Good Visit

I was a little freaked when I went to visit him today and could not wake him. I realize he started a new medication for depression but it is one that is to take a few weeks to get in the body to work.

The aides were able t finally wake him and he had his shoes put on and helped into his chair. Off we went to the dining room. While  he was awake he was different from yesterday.

Instead of crying and arguing he smiled and said hi to every person he saw. We ordered our lunches and he chatted with me. It was nice to see this change. Are you sure Doctor, that this medication takes a long time to work?

Maybe he was just having a good day. There was a note waiting for me. When I read it, it said, My heart is aching for Al. I have never seen such a bad case of PD in my entire career life.

Wow, this note validated something inside of me. When I hear staff say that Al is just being obnoxious or being rude or mouthy, this brings a little inner peace to me. It is more the PD than it is Al. He can get mad like the rest of us but he is generally not rude and mouthy for no reason.

We ate our lunches and then he fell asleep. I woke him up and took him back to his room. He asked me to stay for a while which I did. I had him stretch out his legs in his recliner. I noticed that his feet were curled up towards his body and his knees would not straighten completely out.

I showed him  how to flex his legs explaining he might help some of his pain by this exercise. As soon as I said this off he went into drift land. I let him sleep a few minutes and then I woke him up and told him I was going to go home so he could rest. He looked up at me and smiled and waved bye.

All in all it was a good visit. I hate seeing him so groggy but I like not hearing oh my legs, oh the pain, it hurts so bad…………

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