and nightie and helped her into the shower. While she washed her self I cleaned up the floor, disposed of the pants and put the nightie into soak. Margaret was very upset and took it out on me by saying that she hated the shower because I had replaced the glass door with a curtain which made her feel closed in. She wouldn't use the curtain thus flooding the bathroom floor and making it very slippery. I managed to get her out safely and dried her down in the bedroom she was still angry with me when I finally went back to bed some time after midnight. Louis had gone an hidden somewhere but rejoined me later in the night. The shower curtain was installed by Home Assist following advice from the OHS inspector that the glass door restricted access to the en suite bathroom when open thus making it difficult to rescue Margaret in a fall which was exactly the situation we were in in early December.
Friday morning I had to go for a fasting blood test to check that my Type 2 Diabetes is under control. I didn't walk Louis until after 8.00 am after getting my and Margaret's breakfasts. I told Margaret that she would need to be ready at 11.00 am to go for her blood test before we went out to lunch. I looked in at 10.00 am to see if she wanted morning tea, which she didn't, and reminded her about being ready by 11.00 am. At 11.00 am Margaret was sitting on her bed watching TV still in her nightie. She had forgotten the blood test. I helped her dress and put on some make up and we were out just before 11.30 am. It wasn't that important but the collectors go to lunch at 12.00 noon and I wanted to get the blood taken before we also went to lunch.
Lunch was at our normal, for the time being, place. It wasn't very good this week so we may change.
Margaret was still not able to concentrate on TV after dinner in spite of it being on of her favorites, Midsomer Murders, and disappeared to use her computer. After a while I found her in a very distressed state. She said that she had not been able to do anything with the computer and that she wanted to throw it away. I switched it off for her and helped her to bed where she had the TV on WIN again while she also tried to read her book. Her computer is Dell laptop just under 12 months old!
This morning, being Saturday, is my clean up day and while I was hanging out some washing I heard Margaret calling out for me. She had been cut short again. This is four times in about a week. I cleaned her and the bathroom up again and settled her down. I hope that this is just a passing phase but if not it will be just like babies nappies all over again except that we now use disposable ones!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Australia Day
Tuesday 26th January was Australia Day when, if you have been here for less that 222 years, you celebrate the arrival of the First Fleet lead by by Capt. Arther Phillip in Botany Bay. The original inhabitants are less happy. It is a Public Holiday so, in true Australian fashion, a massive number of workers took a "sickie" on Monday to make it a four day weekend. Employers were outraged. Employees didn't care. The weather was perfect. The beaches crowded and Margaret and I stayed at home resting in the air-conditioned comfort of out home.
Actually not much happened during the day. Margaret has become more confused in the last few days and she was still on about visiting the Doctor's, getting lost on her computer and muddling up real life with the Sims but she was not in too much pain and quite happy. After dinner she decided to have a shower as she had to get up early next day to see her optometrist to arrange for new reading glasses for use in bed. Her multi-focal lenses in her normal glasses have too narrow a slot for reading with and Margaret looses concentration. After the shower she fell over, luckily she landed against her vanity bar and sink and didn't hit the ground but caused a lot of mess by knocking several bottles of skin cream and hand wash on the floor. I helped her from the mess and tidied up her bathroom while she dried off and got into her nightie.
When I got up yesterday morning Margaret had a skin tear on her arm. She had got out of bed during the night and stumbled against something while going to the bathroom. I managed to pull the tear back in place and cover it with an Opsite Dressing. I checked it later in the day and there is no infection so just covered it with another dressing.
She was in a foul mode because she thought that going to the optometrist at 9.00 am was unreasonable. She wouldn't have any breakfast which upset Louis as he normally shares it! She made trouble about getting dressed and all in all was very naughty. We got there on time and S her optometrist for several years soon had her cooperation. He is a lovely charming , to me, young guy. He got Margaret to read in several positions and levels of lighting. He worked out the best lens combination for her eyes and we chose a nice pair of frames. The new glasses will be available next week. He also said that Margaret should have a fairly bright light to read by.
On the way home I took Margaret to the library to get a couple of large print books in anticipation of the new glasses and also to her hairdressers where she made an appointment to have a new hairstyle and a dark brown colour rinse that afternoon.
At 2.30 pm she was back in Tewantin having her hair done and I went in search of a suitable lamp for Margaret to use when reading in bed. I managed to get a standard lamp with a single spotlight on a flexible wand. When we got home, Margaret resplendent in her new dark hair style and me covered in sweat as it was very hot, we positioned the new lamp by the head of the bed. By pointing the spot light at wall behind the bed head we managed to get a bright even light over the area of the bed where Margaret reads.
Later I was asleep in front of the TV when Margaret started shouting at me. I really had no idea why but worked out that she had been trying to contact her friend using the computer without success and had coupled this with not seeing her Doctor and what was written on the calender. I had to get the calender and have her point out to me where the trouble was and calm her down. She went to bed soon after and actually read her new library book for a while. The bright light helped a lot and when she gets her glasses with a wider field of view should be more comfortable.
This morning Margaret's arm with the skin tear is still infection free and comfortable so I shall leave the dressing on for a few days. It is a waterproof Opsite dressing which can be left on without attention for sometime. After shopping this morning I made an appointment for Margaret to see A, her GP, new Tuesday morning when her latest blood test results should be available.
Tomorrow we both have blood tests. Mine will be early as I have to fast and are to check that my Type 2 Diabetes is under control. Margaret's will be later when we go out to lunch and are to check her kidney function and mineral levels.
Actually not much happened during the day. Margaret has become more confused in the last few days and she was still on about visiting the Doctor's, getting lost on her computer and muddling up real life with the Sims but she was not in too much pain and quite happy. After dinner she decided to have a shower as she had to get up early next day to see her optometrist to arrange for new reading glasses for use in bed. Her multi-focal lenses in her normal glasses have too narrow a slot for reading with and Margaret looses concentration. After the shower she fell over, luckily she landed against her vanity bar and sink and didn't hit the ground but caused a lot of mess by knocking several bottles of skin cream and hand wash on the floor. I helped her from the mess and tidied up her bathroom while she dried off and got into her nightie.
When I got up yesterday morning Margaret had a skin tear on her arm. She had got out of bed during the night and stumbled against something while going to the bathroom. I managed to pull the tear back in place and cover it with an Opsite Dressing. I checked it later in the day and there is no infection so just covered it with another dressing.
She was in a foul mode because she thought that going to the optometrist at 9.00 am was unreasonable. She wouldn't have any breakfast which upset Louis as he normally shares it! She made trouble about getting dressed and all in all was very naughty. We got there on time and S her optometrist for several years soon had her cooperation. He is a lovely charming , to me, young guy. He got Margaret to read in several positions and levels of lighting. He worked out the best lens combination for her eyes and we chose a nice pair of frames. The new glasses will be available next week. He also said that Margaret should have a fairly bright light to read by.
On the way home I took Margaret to the library to get a couple of large print books in anticipation of the new glasses and also to her hairdressers where she made an appointment to have a new hairstyle and a dark brown colour rinse that afternoon.
At 2.30 pm she was back in Tewantin having her hair done and I went in search of a suitable lamp for Margaret to use when reading in bed. I managed to get a standard lamp with a single spotlight on a flexible wand. When we got home, Margaret resplendent in her new dark hair style and me covered in sweat as it was very hot, we positioned the new lamp by the head of the bed. By pointing the spot light at wall behind the bed head we managed to get a bright even light over the area of the bed where Margaret reads.
Later I was asleep in front of the TV when Margaret started shouting at me. I really had no idea why but worked out that she had been trying to contact her friend using the computer without success and had coupled this with not seeing her Doctor and what was written on the calender. I had to get the calender and have her point out to me where the trouble was and calm her down. She went to bed soon after and actually read her new library book for a while. The bright light helped a lot and when she gets her glasses with a wider field of view should be more comfortable.
This morning Margaret's arm with the skin tear is still infection free and comfortable so I shall leave the dressing on for a few days. It is a waterproof Opsite dressing which can be left on without attention for sometime. After shopping this morning I made an appointment for Margaret to see A, her GP, new Tuesday morning when her latest blood test results should be available.
Tomorrow we both have blood tests. Mine will be early as I have to fast and are to check that my Type 2 Diabetes is under control. Margaret's will be later when we go out to lunch and are to check her kidney function and mineral levels.
