When I last wrote on Saturday I was rather pessimistic but we actually had a reasonably normal weekend. Margaret remained in a grumpy mood and was still very confused about dates and appointments but I managed to sort her out. Fortunately she had no more "accidents ". The weekend was quite wet as we had some much needed rain. I spent most of the time reading while Margaret stayed in bed.
On the flip side Margaret's weight loss program appears to have stalled and her swollen legs and ankles have become quite bad once again in spite of taking 80 mg of Frusimide a day. I think that she builds up a resistance to the diuretics after a day or so. Margaret also managed to remove her Norspan patch some time over the weekend. I had applied the last one on Friday and couldn't get any more without a special prescription as they are a controlled substance. Their effect lasts for up to 48 hours after their removal so I just hoped that Margaret would be comfortable until I could get a new prescription.
Monday was the day her specialist was going to phone her blood test results through to us and to recommend ongoing treatment. I did my shopping very early and hung around most of the day but he never phoned much to my disgust. Fortunately we were going to see Margaret's GP on Tuesday to get her Norspan prescription and he would have the results.
On Tuesday Margaret was very confused and she told me her appointment was on the 27th and that I had changed the calender. She had also removed her appointment card from under its fridge magnet and lost it so it took me some time to convince here that she had to get ready to visit the Doctor. Well we made it and after some hassles getting close by parking we entered the new offices set up by Margaret's and my GPs. They were senior partners in a long established practice of 5 or 6 doctors but have now branched on their own with a long term aim to develop a nearby site as a complete Medical Facility. Their new offices are quite swish. The receptionist have new uniforms with the new practice name, Doctors Of Tewantin (DOT) on them. Margaret's first and loud reaction was that it was too cold and she didn't like the new offices.
My GP saw me first to give me the results of my six monthly blood and urine tests to check my general health and Type 2 Diabetes status. They were excellent and I had the lowest cholesterol reading for many years. C, my GP, wryly commented that six months of stress must be good for me. He also said that he and Margaret's GP were concerned with Margaret's future especially her failing kidneys.
Margaret's GP, A, was ready soon after. He had received a long letter from H, Margaret's specialist, who summarised her condition and had handed her back to A for continuing treatment. He also said that he would phone us which he hadn't. A looked up Margaret's blood test results which showed no major change for the better or worse. He examined Margaret's legs and said that the fluid has to come off and has increased her Frusimide to 120 mg per day. This level of diuretic will probably reduce her mineral levels so she has to have another blood test this Friday while she walks the tightrope between too much fluid causing heart failure and leeching of her minerals etc plus kidney failure due to the diuretics. I give it two to three weeks before she is back in hospital. I should bet on it as I have never won a bet in my life before. Margaret also got a four weeks supply of Norpan patches and I have applied one between her shoulder blades where she can not reach - it's still there this morning. A also commented to Margaret that she appeared to be in a very bad mood and asked where the lovely lady from December had gone to. Margaret also had problems recalling the day of the week and the date which indicates that she is drifting back to confusion. Margaret is also to try and reduce her fluid intake back to 1.2 litres, which as she just fills her glass up with water when she feels like it is going to be difficult to enforce.
Margaret's friend, K, from South Australia phoned her and, while I wasn't eavesdropping, could hear her telling him about the conspiracy to remove him from her computer and to block her accessing him. I think that he tried to to reassure her that this was not so and she has written down his e-mail address which we already had. I have asked her to let me know when she has typed in a new message for K and I will ensure that it gets sent.
This morning Margaret has lost quite a lot of fluid from her ankles as the increased Frusimide kicks in but she has very aching legs.
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