Margaret is having a lot of pain.

Since Monday morning Margaret has been having a lot of pain.  It is mainly in her broken shoulder but her back is also causing problems.  She has osteoarthritis of the spine and has also suffered a few crush fractures in the lower spine due to osteoporosis.  These are not helped by only having one arm to manoeuvre herself  in bed.  Monday night she got very little sleep and was absolutely exhausted when i saw hew yesterday morning.  She was kept in bed for most of the day and didn't have her usual physio session. 

I managed to speak to her specialist who has prescribed morphine injections at night to help her sleep.  He also believes that the bandaging of her feet and legs has failed to reduce the fluid build up and there were signs that the circulation to her big toes was failing and he was scared of gangrene setting in if he continues.  The only alternative will be more diuretics which always affects her kidney function.  At present she has about a 40 mm build up of fluid all over her feet and ankles which could cause a stroke and/or congestive heart failure.  She would be in hospital even without her broken arm.

To help her feel a little happier I am going to buy her a portable DVD player so that she can watch her favourite comedy DVDs from home.  I will set up a DVD when I leave her in the evening which should run until she gets her pain killer at 10.00 pm and hopefully she will be able to sleep in a happier frame of mind.

Today I am going to present a short tutorial at my computer club.  It wont affect my visiting but poor old Louis will miss out on his afternoon walk.