Monday, January 25, 2010
An Afternoon Out
On Sunday afternoon we went to visit friends who have just moved into a new unit in retirement village about 55 km from where we live. We have known them for 35 years so were very keen to wish them happiness in their new home. I bought a nice bouquet of summer flowers for M and we set off about 1.30 pm and got to the village at about 2.15 pm. It is probably over two years since we had seen G ad M and, like us, age is beginning to tell. G has had a hip replacement and suffers from hydroencephalitis and has had a shunt fitted in his brain. This has left him with some dementia but unlike Margaret he has no confusion so he just tells you he cant remember recent things but talks, as always, intelligently about everything else. M has had both hips replaced some years ago but manages very well. G isn't allowed to drive anymore and M does all the driving with G in tow to carry the shopping etc. G is well aware of his deficiencies and they both appear happy in their new home.
During the afternoon we talked about old times and mutual friends and workmates. Margaret joined in where she could and I think she enjoyed herself. We had a tour of the brand new unit which is very nice. It has an open plan living area with kitchen, dining and living areas, three good size bedrooms, one with an en-suite bathroom , another bathroom, laundry and a double garage. It is all set up for wheelchair use and is light and airy. The only reason we wouldn't move there is that the don't allow pets and Louis is with us until he dies.
After a light afternoon tea we left to go home at about 4.45 pm and were home by 5.30 pm int time to take Louis for a late walk.
It was really great to get out and visit somebody. I think that it is over eighteen months since Margaret has visited anybody in their home. We probably will be visiting other friends, J and B, as they move into a retirement village unit next weekend but they are taking there old dog and a new one they have just acquired before moving with them. This village allows you to bring in existing pets but not to replace them when they die.
Margaret is getting more and more confused and I am finding it difficult to explain even simple things to her. As I have said before she just cant manage to work out how to use the computer but that is just a minor thing. Our GPs have just left the practice they were senior partners in to set up on their own. This happened last week and Margaret's GP gave us the phone number of their new offices and told us that appointments can be made from today, the 25th. Margaret wrote "Phone A (her GP)" on our calender for today and also "See A" on Wednesday. She is now getting on at me to phone and make an appointment to see A on Wednesday. I have tried to explain that she has no reason to see A this week. She doesn't need any prescriptions renewed and she is not in need of any immediate medical advice. I said that she should wait until next week when her blood test results would be back and she will also need her Norspan patch prescription renewed. She just cant get this. The calenders says she should phone A and see him this week and that is that. I am responsible for writing things on the calender and now I am preventing her seeing her GP etc. She wont event acknowledge that the writing on the calender is hers and the only note I have is A's new number. She is mad with me again but this time I am calm and under control. I just repeat that she does not need to see a Doctor this week and I will take her early next week. It will slowly sink in.
During the afternoon we talked about old times and mutual friends and workmates. Margaret joined in where she could and I think she enjoyed herself. We had a tour of the brand new unit which is very nice. It has an open plan living area with kitchen, dining and living areas, three good size bedrooms, one with an en-suite bathroom , another bathroom, laundry and a double garage. It is all set up for wheelchair use and is light and airy. The only reason we wouldn't move there is that the don't allow pets and Louis is with us until he dies.
After a light afternoon tea we left to go home at about 4.45 pm and were home by 5.30 pm int time to take Louis for a late walk.
It was really great to get out and visit somebody. I think that it is over eighteen months since Margaret has visited anybody in their home. We probably will be visiting other friends, J and B, as they move into a retirement village unit next weekend but they are taking there old dog and a new one they have just acquired before moving with them. This village allows you to bring in existing pets but not to replace them when they die.
Margaret is getting more and more confused and I am finding it difficult to explain even simple things to her. As I have said before she just cant manage to work out how to use the computer but that is just a minor thing. Our GPs have just left the practice they were senior partners in to set up on their own. This happened last week and Margaret's GP gave us the phone number of their new offices and told us that appointments can be made from today, the 25th. Margaret wrote "Phone A (her GP)" on our calender for today and also "See A" on Wednesday. She is now getting on at me to phone and make an appointment to see A on Wednesday. I have tried to explain that she has no reason to see A this week. She doesn't need any prescriptions renewed and she is not in need of any immediate medical advice. I said that she should wait until next week when her blood test results would be back and she will also need her Norspan patch prescription renewed. She just cant get this. The calenders says she should phone A and see him this week and that is that. I am responsible for writing things on the calender and now I am preventing her seeing her GP etc. She wont event acknowledge that the writing on the calender is hers and the only note I have is A's new number. She is mad with me again but this time I am calm and under control. I just repeat that she does not need to see a Doctor this week and I will take her early next week. It will slowly sink in.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
A Pleasant Saturday
First of all,Friday lunch was a complete success. Margaret's Garlic Prawns were perfect and I had oven baked dory, a local fish. There was a casual, no uniforms, bowls match going on which we enjoyed watching. The standard was pretty ordinary but there were sixteen ends in use playing mixed doubles so that is sixty four elderly people having a fun time.
Friday evening was quiet and we watched a repeat of and early episode of Midsomer Murders on TV. These old UK TV programs feature a lot during the silly summer holiday period. I always remember the plots but to Margaret everything is new. One of the few benefits of dementia.
On Saturday I cleaned out the kitchen cupboards where I found some things only six years out of date which is about time that Margaret's health took it's downhill dive which shows that she was probably a better house keeper than me. Apart from that and general clutter which I threw out they weren't too bad.
Margaret was playing on her computer and by chance actually managed to Skype my brother, A, in the UK. It must have been after midnight there. She had the volume of her computer turned down but called me and after a couple of minutes she had full audio and visual contact. They spoke together for about twenty minutes before A signed off. A was married to Margaret's sister, V, who died in July last year of Alzheimer's and other problems. He was telling Margaret about this but somehow Margaret now believes that he did not know that V had dementia. We were told by Alan about the diagnosis several years ago.
After vacuuming through and dusting I settled down to watch the Pro Tour Bicyle race in South Australia live. It started at 11.30 am and finished just before 3.30 pm. I really enjoyed it as the riders raced through areas of the Adelaide Hills which I cycled for several years as a tourist. It was great to see them racing up Old Willunga Hill which I have climbed on many occasions at about six kliometres an hour they were doing 20 to 25! The Australian World Champion Cadel Evens made a break oon the final climb but was caught and finished fourth. During the race I was using time shifting on our Hard Drive based Video Recorded so that I could pause the action to attend to lunch and Margaret's problems - mainly with the computer.
At one time she actually received a phone call from her friend K in South Australia who said he would phone back later, which he didn't, so he is now in Margaret's bad books again.
Dinner was one of Margaret's and my favourites, fish and chips, from the local Marina fish shop. It is tasty, reasonably priced and somebody else has cooked it.
Another evening was spent watching old UK TV programmes Wild at Heart and Hamish MacBeth followed by new programs of The Bill and Taggert. What could a man want. Margaret went to ed quite happy now I give her two paracetamol with her normal medication.
During the night Margaret had severe pains in her legs and was literally screaming with the pain. I think it was cramp so I gently massaged them and after more paracetamol she went back to sleep. She takes a medically prescribed Magnesium supplement to combat cramp which is caused by her diuretics leaching out minerals from her body and she has just had her Frusimide dose increased.
This morning she appears to be OK.
Later today we are going out visiting for the first time in eighteen months. Some friends of over thirty five years have just moved from a house in Buderim to a Retirement Village. Their old house was on the side of the escarpment overlooking the coast from Caloundra through Maroochydore upto Coolum. These are million dollar views but the house was built on a steep slope and had become too much for M and G to care for. Their new home is on flat land and M says that they have exchanged sea views for kangaroos. We are look forward to seeing them as they were the first people to visit us when we moved to the Sunshine Coast twelve years ago.
Friday evening was quiet and we watched a repeat of and early episode of Midsomer Murders on TV. These old UK TV programs feature a lot during the silly summer holiday period. I always remember the plots but to Margaret everything is new. One of the few benefits of dementia.
On Saturday I cleaned out the kitchen cupboards where I found some things only six years out of date which is about time that Margaret's health took it's downhill dive which shows that she was probably a better house keeper than me. Apart from that and general clutter which I threw out they weren't too bad.
Margaret was playing on her computer and by chance actually managed to Skype my brother, A, in the UK. It must have been after midnight there. She had the volume of her computer turned down but called me and after a couple of minutes she had full audio and visual contact. They spoke together for about twenty minutes before A signed off. A was married to Margaret's sister, V, who died in July last year of Alzheimer's and other problems. He was telling Margaret about this but somehow Margaret now believes that he did not know that V had dementia. We were told by Alan about the diagnosis several years ago.
