Respite...Take 2

Why , Thank You, I think I will take 2.
2 weeks that is.

Last November I brought myself face to face with the need for respite.
Fear of the unknown (read here ) kept me frozen in the decision for respite until I finally just closed my eyes and jumped in (read here ). Boy was I ever glad I did too. It was just a week and I didn't do anything that would qualify as special. I stayed home regrouping and close to the phone for contact if I was needed. It turned out to be a great relaxing week.

So now here it is 10 months later and I took advantage of the respite services that were offered by the VA. Hubby qualifies for up to 2 weeks at a time 2 or 3 times a year or more in emergency if needed. Lets hope we don't need the emergency time :)

I made special plans for this respite.
I called without hesitation and set up the date.
My time chosen coincided with my birthday! Imagine that ;-)
I planned on spending my 50th birthday with far away family and friends. Also reconnecting with my best friend from grade school. We hadn't seen each other in 34 yrs! I also made plans to connect with some on line caregiving friends. People that have become very close to my heart and I've been chomping at the bit to meet.

So I had these plans but was pretty reserved in my excitement for them, and if you know anything about me from reading this blog you know containing excitement isn't easy,  but I did since I wasn't quite sure how Hubby would react to another stay in respite.
I prayed.
A Lot!
I called in the prayer warriors too.
Hey, I'm not shy in asking for help especially when I know I'll get it :)

Hubby accepted the news about respite quite easily. I waited until a few days before hand to tell him. I know that telling him anything far in advance will leave him time to dwell on things and it raises his anxieties. Thus raising mine, so it was comforting that he accepted the information as well as he did. Power of prayer.

I remembered from the last respite they asked that I label his clothing with his name. Since he has a shirt he likes quite well with the name of his ship he served on embroidered on it, a few weeks before I had to pack for Hubby, I had several of his shirts embroidered with his name on them. He loved them. :)
I bought iron on transfers and did the same thing with his undershirts.

The  morning came and I got Brother in Law (BIL) up and off to school.
Hubby got up and I was able to get him ready to leave with no problems.
The ride to the VA hosp was good.

Once we arrived for intake, I took on my Lewy Body Dementia teacher persona.
Nurse and I had a nice visit about it, pharmacist and I did the same.
We went over all the meds Hubby takes and I made sure everyone understood that Hubby only received the meds listed and nothing more. I explained about his hallucinations and that he is not distressed by them and most of the time understands they aren't real so they aren't anything to get concerned about or anything that needs medicated. I must have been a little insistent that they understood that because when I said "He doesn't even get a tylenol unless it goes through me first." I got a "Yes Mam" from the pharmacist. LOL

I made sure they had my numbers and emergency contact numbers.
I had made a list of items packed and worn and gave to the intake nurse.
I also assembled information on Lewy Body Dementia for the staff to read and share.
Education, Education!

Hubby got anxious only once when I was leaving. He didn't know why I was leaving before he was settled in his room. I explained I couldn't stay and the nurse would take care of getting him settled. He was okay with that. He kissed me goodbye.
I walked away and didn't cry this time.
I believed he would be in good hands and I trusted my prayers to be heard and answered with a yes.

I had a day and a half to get myself ready for my own trip.
My excitement for the time was beginning spill out.
I still had BIL to place with his sister but that was a piece of cake since he already has a living setup at each of the 3 homes he lives in.
I also made an executive decision that there would be no "on purpose" exercising. "So Be It" Gavel strike

Now comes the part when I pull out my slides of my trip.
*Dims lights*

Oldest daughter and her Hubby accompanied me as travel companions.

Now I only had plans to do 2 things for certain.
1: Have a gathering on my birthday with family and friends.
2: Finally meet my on line caregiving friends.

Son in law said that was perfect, meet strangers and have a party.
Sounded like college to him LOL!!
Yes, the rest of the trip was just as hilarious.
We laughed the entire time we were gone.

Our first stop brought me to face to face with my newest friend Bette.
Bette cared for her mother, who had dementia, in her home for several years before her mother passed away last July.  My heart ached for Bette, rejoiced with Bette, cried and laughed with her. How could I pass through her state and not find her? Bless her heart for taking the time to come meet and visit with me. It was like seeing an old friend and I hated leaving her when our time was up.

Oldest daughter, Son in law and I continued our travels arriving in NY state, the place I was raised.
We did the typical sight seeing at the Falls and I filled my heart with the joy and love of being with my family and friends. The only bad part about it was that I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to. Fun part was reconnecting with my second grade teacher!

