Update
As happened when Rosemarie was in hospital, the days seem slow and empty but go past quickly and tiringly. Not much seems to change really but paradoxically the changes seem significant.
Her body twists and stretches a lot. In the wheelchair her legs are often stiff and unmovable, unless they are padding on the floor as if she was walking. Her back is usually rigid and her head is often tilted back with her mouth open. If she is not rigid she is leaning heavily to her left, with her hand grasping the wheel or her arm bent up behind the chair back in a half nelson. All this makes feeding her very difficult.
She seems very tired. Since last Wednesday she has spent almost all the time in bed. It started when she threw up her breakfast. She was still in bed but they got her up and showered her but she seemed so tired afterwards they put her straight back to bed. They checked her vitals and found her blood pressure was very low (78/60) and called the doctor and me. The doctor rang back and just said to keep an eye on her. She was too tired to eat lunch and slept through till supper arrived at 5. I was sitting next to her for several hours and she looked exhausted, jolting severely. She hardly ate any supper and apparently slept through the night. Her blood pressure was back to normal the next day. Good Nurse discovered Rosemarie had not opened her bowels for nearly a week and prescribed a laxative. It certainly seemed Rosemarie had quite bad constipation and seemed very distressed.
This tiredness continued through the weekend and yesterday was the first day she was up and in her wheelchair. That didn't happen until after 1.30, and by 5.30 she was ready to go back to bed.
This somehow feels like a permanent change but I have a long history of being wrong about these things.
More than ever I feel the frustration of not being able to talk to her. It is agonising to see her twisting and writhing on the bed or in her chair and not be able to find out what is going on. She is on permanent painkillers and does not have a UTI, but something is making her distort her body.
Sometimes I feel I am trapped in one of those Action movies where they force you to co-operate by torturing the person that you love.
I desperately want to co-operate.
Her body twists and stretches a lot. In the wheelchair her legs are often stiff and unmovable, unless they are padding on the floor as if she was walking. Her back is usually rigid and her head is often tilted back with her mouth open. If she is not rigid she is leaning heavily to her left, with her hand grasping the wheel or her arm bent up behind the chair back in a half nelson. All this makes feeding her very difficult.
She seems very tired. Since last Wednesday she has spent almost all the time in bed. It started when she threw up her breakfast. She was still in bed but they got her up and showered her but she seemed so tired afterwards they put her straight back to bed. They checked her vitals and found her blood pressure was very low (78/60) and called the doctor and me. The doctor rang back and just said to keep an eye on her. She was too tired to eat lunch and slept through till supper arrived at 5. I was sitting next to her for several hours and she looked exhausted, jolting severely. She hardly ate any supper and apparently slept through the night. Her blood pressure was back to normal the next day. Good Nurse discovered Rosemarie had not opened her bowels for nearly a week and prescribed a laxative. It certainly seemed Rosemarie had quite bad constipation and seemed very distressed.
This tiredness continued through the weekend and yesterday was the first day she was up and in her wheelchair. That didn't happen until after 1.30, and by 5.30 she was ready to go back to bed.
This somehow feels like a permanent change but I have a long history of being wrong about these things.
More than ever I feel the frustration of not being able to talk to her. It is agonising to see her twisting and writhing on the bed or in her chair and not be able to find out what is going on. She is on permanent painkillers and does not have a UTI, but something is making her distort her body.
Sometimes I feel I am trapped in one of those Action movies where they force you to co-operate by torturing the person that you love.
I desperately want to co-operate.
posted by Other Kosh at 11:48 am
1 Comments:
Sending so much love as you battle with this.
Mxxx
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