After vacuuming through and dusting I settled down to watch the Pro Tour Bicyle race in South Australia live. It started at 11.30 am and finished just before 3.30 pm. I really enjoyed it as the riders raced through areas of the Adelaide Hills which I cycled for several years as a tourist. It was great to see them racing up Old Willunga Hill which I have climbed on many occasions at about six kliometres an hour they were doing 20 to 25! The Australian World Champion Cadel Evens made a break oon the final climb but was caught and finished fourth. During the race I was using time shifting on our Hard Drive based Video Recorded so that I could pause the action to attend to lunch and Margaret's problems - mainly with the computer.
At one time she actually received a phone call from her friend K in South Australia who said he would phone back later, which he didn't, so he is now in Margaret's bad books again.
Dinner was one of Margaret's and my favourites, fish and chips, from the local Marina fish shop. It is tasty, reasonably priced and somebody else has cooked it.
Another evening was spent watching old UK TV programmes Wild at Heart and Hamish MacBeth followed by new programs of The Bill and Taggert. What could a man want. Margaret went to ed quite happy now I give her two paracetamol with her normal medication.
During the night Margaret had severe pains in her legs and was literally screaming with the pain. I think it was cramp so I gently massaged them and after more paracetamol she went back to sleep. She takes a medically prescribed Magnesium supplement to combat cramp which is caused by her diuretics leaching out minerals from her body and she has just had her Frusimide dose increased.
This morning she appears to be OK.
Later today we are going out visiting for the first time in eighteen months. Some friends of over thirty five years have just moved from a house in Buderim to a Retirement Village. Their old house was on the side of the escarpment overlooking the coast from Caloundra through Maroochydore upto Coolum. These are million dollar views but the house was built on a steep slope and had become too much for M and G to care for. Their new home is on flat land and M says that they have exchanged sea views for kangaroos. We are look forward to seeing them as they were the first people to visit us when we moved to the Sunshine Coast twelve years ago.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Back to Normal
Well things have been a lot nicer for the last 24 hours as Margaret's period of irritability and bad temper has passed and I am also a lot calmer.
The main problem with Margaret at present is her memory loss which really is quite severe at present. She never knows what day of the week it is. It is Sunday today isn't it? :) She has been using her computer quite a lot recently which means that I get a string of requests to find her "e-mails". Now that is in parentheses for a reason I shall explain later. At about 3.00 pm yesterday she asked me to find her e-mails and, after closing down the Sims and multitude of windows and web pages reinstated Windows mail. At 3.15 pm she was back and everything was "lost" once more. I am now an expert at closing the Sims and all the other odds and ends and bringing up mail once more. At 3.25 pm she was lost again. This time I really broke all records in sorting her out as I normally meet out friend B with her little dog for Louis's afternoon walk so after getting things sorted I grabbed Louis and fled. When I got back an hour later Margaret was lost again.
This morning she is back on the computer and when she told me that she wanted all her "old e-mails" I set it up and she said she couldn't see them. I took a little more time and realized what she really wanted was all her old pictures. These are a mixture of family photos and pictures downloaded by Margaret when she was more capable. I have left her happily looking through her pictures which will keep her occupied for some time unless she clicks onto another page and "loses" them when I shall be summoned once again.
Today we shall go out to lunch as we missed out on Wednesday due to the visit to the specialist. The last time we went the cooking at the Noosa Bowls Club was pretty awful and I hope things are better today.
While on food I cooked a special roast dinner last night. I had bought a big turkey drumstick and cooked it outside in our Weber Kettle, a closed in barbecue heated using heat beads. I prepared roast potatoes, green peas, baby green beans and a thick brown gravy. This was serve piping hot with Cranberry Sauce. Louis was drooling as I carved the meat but he will have to wait until later to day when he gets some in lieu f his normal lunch. Margaret said that she loved the potatoes and gravy but left most of the turkey which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am trying to cook at least one full dinner a week.
The main problem with Margaret at present is her memory loss which really is quite severe at present. She never knows what day of the week it is. It is Sunday today isn't it? :) She has been using her computer quite a lot recently which means that I get a string of requests to find her "e-mails". Now that is in parentheses for a reason I shall explain later. At about 3.00 pm yesterday she asked me to find her e-mails and, after closing down the Sims and multitude of windows and web pages reinstated Windows mail. At 3.15 pm she was back and everything was "lost" once more. I am now an expert at closing the Sims and all the other odds and ends and bringing up mail once more. At 3.25 pm she was lost again. This time I really broke all records in sorting her out as I normally meet out friend B with her little dog for Louis's afternoon walk so after getting things sorted I grabbed Louis and fled. When I got back an hour later Margaret was lost again.
This morning she is back on the computer and when she told me that she wanted all her "old e-mails" I set it up and she said she couldn't see them. I took a little more time and realized what she really wanted was all her old pictures. These are a mixture of family photos and pictures downloaded by Margaret when she was more capable. I have left her happily looking through her pictures which will keep her occupied for some time unless she clicks onto another page and "loses" them when I shall be summoned once again.
Today we shall go out to lunch as we missed out on Wednesday due to the visit to the specialist. The last time we went the cooking at the Noosa Bowls Club was pretty awful and I hope things are better today.
While on food I cooked a special roast dinner last night. I had bought a big turkey drumstick and cooked it outside in our Weber Kettle, a closed in barbecue heated using heat beads. I prepared roast potatoes, green peas, baby green beans and a thick brown gravy. This was serve piping hot with Cranberry Sauce. Louis was drooling as I carved the meat but he will have to wait until later to day when he gets some in lieu f his normal lunch. Margaret said that she loved the potatoes and gravy but left most of the turkey which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am trying to cook at least one full dinner a week.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
A Visit to the Specialist
Tuesday finished on a quiet note with Margaret and I on speaking terms except that Margaret didn't want a cooked dinner. I like to have a barbecue once a week so I can have a good steak and a couple of glasses of red wine, these days out of a cask. Margaret has been having pork sausages with salad but now didn't want them. She decided to have a tin of hearty beef soup and vegetables with a couple of slices of bread. She had a full 505 gm can and afterwards did an Oliver Twist on me and asked for more. There were two things wrong with this. One, I didn't have any more beef and she didn't want chicken and, two, the soup counts in her fluid intake which she was already exceeding. She became quite huffy about it but settled for a hearty beef Cup-of-Soup instead.
Wednesday morning passed without any problems but after lunch Margaret didn't want to get dressed to go and see her specialist. She had some pain in her abdomen so I gave her two paracetamol tablets which settled her down. I like to allow about 45 minutes to get her in the car, drive to the hospital, find a parking spot (sometimes a near impossibility), get her out of the car and wheel her to the specialist's office. The appointment was at 1.50 pm and at 1.05 pm she was not dressed. I found some suitable clothes and dressed her and we got out at about 1.20 pm We had a really quick and easy drive the hospital and found a vacant disabled car park right outside the door. We were in the rooms by just after 1.35 pm. Margaret then complained that we were much too early – which, of course ,we were! Some days I have had to park in a side street and walk several hundred metres to get to the hospital.
The specialist's report was both good and bad. The good news was that her sodium levels were now normal and her two kilogram weight loss had resulted in some reduction in the swelling around her ankles. The bad news was that the swelling was still too much and was causing concern plus her kidney function, eGFR, had dropped from 30 ml/L to 25 ml/l which is also causing concern. In spite of this the specialist increased her frusimide/lasics to 80 mg/day, up from 60, in an attempt to reduce the swelling. Coupled with this he ordered more blood tests in ten days time. He would phone the result through to us as soon as they were available. Margaret has to continue on reduced fluid intake for another eight weeks by which time it is hoped that her weight will have reduced by another 4 kg and the swelling gone. Of course if her kidney function continues to decline all bets are off.
