Morning | Who I am

When there is a Parkinson’s patient in the house, it is not a good idea to plan many things

Audio baby monitor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

in advance. I have never been this way. I like knowing what tomorrow holds, and maybe the next week also.

Today, I have not been on the computer much, not because I don’t want to, but because I am so sore. I don’t get too much sleep anymore, because Al stays awake until wee hours in the mornings. Last night was no exception to this now familiar routine. I think I went to sleep about 2am and at 5am, I heard the music of his voice coming through the baby monitor that sits by my head on the night stand.

It is a good thing I am a light sleeper, because I heard a soft voice saying help me, help me. I jumped up like there was a fire, and walked quickly to his bedroom, and there he stood in a half-bent position, clinging to the corner of his dresser with both hands. His knees were bent in half from waiting for me to arrive and from however long he had tried on his own to make it to the bed.

He had to use the restroom, and he is trying so hard not to wet his briefs, that he helps himself to the floor and off he trods to the bathroom, and I keep telling him, please call me when you need to get up, but he does not want to give up his independence.

So, I look quickly around, and there is nothing anywhere to help me. I hold him up with all of my sleep power, while I watch his body tremor, and his legs will not move. His body is frozen, a part that goes with PD. The mind is not connecting with the legs so when he tries to move, the legs don’t follow, and this is a big reason there are so many falls with these patients. I have seen him rock back and forth on his top half, but the bottom half are frozen to the floor.

I am not kidding, I told the legs to move, I marched in place, trying to get his legs to follow my actions. This went on for about five or six minutes, until finally movement was seen, but it was a battle to walk him to the bed. Now my back and shoulders and neck are throbbing from trying to hold him up.

I called the home health care nurse and told her what had happened and she said it was time to get a hospital bed and a bedside commode. We just happened to have a doctor’s appointment today with his neurologist, so I relayed the message to him.

He had not seen Al since February as he is pretty much a PRN doctor now to Al. He was surprised at the changes that have progressed in him. He spent quite a bit of time talking to me about the different areas of PD and he said that this was a bad case.

He said that the complete brain was being affected by the disease, and that Al could not help talking about death, as this is what Al’s body felt like to him. When the doctor mentioned a sunny day, Al said it was gloomy in his head. The doctor explained that Al was in the fifth and final stage of the nasty disease, and he was more concerned now with what he called , supportive care.

In other words, making sure that what ever Al needs to make him more comfortable, if I can pull it off do it. No more medications can be given for pain, so now two doctors have said no more pain med trial and errors, I am forced to believe it.

He wrote a prescription out for the commode and hospital bed, and it will be delivered here tomorrow at noon. It is sad for me, I have had too much information given to me, although, I need to know what is happening in our lives.

Remember the lady who sent Al the two boxes? Well, she and her husband drove four hours to meet Al and me today. We met up at Al’s favorite restaurant, the soda fountain. It was wonderful to meet them both. God picked the perfect timing for this, as for an hour it got my mind off of Al and onto other things, and she spent a lot of time talking to Al about coca cola. He loved it, but as he tired out, he started crying, and it didn’t stop, so we all hugged and said our good byes, and maybe one day we shall meet again.

We came home and I helped Al get undressed from the warmer clothes I had dressed him in the morning when it was chilly, to his favorite outfit, just his brief. He gets so hot and sweats so easy from the PD.

Tomorrow is a new day and it will be a big day more for Al than me, although, I will have to make sure my house remains straightened up. One therapist will be here at 8:45am, his shower girl will be here at 10:30am. The bed and commode will arrive at noon with complete set up done by them. Another therapist will be showing up sometime during the afternoon, and the home health care nurse will be here at 4:15.

I am not looking forward to all of activities. No nap for Al and no nap for me! LOL