So one thumbs down again.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Friday, November 11, 2010
The last few days have seemed to follow the same pattern - John goes to sleep at 11pm - wakes again in an hour or two - is up for several hours but feeling pretty good - then sleeps until late in the morning. When he wakes he feels fairly good - eats some ice cream. But as the day goes on, the meds begin to not work as well, and by evening he is feeling poorly and I am skipping feedings and giving him extra meds instead. By bedtime is he feeling pretty awful. But he goes to sleep...... and we begin again.
So one thumbs down again.
So one thumbs down again.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Wednesday, November 10,2010
The day started out fairly good. John was up for several hours last night but then slept until 10am this morning. He said he felt OK when he woke up. This afternoon Bishop Ron came over and visited and gave him communion. He was able to talk with Ron and enjoyed the visit. However, this evening, the 8pm meds just did not work at all and he had a very bad crash. By 9:30 he was in bed and I gave him his sleeping meds in hopes that he would go to sleep until the worst was over. He is asleep now - but whether that means he will wake again in an hour or so I don't know. It may be a very long night.
One thumbs down.
One thumbs down.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
John slept well until 7am this morning and then needed to move to the couch. He went back to sleep and slept until 10am. So he had lots of sleep. however, once up, the day was a struggle with the meds not working well at all. We did get through without having to give him any extra meds, and he did get all his 6 feedings, but it was not a really good day.
One thumbs down.
One thumbs down.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
My mother would have been 94 today. She died three and a half years ago but we still miss her.
The last two days have been quite bumpy - meds never quite working, a lot of saliva. coughing and phlegm.
I did manage to get to church for the first time in a month.
I mentioned a few days ago that we moved in here a year ago and thinking back to that time, I realize how much has changed with John since then. Several people have asked me in what ways things have changed.
The ways are actually very numerous. A few that stand out are:
- when we moved in, John was still walking on his own, or with a cane, or on my arm .He now either uses the walker, or I push him on it, or in a wheel chair
- he was able (holding on to my arm) to go up and down the flight of stairs which leads directly to our car - now we have to go out to the elevator, down to the lobby and then I bring the car around to where he can get into it - we have to always take the walker with us
- he was able to get into bed by himself - I now have to pull him in
- he was able to get up out of his lift chair by himself - he now cannot do it without me hanging on to him and if he gets the chair up too high he slides on to the floor
- he was still able to eat food, and take his meds via mouth - now he has a feeding tube and about the only thing he takes by mouth is some ice cream - this is positive and negative. Positively, he is no longer losing weight and I can get his meds into him even when he is sleeping. Negatively eating no longer has any attraction for him, and so going out to a restaurant or having friends in for dinner, is not attractive either
- he was able to go out shopping with me and especially liked to go to Wal-Mart or Safeway, where he could drive their shopping carts around - he says he can no longer do that at all.
- although his voice was very weak, and he often spoke in a whisper, he was able to talk whenever he wanted to - now, especially in the late afternoon and evening he cannot get his mouth to open so he can talk at all. The speech therapy has given him a louder voice when he can use it.
- he used to spend a lot of time on his computer, doing e-mail or playing solitaire - now he goes for days or even weeks without turning his computer on (so please send e-mails to me, not John )
- He was on 3 sinemet every 3 hours when we moved here, he is now on 4 sinemet every 90 minutes.
- an area that has improved is his sleeping pattern - when we moved in, he was not sleeping most of the night but all morning and into the afternoon - now he goes to bed at 11pm and usually goes to sleep. About half the time he sleeps through the night but he is up by 9:30 - 10:00am whether he sleeps all night or is up for part of the time.
Back to the present - I would have to say this was a one thumbs down day for John.
The last two days have been quite bumpy - meds never quite working, a lot of saliva. coughing and phlegm.
I did manage to get to church for the first time in a month.
I mentioned a few days ago that we moved in here a year ago and thinking back to that time, I realize how much has changed with John since then. Several people have asked me in what ways things have changed.