Margaret had a rest until dinner time and sat up and watched some TV with me afterwards. She asked what her new medication was to be from now on and I explained that instead of having half a 40 mg lasics tablet three times a day she would have two whole 40 mg tablets twice a day. At bedtime I gave her her one night time tablet, Ducene/Valium, to help her relax and sleep. She immediately went into a rage (sorry but this is a correct description), saying that she always had another large round tablet without which she could not sleep. I rather stupidly tried to explain that she had no more tablets to take. She continued to rage and wouldn't go to bed. Instead she switched on her computer and after a while I went to bed leaving her up. I dropped off about 12.00 midnight and she was still up. I was wakened at 4.45 am by a large banging from her bedroom. I think she was deliberately running her wheely walker into her bathroom door. She was still in a rage. She claimed that, because I hadn't given her her tablet, she hadn't slept all night and she was in pain. I did what I should have done last night and gave her some more paracetamol which calmed her down. She continued to be mad at me for several hours but appears to have calmed down by now.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
A Difficult Couple of Days
The last few days have been very difficult for me due to Margaret's increasing antagonism towards me and my increasing irritation with her behaviour.
The weekend started well with me giving the house a really good clean up on Saturday and doing all the washing. This kept me busy all morning and after lunch I just wanted to relax and watch the cricket and tennis on TV for a couple of hours. Margaret had other ideas as she wanted to use her computer and spent three hours just playing with it. Unfortunately, every 20 minutes or so (sounds familiar) she would get lost and come in to tell me the computer had “broken down” again. It only takes about two or three minute to close the multitude of windows and web pages which Margaret has opened and restore the computer to the start condition but after the fourth time I was in a foul mood.
On Sunday I spent the morning cleaning up the garden and mowing our lawns with our little push mower. I don't like gardening but actually get some relaxation just pushing the mower up and down building up a good sweat in our warm humid morning weather conditions. In the afternoon Margaret became more and more irritable. I could not do anything right. She was also having occasions of incontinence which she can not help but it really disrupts any thing I am trying to do. She also got lost on her computer several times.
Yesterday was my early week shopping day which, as it was forecast to be a pig of a day, I got done before 9.30 am. When I got home I close up the house and switched on our Air Conditioners (ACs) as the temperature was over 31C/90F and the humidity was rising. We have three split system ACs. One in our kitchen/living are, one in the lounge/dining area and one in Margaret's bedroom. The first two have to be switched on together as there are no doors to separate the living areas. Normally when all three are on we just leave all inside doors, including the one to Margaret's bedroom, open. The one in Margaret's bedroom can be shut off so it is possible to just air condition her bedroom by shutting the door. Margaret said she didn't want her AC on and opened the windows and switched on her ceiling fan but she would not close her bedroom door thus causing all the cool air in the rest of the house flow out through her bedroom to the open air and made the other two AC work flat out. We had a flaming row over this. Margaret insisting that I should switch off the other ACs and me telling her to shut her door.
We had to go out to get blood taken for Margaret's blood tests for her visit to her specialist this Wednesday. Margaret had asked me when she should be ready and I had said 11.00 am. About 10.30am Margaret told me she was going to shower. At 11.00 am she was still not ready but told me not to rush her. At 11.30 she was sitting, totally undressed on her bed say that she did not know what to wear. I selected some clothes and dressed her and we were out at about 12.00 noon with the temperature nudging 35C/95C and with 80% humidity. Luckily our car was in the garage and relatively cool so with its AC going flat we had a quick cool trip tho the pathology collection centre. A quick transfer using that wheel chair soon had us inside and her blood successfully collected.
Now the trouble really began Margaret wanted to go to a nearby shop which sold discounted casual gear and shoes (Rivers) to look at shoes. Now I haven't referred too much to her legs and feet recently but they are enormous and the only shoes she can wear are a pair of woolly sheep skin scuffs or slippers. I reluctantly pushed her around the store and she made me, by creating a scene, push her around the whole women's shoe section at least three time trying to find a pair of shoes which would fit. She was very annoyed with me because she couldn't find any and at one time I nearly walked out and left her but sanity prevailed.
Finally I got her back into the, now, furnace of a car to go home but no Margaret wanted to go to a shoe shop in Tewantin.. I could not persuade her that it would be no good but she started to make a scene saying that I never did any thing she wanted and she never went shopping etc so I capitulated.
When we got to Tewantin I had to park some way from the shoe shop and by the time I had got Margaret into her wheel chair and pushed her to the shop was covered in sweat and quite exhausted. Of course there were no suitable shoes bot the sales person tried to sell Margaret a $300 pair of sandals very similar to a pair she had at home and it took some time before Margaret could be persuaded to declined them. By now I was in a really foul mood and Margaret still blamed me for not buying a pair of shoes which she couldn't wear or even need.
The ride home was hot and hostile. She stormed, as much as she can, off using her wheely walker and shut herself of in her bedroom. Now I had left all inside doors open and the three ACs on while we were out. Louis was blissfully on the lounge in a pleasant 25C/77F. Next she opened her door and I saw the windows were open and the AC off. I did my block and told her to shut the door using one or two expletives. She responded in kind and told me that she hated me and that I didn't have any feelings for her and so on. Now I am ashamed to say I told her that I was fed up with caring for her and she was on her own. Since then there has been a wary truce between us. She has spent most of her time in her bedroom or the study on her computer. I noticed that she had been using her AC but had changed the temperature setting to 31C so it didn't switch on the cooling cycle. I reset it to 25C when she wasn't looking.
Today, I hope, should be quiet as we have no appointments etc. We are talking but while Margaret appears to have forgotten yesterday she is still in a bad mood. I have got my temper under control but still feel very flat.
Tomorrow we see Margaret's specialist.
Friday, January 15, 2010
More Computer Woes
Thursday was actually a nice quiet day. I did my normal "big" shop between 8.00 and 10.00 am and for the rest of the morning just pottered around the house tidying up. After lunch I was looking forward to concerted effort of snoozing in front of either the tennis or cricket - which ever was on when I woke up from a nap! but Margaret had gone back to her computer.
She has given up, for the time being, on contacting her South Australian friend. Instead she wanted to send an e-mail to our mutual friends up here on the Sunshine Coast who have just moved into a retirement village due to physical infirmities. First she wanted their e-mail address. I explaiend that it was in her address book in Microsoft Mail. Next, "How do I find the address book?" I opened Mail for her, selected Compose a New Message, clicked on the 'To' icon and showed her the Address Book. "I didn't know you could do that." she said. Note I had shown her this just the day before and it was new then! I selected our friends' e-mail address and asked Margaret to enter a subject and then left her in the text area to write her message. I then went back to snoozing.
Twenty minutes later Margaret wheeled in and said "The computer's broke and I have lost everything." I went back to the study to find that the bloody Sims were back. Margaret told me that they had just appeared from nowhere and had wiped out the mail. I am beginning to think that she believes the game has some real physical presence. I killed, sorry wishful thinking, closed down the Sims and found a multitude of other windows open. I closed each in turn until we had a nice clear desk top. I restarted mail and luckily it had auto-saved a draft of Margaret's e-mail. I corrected s couple of typing errors and left Margaret to finish.
Twenty minutes or so later she had lost the mail again and was in Gimp looking at some photos. Again she hadn't selected it and it had just appeared. I think that what happens is that she accidentally closes mail and just clicks on any icon to try and start it again. If it doesn't appear she doesn't close the new window but just selects another and so on. She had four different Firefox (web browser) windows open, Gimp and Open Office Writer open. I closed them all down and got her back to her e-mail which was now three paragraphs long and actually quite chatty and sensible. I advised her to just type in a closing statement and would make sure that it got sent.
She was still at her computer an hour later when I took Louis for his afternoon walk. When I got back Margaret was lying down and told me her computer had gone wrong again. Note that this is now over three hours after she began to write the e-mail. I sorted out the mess, the Sims were back and there were a few other windows to close before I could give her a clear go at finishing the e-mail. Now she had done something quite clever. What ever you typed after the last word started on a new line then jumped back to it's correct place on entering a space. She had inserted a long string of invisible characters which meant the any new character in front of it would see that it was longer that the line length and wrap it the start of a new line. After the next space it would realize that the new, short word would fit on the old line and un-wrap it. I have no idea what the invisible character is, I suppose it could just be a space. I will investigate further.
While this is all quite amusing it has a worrying side. Margaret stopped reading books several weeks ago. She use to read a couple of books a week. As her cataracts made reading more difficult she graduated to large print books but still understood and enjoyed what she read. Last month her ophthalmologist thought that her reading difficulties were due to lack of cognition and poor attention span, not the cataract in her right eye. He advised special reading glasses instead of the graduated focus lenses she uses now as they have a really tiny reading zone which means that Margaret can't concentrate on large ares of text. We have an appointment with her optometrist in a couple of weeks to get reading glasses. I hope they work as these computer problems appear to stem from poor concentration followed by arbitary actions has she really has no idea how her computer works these days. While never a computer expert, she actually did all her course work on my old CPM based computer twenty four years ago when she went back to the University of South Australia to get her Arts Diploma in Drama. She was the only student using a computer for assignments etc in 1986. This shows the level of ability she had as Windows was just being released at the time and she was just using a command line based word processor and a stand-alone spell checker.