Our next destination took us to the outside of Chicago.

We took the train into the city and rode a trolly through the town. Sight Seeing at it's finest including a trip to the Aquarium and some deep dish Chicago Pizza and

Oldest Daughter, Son in law and I made our way to the Sears Willis Tower for the last stop of our vacation. 1400 ft, 103 floors up and we even stepped off into the glass bottomed ledge.
Confession, I walked in backward looking up and did a lot of nervous laughing.
I had a spectacular view of the beautiful city and to top it all off, I got the sunset. It was a perfect ending to my perfect respite.

We headed home the next morning and I returned refreshed and  rested. Normally in whirlwind travel we can feel tired upon return. Nope, this respite was just what the Dr ordered. I even had a few days before getting Hubby to catch up on laundry, visit the dentist, take our dog Booger to the vet and get BIL resettled into his routine. 

You might be wondering, "Did she even think about Hubby while she was gone?"
Oh yes, I did. Even though I was enjoying my respite time away I still kept Hubby in the forefront of my mind. I called all but 2 days to check on him. He did well and adjusted easily. He had one slide out of his wheelchair without injury and it was reported on one day that he was having some anxiety and was a little irritable. I laughed at that and said he was having a good day then ;-) But overall, his stay was a good one.

The day to get him arrived and as I walked into the wing Hubby was in I saw him sitting in a wheelchair in the hall. He looked good but I could tell there was a decline. He didn't smile at me when I walked in but he did smile at me when I spoke to him. He wasn't ready to leave so we went into his room. We were met by a male nurse and we all hopped in to get Hubby dressed and packed. Hubby needed to use the restroom and had been in there awhile so Nurse stepped in to see if he was ok. I overheard Hubby ask Nurse "Who is that woman?" I laughed out loud! I think that was the first time Hubby has not recognized me. For a long time he hasn't "really" known who I am as his wife, but he has always recognized me as someone he knows or is familiar with even when he gets me confused with the "other" Kathy.
When he came out of the bathroom I had him packed. I handed him his hat and asked him if he was ready to transfer into his own chair and go home. His answer was "Yes, but lets get one thing straight before we do. Who are you?" I explained I was the love of his life and the woman he couldn't live without LOL!!! 

He kept asking me about the "other Kathy".
The nurse assured him that I was the same woman that was there last time he stayed with them. I offered that I had colored my hair to remove my natural highlights so that might be confusing him. He accepted what he was told and came home with me even though I could tell he wasn't quite sure.

We made a few stops on the way home. We had lunch with Youngest Daughter, Other Son in Law and Youngest Grandson. All familiars to Hubby. We stopped to see a friend of Hubby but we didn't stay long as Hubby had physical  meltdown. I finally got him home and settled in his bed.

The next day we had to go back to the VA for a hearing aide appointment. Hubby has complained about hearing for a while and to be honest, even though he does have some hearing loss, I believe it is less his ability to hear and more his inability to process the words. On the way home he complained about the noise and half way home of our 70 mile trip, Hubby had another meltdown physically and mentally. He slumped down in his seat and stopped conversing with me. I got him home and in bed but he was basically worn out for the rest of the day.
Kathy diagnosis : Too much auditory stimulation for his brain to process sent him into automatic shutdown.
He has not worn his hearing aids since.

Hubby's 3rd day home had another Dr appointment scheduled but at the facility closest to us about 20 miles. We finished early enough to take Sonny Boy out for his belated  celebratory birthday lunch. Hubby did well this time but became very needy as the day and night wore on. As soon as he needed one thing I was trying to get  and do for him, he needed or wanted something else. I felt like I was running through myself for him. I stopped and stared at Hubby and laughed. I had just been on an 8 day whirlwind road trip and felt great and Hubby was home 3 days and I was exhausted! 
Life back to normal :)

I learned a few things about myself and life in general on this respite.
The first thing was
NEVER EVER color your hair the day before you travel IF you are using a new brand. You might wind up with an intense color.
Secondly, If you plan on having pictures taken make friends with spanks and do not pack the pants that might fit in the back but cut you off in the middle.
You could end up looking like a sausage with a rope tied tightly in the middle.
And Third, don't brag about your running ability if you can't run faster than the people in Chicago are walking!

Respite, it's all it's cracked up to be :)

Waiting Game

Hubby had a follow up appointment with the dietician in our efforts to get him a liquid nutritional supplement from the Veterans Association.

