The Sticky Situation

Chocolate-Cake-2006-Jan-04 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have not written for a few days about Al, because I did not want to jinx my good luck, and I know from experiences in my own life, that good things do not last forever. I am thankful for the few days we had, but in a blink of an eye, it was all over, so now I can once again blog my amazement over illness.

Al had been a funny guy. He half-way resorted to his past, with funny remarks, and I once even a heard a crack about someone on the television, that made me snicker to myself. I had taken  him out to eat once each day over the weekend, with Saturday even being spent for about a half hour at the goodwill store. We took his scooter and he made his way through the store, and I am pretty sure his eyes were like bullets, ready to aim in on any coca cola items, but he did not see any.

This ended our trip to the store, because of his mentality, or his child like behavior, when he did not see anything for him, then he assumes the trip is over, and I can just forget anything I may be looking at.

We then stopped at K-Mart after the goodwill store, and I purchased a new WaterPik for myself as mine was shot, and we got Al some non-prescription medicine called Miralax.

One of the side effects from Parkinson’s is having a difficult time when using the bathroom. It is not only difficult to get the brain to acknowledge the fact that he is sitting there ready to aim, but you also suffer from, how should I say it delicately, take a dump, leave a bomber. LOL

Thanks to a good friend, here at blogging world, I was told about this Miralax drug that made things, umm, easier to eject. So we purchased the smaller box to see how effective it would be for Al, and he also reminded me that he had no ice-cream at home. This is one of Al’s latest hook-ups. He has to have ice-cream every night for his snack that he takes his bedtime medications with. Along with that he adds a small box of raisins or some prunes. Yuck, I hate prunes!

So, we make our purchases, and I see that he is almost out of energy, so we pay and go home. He had done really well, no cussing anyone in the stores, and no tears, a great day. Even the next day, when we went out for lunch it was still running the same way. We also used the new medication with positive results. He was happy and so was I , as I didn’t have to sweat over the stool with a plunger! LOL

Today, was good also. Wow! Almost three days, but then it ended, like I said before, in a blink of an eye. He had his medication this morning, and by supper it had not worked, and that was all it took for smiles to turn into anger and tears.

I explained to him that maybe he no longer needed to use the facilities daily, and he argued the point, saying the pirlax, his pronunciation,  was out to get him, that it was fooling him by not working. It was like other things you buy in the stores, works one or two days then quits. He wanted me to take the product back to the store and he wanted to tell them what he thought of it. I said no, we have already opened it. He cried, and I went back to finishing supper.

Our supper consisted of broiled pork chops, spaghetti squash, baked potato, and sugar-free chocolate cake with sugar-free icing. While I was finishing up his dinner plate, cutting all of his foods, I asked him if he would like to go outdoors and get the newspaper. While still swearing up a storm, he did go get it.

Dinner bell was served, lol, and I sat his drink with thicket in it, and his plate with all foods cut up in small bites in front of him, and I went to my own little quiet table in the living room, and I said a prayer of thanks for my food, and we began our feast.

I was gazing through Facebook and eating and pretty soon I hear the sounds of tap-tap tap. I look over and Al’s tremors are playing a song with his fork hitting the plate. He saw me look at him, and I hurried and looked away, as I knew he would be ashamed that I saw what his hands were doing. Nothing was said, but I did hear the music continue. I finished my supper and got up to take the dirty plate and glass over to be rinsed off, and I stopped in my tracks.

I had not thought about it prior,but when I looked at Al, he had chocolate icing stuck to his lips, chin, fingers, and floor. I must be getting better at not being shocked, as I said nothing and even a sigh did not escape from my lungs. He was crying, and I think he would have been swearing, but the icing was holding his mouth together, preventing the foul words to come out. I continued on to the sink, and rinsed my plate, glass and utensils out, placing them in the dishwasher. I put the leftover foods into proper containers and refrigerated them. I wiped down the counter, and got me a cup of coffee ready for my after dinner drink.

I turned around and although his pride would not allow him to ask for help, I saw that his plate was finished, so I took them and rinsed them off. I then grabbed a wash cloth and wet it with warm water and proceeded to wash his hands and fingers off. Actually, I was thinking of me, I guess, the cleaning mess I was going to have if I didn’t clean him up right here, and how he would track it down the hall and into his bathroom and where ever his fingers would touch, so it was easier to clean here.

He started yelling at me. I am just a big baby, this Parkinson’s has turned me into a baby! I can’t even eat without making a mess! As he was yelling and crying, I kept cleaning, and then being sure he was chocolate free, I proceeded to clean chocolate and foods off of the floor, and then grabbed my coffee and headed to the living room, here in front of my computer, to find peace, and ponder on how I was going to deal with feeding him cake with icing from now on, without causing him extra stress and grief, but not taking away something he loves.