Hallucinations ruled until about 1am or so last night.  Then she slept through with only one or two commode trips until around 11:15am this morning.  I didn’t get up unitl 9:30am.  Nothing ever stays the same.  Yesterday that was not a good thing.  Today it was a good thing.  She gave very little indication of having hallucinations.  She was awake most of the day until she went to bed tonight at about 8pm.  I will not presume to guess what tonight will have to offer.

After Mary Ann got up and took pills with some yogurt, we began talking about lunch already.  I suggested the possibility of going out, listing a few of her favorite spots.  She did not really seem interested.  I am wondering if the need for me to help her eat is beginning to diminish her interest in eating in public.  Some point at which she seems especially sharp, I will ask her about that issue.

I offered to make scrambled eggs and bacon.  She took me up on that offer.  As I was getting the eggs out, I noticed the untouched left over baked potato from a couple of days ago. I realized that would make great fried potatoes.  About a thousand dirty pans, dishes, pieces of silverware, cooking utensils, and bowls later, I delivered Mary Ann, two scrambled eggs, seasoned with parsley flakes, garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper, covered with shredded cheese that had melted on top, home made bread (Maureen’s) toasted and buttered, fried potatoes and onions, two slices of thick bacon, all served on a warm plate.

Have I gone crazy???  It all started with sighting that potato.  Then I fried some eggs for myself, which I covered with the wonderful Peach Salsa that I order by the case from Texas.  From the time I started cooking to the end of cleaning the thousand dirty items or putting them into the dishwasher, wiping off the stove and counter, must have been close to two hours.  This cooking business with all the accompanying cleaning up duties remains on the outer edge of my domestic capabilities.

Gratefully, Maureen had brought for the freezer some very tasty vegetable beef soup to go with the home made bread.  That was supper.  Mary Ann needed help with that, as well as some help with the two scoops of ice cream from B&R that we had picked up from there on the way home from the late afternoon doctor’s appointment.

While our visits are usually with the Cardiologisit himself, today we met with Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner [ARNP] Angela .  She had seen Mary Ann once when she was in the hospital last fall.  She knows her case well. It was especially comforting to hear from her that they (she and the Cardiologist) often talk about our situation.  They appreciate that we are traveling a very narrow road of functionality, playing meds that do opposite things against one another to get a result that allows us to survive.

It was scary today when three blood pressure readings at different times in the appointment all were in the mid-200’s over the low 100’s, even when she was standing.  Because of her Orthostatic Hypotension (low BP when standing up), normally the standing reading is much lower. Not so today.  The fear, of course, is a massive stroke, as well as long term damage to her heart and kidneys.  We all know that.  At home the readings have been in the 160 to 180 over 90 to 100.  If we reduce the Midodrine that Mary Ann takes to raise her BP, she starts fainting.

I am going to reduce the dosage of Midodrine a little (cut the noon pill in half) to see if we can do so without resuming the fainting.  One irony is that the Seroquel we have been raising to reduce the hallucinations, has the side effect of increasing the likelihood of fainting. Another irony is that Mary Ann is taking a heart medication after her heart attacks a few years ago.  That medicine’s purpose is to reduce heart pain by lowering blood pressure.  Another of Mary Ann’s Parkinson’s meds (to reduce the dyskinetic movements caused by another Parkinson’s med, the main one) can cause hallucinations and fainting.  The main Parkinson’s med can cause hallucinations, fainting as well as the dyskinetic movements.  Without that med, Mary Ann cannot move at all.

As the primary Caregiver, it is my job to observe and help inform the doctors prescribing these medicines, since I am with her 24/7.  I have been given permission to adjust the Midodrine and the Sinamet (the main Parkinson’s med) within certain limits as seems appropriate.

The doctors have no clear insight into how much of the problem with hallucinations is caused by medicine and how much by the disease process (Lewy Bodies on brain cells).  They don’t know how much of the fainting problem is the disease process and how much the meds. Both the disease process and the medications produce the constipation, as well as other non-motor symptoms.

My head starts to swim when I try to think through the effects of all the meds with the goal of suggesting a workable balance of all of them.  The truth is, the doctors and pharmacists are no better equipped to find that balance, since they don’t see the effects on a day to day, hour to hour basis.  When we have raised or lowered dosages of meds, Mary Ann has not always reacted the same way in adapting to the change.  Sometimes, as with the Seroquel, the change comes, and then leaves quickly, leaving no clue as to how to proceed.

For whatever reasons, the last part of last night and this morning have included sleep; today Mary Ann was lucid and did not seem to have strong hallucinations; she ate tolerably well and has been sleeping fairly calmly for the last couple of hours.  I have no idea what will come between now and the morning, nor can I even begin to guess what tomorrow will bring.

There is one note I would like to add.  It may change tomorrow.  It is likely to change soon.  Since Sunday morning’s powerful experience, I have not felt angry with Mary Ann at behaviors that frustrated me in the past.  I have been far more accepting of the challenges in caring for her.  The feelings of irritation may return soon, but for the moment, caring for her has been less draining emotionally since I haven’t spent so much time feeling angry and frustrated.

That observation makes me wonder how much of the irritability emerged from simple grief over what the disese has been taking from her and from us for twenty-three years.  Again, there is no predicting how I will feel tomorrow or the next day about behaviors that have been frustrating to me in the past.  For the moment, there is a peace and a calm that has been missing for a long time.

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