As instructed at the first appt I added more sauces and gravies to Hubby's diet. Changed his milk to whole and pushed the high fat high protein and offered a nightly ice cream treat. you can only imagine my emotional  pain as I declined from partaking in the delights!
For the first 2 weeks Hubby ate well. He even had a 2 week weigh in at the time that revealed a 10 pound INCREASE! Seriously! I couldn't believe it. I honestly thought the scale was broken. Dietician recorded the date and weight and said she would see us at the 3 week appointment time.
But the foods began to have a negative impact on Hubby, as in more constipation than he experiences anyway. He began to refuse the food or limited what he would eat by half or more. I continued with sauces and gravies and  the whole milk anyway but as the saying goes, You can lead a horse to water...

Appointment finally came and another weigh in was had. This time a LOSS of 5 pounds was recorded.
During the appointment Dietician didn't take into account the previous weight gain and the now weight loss. She looked at it all as a gain of 5 pounds and asked if I wanted to continue with the request for liquid supplements.
Uh, yes.
Then I told her what I had witnessed and handed her the 3 week food diary while I  mentioned the weight loss within the last week as well as the extreme constipation and the issues that causes. Abdominal pain and more confusion.
Then I handed her my written plea for the supplements.

Request for Liquid Nutritional Supplements

A request for liquid nutritional supplements for Mr (Hubby) has been made by me, Kathy, his wife/caregiver, due to his continual decrease in weight since Dec of 2011.

On July, 2012 he had an average loss of 1 pound per week even though his appetite had remained good, and proper and adequate nutrition was consumed.

Blood test on July 10, 2012 verify that Mr (Hubby's) cholesterol, blood glucose and other levels were within normal limits.

An appointment with the VA dietician was made and kept 2 weeks later on August, 2012. Weight loss of 4 lbs was recorded at that time. A loss of 4 pounds in a 2 week period. Suggestions for increasing his fat and protein were made and handouts for educational purposes were distributed to me.

I informed the dietician that Mr (Hubby) suffered with constipation problems. He takes a stool softener daily and dosage of Polyethylene Glycol every other day or daily as needed.

I also informed the dietician that Mr (Hubby) had limited to no daily activity so an addition of more proteins and fat might prove to be a problem with more constipation but we would take and use the suggestions as part of the process to receive the approval of supplements.

A 3 week diary was maintained for monitoring consumption.

I feel it is in the best interest of (Hubby) to receive the nutritional supplements not only due to the loss of weight which I know can not be restored but as his dementia increases, the amount of food he consumes decreases. Trying to encourage Mr (Hubby) to take solid foods that will increase his constipation suffering will do nothing more than agitate him.

End stages of dementia usually result in the patient being bed bound. Solid food consumption is decreased by the patient and it is my understanding should not be heavily encouraged as the body goes through the shutting down process, yet hydration still needs to be encouraged for the comfort of the patient. Liquid supplements will provide some fulfillment of hunger and aid in hydration.

Maintaining My (Hubby)'s comfort and his calm is the goal.

Respectfully submitted

Kathy  

Dietician said it sounded good and she would have to submit it for approval and that she herself was recommending the supplements.
Yet with all of this the request was denied by the pharmacist. I don't know how the pharmacist has more pull over the dietician but apparently that's how they run things at the V.A.

Got to love the government. At least they are saving some money and boosting the economy since I will now purchase the supplements on my own :)

Stubborn Independence

Oh my, what a day.

Poor Hubby took a fall and banged the side of his head leaving a mark and I will be forward thinking enough to guess a black and blue face in a day or two.

His attempt to walk from the bed to the bathroom proved futile. He called for me and I immediately went to him but the moment I stepped in the door I saw his grip on the hand rail release and I stepped into the twilight zone of slow motion as I watched him fall over and I attempted to get to him.
So close and so far away and my stomach knotted as I witnessed his stiff unbending body take a tree fall into a piece of furniture and his head scrape down the front of it. He lodged between the end of his bed and the antique sewing machine.
I was horrified as I watched Hubby fall and overwhelmed with frustration at myself for not getting to him in time to, at the very least, deflect his angle and hope he landed on the bed.
I've actually done that in the past by giving him a hip check as he was falling to prevent serious injury.
This time I was too late. Realizing Hubby was in an awkward position I had to drag him out from where he was trapped. Hubby wasn't unconscious but he wasn't responding to me either. He was making some kind of a low moaning noise.
After I got him into the open and sitting up, I could do nothing but cradle him in my arms and cry.
I couldn't even survey the damage I feared he had. I had to pull myself together but I was struggling to do it.
After a few moments I tried talking to him again. He was responsive this time. I sat back and checked him for injury. A mark on his face and ear. A mark on his wrist but he was moving all fingers and wrist. He wasn't complaining anywhere else.
I suggested a ER visit without the ambulance but he refused.
His face wasn't swelling, he seemed alert and oriented (?) Okay alert and oriented for Hubby. So I suggested we get him up and in bed. He agreed yet wouldn't accept my help to get up. He insisted on doing it himself and after several minutes he finally accomplished it. I stood close by ready to assist, wanted or not if the try took a turn for the worse.

