Which Way Is Up With Al?

Saturday was a nice calm day for Al and me. I was a little surprised that he didn’t ask for any pain medications, but didn’t push it. Today, I woke him up so he could take his meds and he sat in his lift chair most of the morning. He didn’t even take a nap, like usual.

After lunch it started to change. He started complaining of pain in his side and his neck. He didn’t want to lay down and then it got too late to lay down as the shower girl was to be here at 2pm.

She had a terrible time with him as he was going back to his old ways of being crabby. He couldn’t hold his head up normal and he was so weak he could barely stand. After his shower I put him to bed immediately.

He only slept an hour and was back a wake.  For supper he couldn’t feed himself because he was too weak to hold his spoon and his tremors were a mess. After I got him all cleaned up and had just put him in his lift chair the phone rang. It was the beautician ready to come cut Al’s hair.

I knew it was shitty timing but getting her to come out on her days she did work was too hard. She came out and gave him a cut. She is good and she was quick. After paying her and she left I wanted to put Al in bed to watch TV but he insisted on his lift chair.

He then argued with me because he wants his bed side table full of cars. I offered to exchange cars but he wanted his way. I couldn’t give in. We need the space for his glasses at night, his remotes, light, bell, and he already has three cars sitting there.

He started crying trying to get his way, then he got mad. I sit here now thinking he has complained of neck pain and side pain. He is dead tired. His body is too weak to even help himself stand all because he turned down the pain medications.

I think he should have them anyways. It keeps everything under control. It helps stop the pain before it gets out of hand. It helps him to not get so upset and fussy. Now I have a brother who is refusing to lay down until bedtime and is at his worst.

I think he is trying to prove to himself that he doesn’t have his illness now that he is home, but he is wrong. We talked for quite a while and he said, “This illness is going to take my life. It is going to kill me.”

I hated it but I said, “You are probably right. This illness will get no better. It is going to make you weaker and eventually you may not be able to get out of bed. You need more rest so your body can sit up and eat. You need to take your pain medications so you don’t get to this point.”

He started crying and I had nothing else to say as I didn’t want to start the arguing again like last time he was here, so I left the room and got on the computer. Should I have ignored his saying no to pain medications or given him the pain medications anyways?

Here are some photos I snapped today in our home.

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