I am hoping for another quite day.
Margaret Graduating in 1988 with out daughter. Helen
She has given up, for the time being, on contacting her South Australian friend. Instead she wanted to send an e-mail to our mutual friends up here on the Sunshine Coast who have just moved into a retirement village due to physical infirmities. First she wanted their e-mail address. I explaiend that it was in her address book in Microsoft Mail. Next, "How do I find the address book?" I opened Mail for her, selected Compose a New Message, clicked on the 'To' icon and showed her the Address Book. "I didn't know you could do that." she said. Note I had shown her this just the day before and it was new then! I selected our friends' e-mail address and asked Margaret to enter a subject and then left her in the text area to write her message. I then went back to snoozing.
Twenty minutes later Margaret wheeled in and said "The computer's broke and I have lost everything." I went back to the study to find that the bloody Sims were back. Margaret told me that they had just appeared from nowhere and had wiped out the mail. I am beginning to think that she believes the game has some real physical presence. I killed, sorry wishful thinking, closed down the Sims and found a multitude of other windows open. I closed each in turn until we had a nice clear desk top. I restarted mail and luckily it had auto-saved a draft of Margaret's e-mail. I corrected s couple of typing errors and left Margaret to finish.
Twenty minutes or so later she had lost the mail again and was in Gimp looking at some photos. Again she hadn't selected it and it had just appeared. I think that what happens is that she accidentally closes mail and just clicks on any icon to try and start it again. If it doesn't appear she doesn't close the new window but just selects another and so on. She had four different Firefox (web browser) windows open, Gimp and Open Office Writer open. I closed them all down and got her back to her e-mail which was now three paragraphs long and actually quite chatty and sensible. I advised her to just type in a closing statement and would make sure that it got sent.
She was still at her computer an hour later when I took Louis for his afternoon walk. When I got back Margaret was lying down and told me her computer had gone wrong again. Note that this is now over three hours after she began to write the e-mail. I sorted out the mess, the Sims were back and there were a few other windows to close before I could give her a clear go at finishing the e-mail. Now she had done something quite clever. What ever you typed after the last word started on a new line then jumped back to it's correct place on entering a space. She had inserted a long string of invisible characters which meant the any new character in front of it would see that it was longer that the line length and wrap it the start of a new line. After the next space it would realize that the new, short word would fit on the old line and un-wrap it. I have no idea what the invisible character is, I suppose it could just be a space. I will investigate further.
While this is all quite amusing it has a worrying side. Margaret stopped reading books several weeks ago. She use to read a couple of books a week. As her cataracts made reading more difficult she graduated to large print books but still understood and enjoyed what she read. Last month her ophthalmologist thought that her reading difficulties were due to lack of cognition and poor attention span, not the cataract in her right eye. He advised special reading glasses instead of the graduated focus lenses she uses now as they have a really tiny reading zone which means that Margaret can't concentrate on large ares of text. We have an appointment with her optometrist in a couple of weeks to get reading glasses. I hope they work as these computer problems appear to stem from poor concentration followed by arbitary actions has she really has no idea how her computer works these days. While never a computer expert, she actually did all her course work on my old CPM based computer twenty four years ago when she went back to the University of South Australia to get her Arts Diploma in Drama. She was the only student using a computer for assignments etc in 1986. This shows the level of ability she had as Windows was just being released at the time and she was just using a command line based word processor and a stand-alone spell checker.
I am hoping for another quite day.
Margaret Graduating in 1988 with out daughter. Helen
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Confusion Returns
On Tuesday I got around to giving Louis woolly coat a trim as he was still clean from his exploits on Monday. I normally clip him about every two to three months and it take about two and a half hours. I last did him in early December so it is only about five weeks between clips. This really pays off because I gave him a good clip in about one hour. He is much happier and we are both a lot more relaxed.
On Tuesday afternoon she received an e-mail from a friend in South Australia merely assuring her that they wanted to keep in touch. This lead to a couple of hours while Margaret tried to reply to it. I set up her e-mail account in the reply to sender mode and left her alone. An hour later she was on a totally different screen looking at Skype where her friend has been absent for many months so when she tries to contact them she gets the message that the friend is not responding or blocking her! Margaret took this to mean that her friend was trying to avoid her. It took me some time to retrieve the original friendly e-mail and show her that this was not so. Next I retrieved her draft reply, got her to finish it and sent if off. Up to now I have never read Margaret's personal e-mails but could help noticing that it said something like she didn't know how to contact them! followed by Love Margaret. I quickly sent the friend an e-mail letting them know that they had probably got a peculiar reply to theirs.
On Wednesday Margaret received a reply from her friend. She had accessed her e-mail account while I was walking Louis in the afternoon. She sat at her computer for several hours before I realised that she was upset. I thought it was due to my lack of interest in the game she tries to play on her computer but no, her friend had upset her. I asked how and she again said that they had blocked her from making contact - bloody Skype again. I helped her find the new e-mail and read it with her. It was friendly and chatty and apologized for not writing more often as they had had family staying with them because of problems arising from the Victorian Bush Fires early last year. They were moving soon to a new house over 100 km away. I read it to Margaret a couple of times but she is convinced that it was anti her and that communications with her friend had been blocked by the visiting family. They were building a house next door and there is a conspiracy to prevent her friend contacting her and vice versa. I thought I had cleared this up before we went to bed but she has just told me that come what may she was going to contact her friend and tell them - I haven't worked out what at present.
At present she has still the ability to switch on her computer and read her e-mails but she can't work out how to compose a new one and the address book is a mystery to her. Twelve months ago she used to received and reply to e-mails with no difficulty and also used Skype whenever friends or relatives were available. Now I dread her switching her computer on because she either gets very annoyed because she can't understand how to play the Sims and I wont assist her or she gets lost in her e-mails.
On the medical side Margaret has an increasing of episodes of incontinence and is feeling quite uncomfortable. I have had to increase her fluid intake from 1.2 Lt/day to about 1.6 L/day and this coupled with the diuretics could be removing Sodium from her system once again. She has blood tests on Monday next and sees he specialist two days later.
We did get out to lunch yesterday and also to the shops were she was fitted for new bras. She can't manage normal back fastening bra clips and has difficulty with pull over ones which she also finds uncomfortable. The proprietor of a local lingerie shop helped her find some with front fasteners which she can manage herself. While she was trying them on she nearly fell over and staggered through the changing room curtain to a rack of underwear. Luckily the proprietor caught her and put her back in her wheelchair before she wrecked the place.
Louis on Margaret's Bed after his clip
On Tuesday afternoon she received an e-mail from a friend in South Australia merely assuring her that they wanted to keep in touch. This lead to a couple of hours while Margaret tried to reply to it. I set up her e-mail account in the reply to sender mode and left her alone. An hour later she was on a totally different screen looking at Skype where her friend has been absent for many months so when she tries to contact them she gets the message that the friend is not responding or blocking her! Margaret took this to mean that her friend was trying to avoid her. It took me some time to retrieve the original friendly e-mail and show her that this was not so. Next I retrieved her draft reply, got her to finish it and sent if off. Up to now I have never read Margaret's personal e-mails but could help noticing that it said something like she didn't know how to contact them! followed by Love Margaret. I quickly sent the friend an e-mail letting them know that they had probably got a peculiar reply to theirs.
On Wednesday Margaret received a reply from her friend. She had accessed her e-mail account while I was walking Louis in the afternoon. She sat at her computer for several hours before I realised that she was upset. I thought it was due to my lack of interest in the game she tries to play on her computer but no, her friend had upset her. I asked how and she again said that they had blocked her from making contact - bloody Skype again. I helped her find the new e-mail and read it with her. It was friendly and chatty and apologized for not writing more often as they had had family staying with them because of problems arising from the Victorian Bush Fires early last year. They were moving soon to a new house over 100 km away. I read it to Margaret a couple of times but she is convinced that it was anti her and that communications with her friend had been blocked by the visiting family. They were building a house next door and there is a conspiracy to prevent her friend contacting her and vice versa. I thought I had cleared this up before we went to bed but she has just told me that come what may she was going to contact her friend and tell them - I haven't worked out what at present.