I wonder when or if he'll ever realize that he needs more help in the areas of walking.
The fluctuation of Lewy Body make it difficult for him to understand he can't do the things he thinks he should.
I know he wants to maintain his stubborn independence, I get that, but at what cost to him?

Just the other day he was having a really good mobile day and during our outing he wanted to stop at a friends place of business. I always get nervous when he wants to make stops in town but I did and he insisted on walking in so I let him without fussing about it. I sat in the car and videoed him as he made the attempt. This looks farther than it is.

He finally made it inside and through the glass I could see him talking with his friends. After a few minutes they walked outside and the friend stepped in my direction. I got out of the car as friend proceeded to tell me that Hubby was having trouble getting back but didn't want his help,
"He said you would help him, cause you always do."
Friend was right, at least I always do try.

 

Some days...

It doesn't pay to get out of bed.

The day actually started okay.
Hubby had a Dr appt scheduled and as the norm for him when he know about an appointment he stresses about it. Asking every day when it is, what time, what day is it now, etc etc as though he is worried he will miss it.
We arrived in plenty of time and had a short wait.
We were escorted to the room and Dr was complimenting Hubby on his new haircut (I buzzed it off again but I wont tell you about removing a middle section of one of his side burns by accident) and his new shave  (he FINALLY let me get rid of his beard). Hubby was bright eyed and talkative and Dr  commented on that.
I told Dr that was one of the bounces we get with LewyBody.
We all discussed meds and how Hubby was feeling to which he replied, "Oh alright I guess, I don't really know" and as if someone flipped a switch, Hubby got very angry in tone, body posture, attitude you name it and proceeded to tell the Dr about how he was mad at the VA for allowing me to steal all of his stuff and him have nothing. He didn't understand how I was able to convince the VA that he was sick and the do him like they did.
I think Dr was taken back a little because he had not seen Hubby like this before.
Dr asked Hubby what he thought was wrong with him and Hubby replied, "Not much of anything that I can tell."

I'm not going to go into all the details of Hubby's beliefs of lies and deception, or Drs attempts to smooth Hubby's feathers to no avail. Dr couldn't get straight answers from Hubby about certain accusatory things so he finally just cut him off saying we could do that all day but it's hard to converse with someone that cant understand that he has an actual problem and it would do nothing but upset Hubby trying. Our appointment ended.
Hubby was not happy.
I wasn't happy, but not at Dr and not because of what Hubby said. I was not happy because there was obvious distress in Hubby's tone.

As usual I try to fix everything with food. I suggested lunch.
Maybe that only works on me but Hubby wanted no part of it so we came straight home.

Once home Hubby settled in then came to find me, we had to talk.
He was leaving me.

This is the part I didn't do well at and things went down hill pretty fast.
Actually the ground opened up and we plummeted.
I did not fall gracefully. 

Hubby took a breather as I was breathing hard, he returned to tell me he wanted a phone number so I wrote it down and handed it to him. Then as a courtesy (read with a sarcastic tone) I handed him the phone. He stared at it (because you don't know how to use a simple phone!) He asked me several questions about the phone and I did explain how to use it and even suggested he use the pick up and dial phone in our bedroom. No extra on off buttons besides the numbers to push. Hubby stared at the phone as I stared at him, then he threw the phone across the room. I mumbled, great, under my breath and he yelled at me for not dialing for him. Snap, so I yelled back. "If you think you're able to move out and live alone you should be able to make a phone call without help. Prove you can do it!"
Go me, that's telling him, way to go girl :/

Hubby retreated to his bed and I felt like dirt :(
I try so hard not to get wrapped up in the negative of dementia but some days it feels like I jump in feet first.
I know how hard it is for me to live with the difficulties but I can only imagine how difficult it is for Hubby to live with it every day without escape. Why do I make it even more difficult for him sometimes?

We eventually settled down and talked.
He said he was a burden, I said he wasn't a burden but there were times that his Lewy Body was difficult.
I also said I knew he didn't understand why things are happening the way they are and I was sorry that I added to his stress with my own behaviors. I try not to. I don't always succeed.