The ways are actually very numerous. A few that stand out are:
- when we moved in, John was still walking on his own, or with a cane, or on my arm .He now either uses the walker, or I push him on it, or in a wheel chair
- he was able (holding on to my arm) to go up and down the flight of stairs which leads directly to our car - now we have to go out to the elevator, down to the lobby and then I bring the car around to where he can get into it - we have to always take the walker with us
- he was able to get into bed by himself - I now have to pull him in
- he was able to get up out of his lift chair by himself - he now cannot do it without me hanging on to him and if he gets the chair up too high he slides on to the floor
- he was still able to eat food, and take his meds via mouth - now he has a feeding tube and about the only thing he takes by mouth is some ice cream - this is positive and negative. Positively, he is no longer losing weight and I can get his meds into him even when he is sleeping. Negatively eating no longer has any attraction for him, and so going out to a restaurant or having friends in for dinner, is not attractive either
- he was able to go out shopping with me and especially liked to go to Wal-Mart or Safeway, where he could drive their shopping carts around - he says he can no longer do that at all.
- although his voice was very weak, and he often spoke in a whisper, he was able to talk whenever he wanted to - now, especially in the late afternoon and evening he cannot get his mouth to open so he can talk at all. The speech therapy has given him a louder voice when he can use it.
- he used to spend a lot of time on his computer, doing e-mail or playing solitaire - now he goes for days or even weeks without turning his computer on (so please send e-mails to me, not John )
- He was on 3 sinemet every 3 hours when we moved here, he is now on 4 sinemet every 90 minutes.
- an area that has improved is his sleeping pattern - when we moved in, he was not sleeping most of the night but all morning and into the afternoon - now he goes to bed at 11pm and usually goes to sleep. About half the time he sleeps through the night but he is up by 9:30 - 10:00am whether he sleeps all night or is up for part of the time.
Back to the present - I would have to say this was a one thumbs down day for John.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Friday, November 4, 2010
Today was much like yesterday. John slept through the night but had a bad morning and just a little better in the afternoon. Gus came and stayed with John while I went out to London Drugs to get more meds etc.
Otherwise not much to report for today.
Another one thumbs down day.
Otherwise not much to report for today.
Another one thumbs down day.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Wednesday, November 2, 2010
Tuesday night John had difficulty sleeping, and we were up for several hours before he could get back to sleep. But last night he slept through until the morning. However, he did not have a good day. In the morning he felt quite poorly, and the rest of the day the meds seemed to not quite hold long enough, so while he had not really bad crashes, he seemed to always be feeling like it could happen at any time.
It was a year ago yesterday that we moved to our new apartment. When I think about what John was able to do when we moved in, compared to now, I am reminded of how far his health has slipped in that time.
Margie and I go to Curves two or three times each week - when John is well enough. They had what was called a Chinese auction to raise money for breast cancer. Members donated all sorts of nice things, and then we bought tickets and put them into the envelopes of things we would like to win. I was amazed to find out that I had won three nice plants, some pretty pink placemats and some glass coasters.
They are starting something called Zumba, which is a form of exercise through dancing, on Saturday mornings for one hour - so we are going to try it out on days John feels well enough to be left for that time.
Overall, a one thumbs down day.
It was a year ago yesterday that we moved to our new apartment. When I think about what John was able to do when we moved in, compared to now, I am reminded of how far his health has slipped in that time.
Margie and I go to Curves two or three times each week - when John is well enough. They had what was called a Chinese auction to raise money for breast cancer. Members donated all sorts of nice things, and then we bought tickets and put them into the envelopes of things we would like to win. I was amazed to find out that I had won three nice plants, some pretty pink placemats and some glass coasters.
They are starting something called Zumba, which is a form of exercise through dancing, on Saturday mornings for one hour - so we are going to try it out on days John feels well enough to be left for that time.
Overall, a one thumbs down day.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
John had another good night last night - slept through until this morning - me too. He also had a fairly good day today, with no significant down times. Thus we got several little jobs done that he usually does not feel like doing.
This evening we enjoyed a visit from another of our former students, Michel- Lyn Mattiussi, who is on furlough from her work in Thailand. She had spoken at Gateway this afternoon and then came over to see us. It was great to hear about what she has been doing. She will return to Thailand in January.
One thumbs up for today.
This evening we enjoyed a visit from another of our former students, Michel- Lyn Mattiussi, who is on furlough from her work in Thailand. She had spoken at Gateway this afternoon and then came over to see us. It was great to hear about what she has been doing. She will return to Thailand in January.
One thumbs up for today.
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