At present she has still the ability to switch on her computer and read her e-mails but she can't work out how to compose a new one and the address book is a mystery to her. Twelve months ago she used to received and reply to e-mails with no difficulty and also used Skype whenever friends or relatives were available. Now I dread her switching her computer on because she either gets very annoyed because she can't understand how to play the Sims and I wont assist her or she gets lost in her e-mails.
On the medical side Margaret has an increasing of episodes of incontinence and is feeling quite uncomfortable. I have had to increase her fluid intake from 1.2 Lt/day to about 1.6 L/day and this coupled with the diuretics could be removing Sodium from her system once again. She has blood tests on Monday next and sees he specialist two days later.
We did get out to lunch yesterday and also to the shops were she was fitted for new bras. She can't manage normal back fastening bra clips and has difficulty with pull over ones which she also finds uncomfortable. The proprietor of a local lingerie shop helped her find some with front fasteners which she can manage herself. While she was trying them on she nearly fell over and staggered through the changing room curtain to a rack of underwear. Luckily the proprietor caught her and put her back in her wheelchair before she wrecked the place.
Louis on Margaret's Bed after his clip
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
A Funny Old Day
That woman (Blue Care RN) arrived just after lunch yesterday. Margaret usually hates her for no apparent reason but yesterday she was flavour of the month. She ran through Margaret's recent health episodes and was very caring. She examined Margaret swollen legs and checked her ribs, which are now nearly completely better.
On arrival she had, as previously agreed, allowed Louis to stay in the room on his lead and under control. She said nice things about Louis and I suspect with Margaret that if you don't love her dog you are nasty and if you do you are a friend. Anyway it will be another four weeks before the RN visits again.
After her departure I mentioned to Margaret that it was nice to see her getting on with the RN after months of dislike and to my surprise Margaret said that she had always liked her. She got quite annoyed when I said that this was not so, so I just shut up.
On another matter I was walking Louis, of his lead, through our forest walk when he disappeared in to the undergrowth where he rolled in some purtrifying body. By the time I got him out he was covered in a slimy black substance and stank. We were just finishing the walk when he jumped into a creek adjacent to the park and emerged with a green coating from the stagnant water in the creek. When we got home I tied him to our back veranda got the garden hose and dish washing liquid and gave him a good shower. It took some work to get him clean and smelling fresh. After drying him of he ran in doors and jumped on Margaret's bed. As he is clean at the moment I intend to give his coat a tidy up clipping in a few minutes.
Earlier Margaret had remembered that her friend J in Adelaide had a birthday coming up on the sixteenth and she hadn't got a card to send her. While I was out shopping I bought her one. Later I gave Margaret J's new address, she has just moved to an over 50s retirement complex. After going to bed Margaret got up and said that she had lost the card. She said she had written a message in it and put it in the envelope which she had addressed. I got up and there on the bed with only J's name on it was the sealed envelope. I showed this to Margaret who said it wasn't the card as she had addressed the correct one's envelope. I pointed out that there was only one card so Margaret ripped open the envelope to show me I was wrong and pulled out J's card with its message written inside. I got Margaret another envelope which she addressed and resealed the card inside and put on the chest of drawers before she got back into bed.
This morning she came out to tell me that she had lost the card once again. I went and showed her it on the chest of drawers and she said that it wasn't the correct card as she had written two. After carefully opening the resealable envelope I finally convinced her that there was only one card which I shall post later today.
It appears that Margaret's confusion is returning - another thing to look out for.
On arrival she had, as previously agreed, allowed Louis to stay in the room on his lead and under control. She said nice things about Louis and I suspect with Margaret that if you don't love her dog you are nasty and if you do you are a friend. Anyway it will be another four weeks before the RN visits again.
After her departure I mentioned to Margaret that it was nice to see her getting on with the RN after months of dislike and to my surprise Margaret said that she had always liked her. She got quite annoyed when I said that this was not so, so I just shut up.
On another matter I was walking Louis, of his lead, through our forest walk when he disappeared in to the undergrowth where he rolled in some purtrifying body. By the time I got him out he was covered in a slimy black substance and stank. We were just finishing the walk when he jumped into a creek adjacent to the park and emerged with a green coating from the stagnant water in the creek. When we got home I tied him to our back veranda got the garden hose and dish washing liquid and gave him a good shower. It took some work to get him clean and smelling fresh. After drying him of he ran in doors and jumped on Margaret's bed. As he is clean at the moment I intend to give his coat a tidy up clipping in a few minutes.
Earlier Margaret had remembered that her friend J in Adelaide had a birthday coming up on the sixteenth and she hadn't got a card to send her. While I was out shopping I bought her one. Later I gave Margaret J's new address, she has just moved to an over 50s retirement complex. After going to bed Margaret got up and said that she had lost the card. She said she had written a message in it and put it in the envelope which she had addressed. I got up and there on the bed with only J's name on it was the sealed envelope. I showed this to Margaret who said it wasn't the card as she had addressed the correct one's envelope. I pointed out that there was only one card so Margaret ripped open the envelope to show me I was wrong and pulled out J's card with its message written inside. I got Margaret another envelope which she addressed and resealed the card inside and put on the chest of drawers before she got back into bed.
This morning she came out to tell me that she had lost the card once again. I went and showed her it on the chest of drawers and she said that it wasn't the correct card as she had written two. After carefully opening the resealable envelope I finally convinced her that there was only one card which I shall post later today.
It appears that Margaret's confusion is returning - another thing to look out for.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Things Have Been Quiet - Which Is Good!!
I realise that it is three days since I last posted an entry in this blog. As the title says it has been quiet which is a good thing. Margaret is back on diuretics and we are checking her weight daily to monitor their effect. The aim is a kilogram off a week which she is exceeding as she has lost nearly two kilograms in the first four days.
My only worry about this is that the fluid is coming off too fast! This could cause a drop in her Sodium levels and/or dehydration. I shall keep a careful watch.
I have used the quiet period to catch up with tidying up the garden. Yesterday I mowed our lawns using a push mower. It took about one and a half hours including trimming the edges and poisoning off the weeds. The garden looks quite good for the time being but with our hot, humid weather it will need doing once a week from now on.
In the last couple of days Margaret has been complaining of an itchy back and arms. She is scratching quite a lot which results in bruising so I have been using a weak cortisone based cream to reduce the itching. The last time this happened about three years ago it was diagnosed as Vasculitis which could be nasty so I will have to watch this as well. The last time it was described as a "rheumatological system break down" and she had three weeks in hospital. Another side effect of the Steroid treatment for Crohn's Disease.
Today we expect a visit from "That Woman" also known as the Blue Care Registered Nurse. She hasn't been for over a month due to Margaret being in hospital and the Christmas break. It will be interesting to see what she thinks of Margaret's condition.
My only worry about this is that the fluid is coming off too fast! This could cause a drop in her Sodium levels and/or dehydration. I shall keep a careful watch.I have used the quiet period to catch up with tidying up the garden. Yesterday I mowed our lawns using a push mower. It took about one and a half hours including trimming the edges and poisoning off the weeds. The garden looks quite good for the time being but with our hot, humid weather it will need doing once a week from now on.
In the last couple of days Margaret has been complaining of an itchy back and arms. She is scratching quite a lot which results in bruising so I have been using a weak cortisone based cream to reduce the itching. The last time this happened about three years ago it was diagnosed as Vasculitis which could be nasty so I will have to watch this as well. The last time it was described as a "rheumatological system break down" and she had three weeks in hospital. Another side effect of the Steroid treatment for Crohn's Disease.
Today we expect a visit from "That Woman" also known as the Blue Care Registered Nurse. She hasn't been for over a month due to Margaret being in hospital and the Christmas break. It will be interesting to see what she thinks of Margaret's condition.
Friday, January 8, 2010
A visit to the GP
I took Margaret to see her GP yesterday morning. He was overjoyed to see Margaret almost back to normal mentally. He has become Margaret's friend as well as her GP over the last eleven years and was very upset with her poor mental state over the last few months. He said he hadn't expected her Sodium levels to come back to normal. We had a brief talk about her prognosis which while not critical, is pretty grim. She has a high risk of strokes, chronic kidney failure, adrenal gland failure, osteoporosis, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis a wrecked immune system and underlying it all the original cause Crohn's Disease. All this coupled with her high risk of falls makes life very interesting.
A side effect of Margaret's return to almost normality is that she now behaves like a rebellious teenager rather that a little child. She gets very annoyed with me when I try to assist her or she forgets things and says it's all my fault. For the last couple of months I have been putting her to bed with her teddies but now she tells me I fuss too much and wants to stay up late, I like going to bed between 9.00 and 10.00 pm and if I stay up much later am very tired next day. The last few days Margaret has stayed up until 11.00 pm and I can't settle until she is in bed.
A side effect of Margaret's return to almost normality is that she now behaves like a rebellious teenager rather that a little child. She gets very annoyed with me when I try to assist her or she forgets things and says it's all my fault. For the last couple of months I have been putting her to bed with her teddies but now she tells me I fuss too much and wants to stay up late, I like going to bed between 9.00 and 10.00 pm and if I stay up much later am very tired next day. The last few days Margaret has stayed up until 11.00 pm and I can't settle until she is in bed.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Blood Test Results and Specialist's Visit
After a quiet Tuesday and Wednesday morning I took Margaret to see her Specialist Physician in the afternoon.
First the blood test results show that Margaret's sodium levels have crept up to normal - actually the lower limit of normal 137 mmol/L. This is why Margaret has been reasonably normal for the last few days. Most of her confusion has gone away and we are left with dementia but no hallucinations so our conversations are sensible again. The improvement is put down to the reduced fluid intake which she is to stick for the foreseeable future. Her kidney function is still holding at an eGFR of 30 ml/min - chronic failure level which is now accepted as normal for Margaret.
The main concern is Margaret's fluid retention which is most obvious with her swollen ankles and lower legs. If not controlled the specialist agrees that she is in danger of developing pulmonary oedema and possibly congestive heart failure. The big problem is that she is already on a low fluid intake and diuretics could cause other problems not the least is the leaching of sodium from her system. The specialist estimates that over her complete body she has accumulated about 10kg of retained fluid. To combat this he has put her on a low dose of Frusimide - 60mg a day. She must have fortnightly blood tests and see him soon afterwards for a review of the situation. If her confusion returns I am to stop the frusimide and take her to see him asap.
So her health situation is now in a closed loop. Give her diuretics to prevent fluid retention and possible heart failure which leaches out her sodium which causes confusion and ultimately death. The solution stop the diuretics and start again. I thinks the cycle takes about 6 to 8 weeks - we shall see.
While she is on diuretics I am to monitor Margaret's weight which should reduce at about 1kg/fortnight. During the hot weather I am also to check her for possible dehydration and to regulate her fluids to combat it if necessary.
While all this was going on I missed watching Australia actually bringing off the greatest recovery in a cricket match in the last few years beating Pakistan by 30 0dd runs in the second test.
This morning Margaret has a GP's visit to renew some prescriptions I shall discuss her situation with him - her health not the cricket.
First the blood test results show that Margaret's sodium levels have crept up to normal - actually the lower limit of normal 137 mmol/L. This is why Margaret has been reasonably normal for the last few days. Most of her confusion has gone away and we are left with dementia but no hallucinations so our conversations are sensible again. The improvement is put down to the reduced fluid intake which she is to stick for the foreseeable future. Her kidney function is still holding at an eGFR of 30 ml/min - chronic failure level which is now accepted as normal for Margaret.
The main concern is Margaret's fluid retention which is most obvious with her swollen ankles and lower legs. If not controlled the specialist agrees that she is in danger of developing pulmonary oedema and possibly congestive heart failure. The big problem is that she is already on a low fluid intake and diuretics could cause other problems not the least is the leaching of sodium from her system. The specialist estimates that over her complete body she has accumulated about 10kg of retained fluid. To combat this he has put her on a low dose of Frusimide - 60mg a day. She must have fortnightly blood tests and see him soon afterwards for a review of the situation. If her confusion returns I am to stop the frusimide and take her to see him asap.
So her health situation is now in a closed loop. Give her diuretics to prevent fluid retention and possible heart failure which leaches out her sodium which causes confusion and ultimately death. The solution stop the diuretics and start again. I thinks the cycle takes about 6 to 8 weeks - we shall see.
While she is on diuretics I am to monitor Margaret's weight which should reduce at about 1kg/fortnight. During the hot weather I am also to check her for possible dehydration and to regulate her fluids to combat it if necessary.
While all this was going on I missed watching Australia actually bringing off the greatest recovery in a cricket match in the last few years beating Pakistan by 30 0dd runs in the second test.
This morning Margaret has a GP's visit to renew some prescriptions I shall discuss her situation with him - her health not the cricket.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
An Interesting Monday
Yesterday, apart from some minor shopping and Margaret's blood test, was supposed to be another quiet day but turned out very interesting and a little worrying.
While I was shopping, Margaret had a visit from the Officer In Charge of the Noosa Police Station. No she wasn't in any trouble it was all my fault. We have a lousy driveway exit and we also have problems with some people parking in a manner which partially obstructs our exit and more importantly the access for ambulances which seem to make regular visits to out house. After the last incidence when Margaret was in hospital I asked the police to intervene. Unfortunately the two officers which attended treated me being as being in the wrong and un-neighbourly. I therefor wrote to the OIC Noosa Police who had come to inspect the situation for himself. He sat with Margaret for about 15 minutes and made sure that she was aware that it was not a serious matter. Louis sat next to him on the settee and made a new friend. He left a contact number for me to call him later.
I phoned him back and he was very courteous. First he stated that our drive was very awkward to back out of at any time and, with any vehicle parked partially obstructing it, would make it very difficult and dangerous in an emergency. He had driven right up to our house and backed out to try for himself. He advised me to continue using my little note or making contact with drivers parking there. Should they persist he would personally instruct his one of his patrol cars to pay them a visit and give them a parking ticket. He also agreed that getting an ambulance to the front door would be near impossible with the driveway even partially obstructed. He had seen how ill Margaret is at present and apologised for his officers not taking this into account when answering my complaint. All in all a good outcome but totally unnecessary if the one neighbour causing the problem had been a little more caring.
Next we took Margaret to the pathology collection centre to have a blood sample taken for her tests. The Nurse making the collection was brilliant and got the sample on the first jab! Sometimes it takes up to three of four jabs using both arms and once they gave up and sent us to another collection centre.
After lunch Margaret was resting and I was watching Australia trying to lose a cricket Test match against Pakistan when the hospital rang. Margaret's special boot to support her injured Achilles Tendon had arrived and could she come and have it fitted immediately. Now remember that I have been concerned with Margaret retaining fluid in her feet and lower legs and when the Physiotherapist saw Margaret's legs he would not fit the boot. He said that any pressure from the boot could completely cut of circulation to the foot which could be disastrous. He will fit it after Wednesday's visit to Margaret's specialist and the blood test results are in. He agreed with me that Margaret should be in hospital to balance out her mineral deficiencies and also reduce the fluid load on her cardiovascular system. He told Margaret not to walk anywhere without support as her tendon was under a great deal of stress and could be further damaged. When fitted, she was to wear the boot on all occasions except in bed at night for the next couple of months.
Our driveway exit showing a previous occasion. Note we have to swing through 180 degrees to face the right way down the street.
While I was shopping, Margaret had a visit from the Officer In Charge of the Noosa Police Station. No she wasn't in any trouble it was all my fault. We have a lousy driveway exit and we also have problems with some people parking in a manner which partially obstructs our exit and more importantly the access for ambulances which seem to make regular visits to out house. After the last incidence when Margaret was in hospital I asked the police to intervene. Unfortunately the two officers which attended treated me being as being in the wrong and un-neighbourly. I therefor wrote to the OIC Noosa Police who had come to inspect the situation for himself. He sat with Margaret for about 15 minutes and made sure that she was aware that it was not a serious matter. Louis sat next to him on the settee and made a new friend. He left a contact number for me to call him later.
I phoned him back and he was very courteous. First he stated that our drive was very awkward to back out of at any time and, with any vehicle parked partially obstructing it, would make it very difficult and dangerous in an emergency. He had driven right up to our house and backed out to try for himself. He advised me to continue using my little note or making contact with drivers parking there. Should they persist he would personally instruct his one of his patrol cars to pay them a visit and give them a parking ticket. He also agreed that getting an ambulance to the front door would be near impossible with the driveway even partially obstructed. He had seen how ill Margaret is at present and apologised for his officers not taking this into account when answering my complaint. All in all a good outcome but totally unnecessary if the one neighbour causing the problem had been a little more caring.
Next we took Margaret to the pathology collection centre to have a blood sample taken for her tests. The Nurse making the collection was brilliant and got the sample on the first jab! Sometimes it takes up to three of four jabs using both arms and once they gave up and sent us to another collection centre.
After lunch Margaret was resting and I was watching Australia trying to lose a cricket Test match against Pakistan when the hospital rang. Margaret's special boot to support her injured Achilles Tendon had arrived and could she come and have it fitted immediately. Now remember that I have been concerned with Margaret retaining fluid in her feet and lower legs and when the Physiotherapist saw Margaret's legs he would not fit the boot. He said that any pressure from the boot could completely cut of circulation to the foot which could be disastrous. He will fit it after Wednesday's visit to Margaret's specialist and the blood test results are in. He agreed with me that Margaret should be in hospital to balance out her mineral deficiencies and also reduce the fluid load on her cardiovascular system. He told Margaret not to walk anywhere without support as her tendon was under a great deal of stress and could be further damaged. When fitted, she was to wear the boot on all occasions except in bed at night for the next couple of months.
Our driveway exit showing a previous occasion. Note we have to swing through 180 degrees to face the right way down the street.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
A Quiet Couple of Days
I finished up on Friday expressing my concern over Margaret's health, in particular fluid retention in her feet and calf area. Things are not improving and her feet now hurt when she walks. She is spending most of the time with her feet up but that isn't helping too much. She is still getting very breathless following the slightest exertion.
The good things are that she is still relatively coherent and happy to sit and watch TV with me. I bought her the complete series of "Foyles War" on DVDs, all nineteen of them, and we have watched the first three episodes of series one. I am amazed at the standard of production of these series. We were especially interested to see the latest, and very young, Dr Who in episode three plus a DS from "The Bill" as a young villain.
I spent Friday tidying up the house and Saturday catching up with the washing. Margaret mainly rested. Margaret has some difficulty in get up from bed to go to the loo and I have fitted two support bars to help her. However it must hurt her quite a lot as I can here her yell when she gets up. Louis barks and I rush to her room to see what the emergency is. Normally it is nothing and Margaret doesn't even remember calling out but I have to check every time. I have just returned to typing this following another false alarm.
This morning, Sunday, looks like being a real pig of a day. At 8.00 am it was nearly 29C/87F and 80% humidity. I shall have to shut up the house soon and put on the air conditioning. The cricket Test Match with Pakistan starts today so I expect to snooze in air condition comfort watching it on TV but first I have to pop out for a couple of items from the shops which I forgot on Thursday.
The good things are that she is still relatively coherent and happy to sit and watch TV with me. I bought her the complete series of "Foyles War" on DVDs, all nineteen of them, and we have watched the first three episodes of series one. I am amazed at the standard of production of these series. We were especially interested to see the latest, and very young, Dr Who in episode three plus a DS from "The Bill" as a young villain.
I spent Friday tidying up the house and Saturday catching up with the washing. Margaret mainly rested. Margaret has some difficulty in get up from bed to go to the loo and I have fitted two support bars to help her. However it must hurt her quite a lot as I can here her yell when she gets up. Louis barks and I rush to her room to see what the emergency is. Normally it is nothing and Margaret doesn't even remember calling out but I have to check every time. I have just returned to typing this following another false alarm.
This morning, Sunday, looks like being a real pig of a day. At 8.00 am it was nearly 29C/87F and 80% humidity. I shall have to shut up the house soon and put on the air conditioning. The cricket Test Match with Pakistan starts today so I expect to snooze in air condition comfort watching it on TV but first I have to pop out for a couple of items from the shops which I forgot on Thursday.
Friday, January 1, 2010
A Happy New Year
My last post covered Tuesday so there are a couple of days to catch up with.
On Wednesday Margaret felt well enough to go out to lunch for her, present, favourite meal, sizzling garlic prawns. Prawn are the in food with her and she enjoyed her lunch. At home her bedroom ceiling fan was making terrible noises and would only run on one speed. Her in Noosa we rarely get the searing heat of South Australia (40C/104F) but with our high humidity even 30C/86F is uncomfortable. We try not to use our air conditioning too much and use the ceiling fans at night. On the way home we visited the local hardware store and purchased a replacement fan.
When we got home, after switching off the power, I installed the new controller and started to assemble the new fan only to fine that the blade fixing kit had been left out of the package and I had two ceiling mounting kits instead. The old fan was identical to the new one and I was just going to put the old blades on the new fan body when I decided to see if the new controller worked. After switching on the power the old fan worked perfectly thus saving me having to get up on my steps, disconnect the old fan and mount the new one which is now a spare. There is some irony in that a new controller costs $30.00 and are difficult to find in a rural area such as Noosa and the complete fan (less blade fixing kit) was $40.00 on sale. I now have a spare fan body as a spare.
While I did this Margaret sat up in the lounge. On getting her to bed, cooled by a nice breeze from the now quiet fan I notice that her feet are both very swollen and the swelling extends up to the middle of her calf muscles. The normal treatment for this is diuretics but as these are banned at the moment and she is only having 1.2 litres of fluids a day she would end up dehydrated. She wouldn't let me take her to he GP on Thursday s0 I will have to keep a close watch on her over the weekend.
Thursday was a very quiet day with Margaret keeping her feet elevated as much as possible. We didn't stay up to welcome the New Year in and were tucked up by 10.00 pm.
Since Margaret has been out of hospital (7 days) it is noticeable that her mental state has improved. He memory is still shot but her hallucinations are much reduced. We have had some quite normal conversations. She still can't concentrate enough to read book and I don't think she gets very much out of the TV in spite of watching it most of the day. She can't make head nor tail of her favourite Computer Game, The Sims. Apparently even simulated family life is beyond her capability. She used to play this for hours.
As I have noted above Margaret's physical condition is deteriorating. She gets very breathless even just moving around the house on her wheely walker. Her feet are swollen and she is very unsteady when walking. I hope that I am not alarmist but I expect her blood tests to be poor and she will end up in hospital on a drip for dehydration and other problems. Time will tell.
On Wednesday Margaret felt well enough to go out to lunch for her, present, favourite meal, sizzling garlic prawns. Prawn are the in food with her and she enjoyed her lunch. At home her bedroom ceiling fan was making terrible noises and would only run on one speed. Her in Noosa we rarely get the searing heat of South Australia (40C/104F) but with our high humidity even 30C/86F is uncomfortable. We try not to use our air conditioning too much and use the ceiling fans at night. On the way home we visited the local hardware store and purchased a replacement fan.
When we got home, after switching off the power, I installed the new controller and started to assemble the new fan only to fine that the blade fixing kit had been left out of the package and I had two ceiling mounting kits instead. The old fan was identical to the new one and I was just going to put the old blades on the new fan body when I decided to see if the new controller worked. After switching on the power the old fan worked perfectly thus saving me having to get up on my steps, disconnect the old fan and mount the new one which is now a spare. There is some irony in that a new controller costs $30.00 and are difficult to find in a rural area such as Noosa and the complete fan (less blade fixing kit) was $40.00 on sale. I now have a spare fan body as a spare.
While I did this Margaret sat up in the lounge. On getting her to bed, cooled by a nice breeze from the now quiet fan I notice that her feet are both very swollen and the swelling extends up to the middle of her calf muscles. The normal treatment for this is diuretics but as these are banned at the moment and she is only having 1.2 litres of fluids a day she would end up dehydrated. She wouldn't let me take her to he GP on Thursday s0 I will have to keep a close watch on her over the weekend.
Thursday was a very quiet day with Margaret keeping her feet elevated as much as possible. We didn't stay up to welcome the New Year in and were tucked up by 10.00 pm.
Since Margaret has been out of hospital (7 days) it is noticeable that her mental state has improved. He memory is still shot but her hallucinations are much reduced. We have had some quite normal conversations. She still can't concentrate enough to read book and I don't think she gets very much out of the TV in spite of watching it most of the day. She can't make head nor tail of her favourite Computer Game, The Sims. Apparently even simulated family life is beyond her capability. She used to play this for hours.
As I have noted above Margaret's physical condition is deteriorating. She gets very breathless even just moving around the house on her wheely walker. Her feet are swollen and she is very unsteady when walking. I hope that I am not alarmist but I expect her blood tests to be poor and she will end up in hospital on a drip for dehydration and other problems. Time will tell.
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