He made his call, I dialed for him.
We are getting ready to go out for supper.

Room Service

"Kathy!, You need to call home ASAP!" Not exactly the words you want to hear on your voicemail but the ones I got yesterday. I dialed home as I ran out on my workout. 

I tried to remain calm but I'm guessing I'm not real good at it. I sprinted across the parking lot and as I sat in my car to call and get the scoop a stranger walked over to me window to see if I was ok. I smiled and assured her I was. Bless the heart of concerned strangers.

Hubby had an unresponsive fainting spell while his aide was there. According to her, she had given him his sink bath and he complained about his neck, then just laid back in the chair. She couldn't get him to respond to her so she called the paramedics then called me. I didn't hear my phone when she called the first time and I had just missed her call the second, that's when I got the voicemail.

I met the ambulance at the Hosp and claimed the white socks I saw through the back doors. Turns out it wasn't Hubby but I had enough anxiety that I would have claimed the lady on the stretcher as my own and been concerned for her too.

What seemed like an eternity to me, eventually another ambulance pulled up and I saw bare feet. They were mine, I mean Hubby's. I checked him in and met him in the room. They were dressing him in a hospital gown because his pull ups were the only clothing he had on when he arrived.

My assessment was that this was an incident that has happened before with Hubby or incidents similar to this. Had I been at home we would not have made the trip but standard procedure for the Aide is to call emergency personnel. I understand that.
I educated again about Lewy Body dementia. I was oddly happy that our contact was with new personnel. :) ER Dr. was also grilled and he was knowledgeable about lewy.
ER Dr. asked Hubby some questions and he was able to answer a few, then ER Dr and I discussed what happened and I told him my thoughts. Hubby has had similar incidents like this before. You can read that story here.
So the plan for the day was to do a routine blood workup, and an EKG, ER Dr said unless he saw something out of the ordinary he didn't see any reason to try to do a battery of tests that would have Hubby hospitalized. The less stress on Hubby the better he thought it would be. I wholeheartedly agreed.
Youngest daughter came to join us and check on her Daddy. I stayed in contact with Sonny Boy and Oldest Daughter who offered to come. I assured them this was not a big thing and all was well. I promised to let them know if that changed for any reason.

EKG man came in and did a tilt test. Before he started he explained what he was going to do and asked about Hubby's shaking. Ahhhh, student number 4! He now knows that Lewy Body has Parkinson type symptoms resulting in a movement disorder. EKG man said it might be difficult to get an accurate reading due to that but we would do the best we could and see what the Dr had to say. Blood Pressure taken laying down, BP taken sitting up and BP taken standing. The easiest was laying down as Hubby needed assistance staying upright while sitting and complete help standing. EKG man called in reinforcements because he couldn't hold Hubby and push the button on the BP machine. It took several attempts to get accurate readings, Hubby's blood pressure appeared to be all over the spectrum, dangerously high to mortality low. They wrote the readings they could get and carried them away after settling Hubby back in the bed.

A few mins later a tech came in to draw blood and she was visiting with Hubby. He smiled and chatted away in what was his usual flirty self. A side of him I hadn't seen in a while, then he introduced us to the tech, He said "This is my daughter and this is my wife and I'm the proud husband and father." My heart melted that he remembered me as his wife, and Youngest Daughter and I awwed at his sweet words.

After the tech left, Youngest Daughter said, "You sure were being nice."

Hubby replied, "You have to be nice to the people that can bring you food."

Youngest Daughter and I laughed loud!

A few mins later a nurse came in and asked if we needed anything, Hubby emphatically  said "YES, something to eat!." 
Youngest daughter and I laughed at his request. 
A short while later the nurse came in, with a plate of food! 
WHAT?!! 
I'm still shaking my head. When do you get to order and have food delivered in the ER?!

ER Dr returned after a while and said everything looked good. He just had one issue with the EKG and he held up the paper. I cut him off at the pass and assured that the "blip" he saw was a normal part of Hubby. 
Hubby has a misbeat in his heart rhythm. He has had it for many many many years and it has never presented a problem for him. ER Dr felt comfortable that I knew what he was going to say and dismissed us for home with instructions to follow up with Hubby's Primary Care Dr. 

YAY we get to go home! Hubby was still eating his plate of food they brought him and I wondered what he would wear home! I had a bag in the car that had some extra pants and undergarments and socks but no shirt. I fussed at myself for not having a shirt then fussed at myself for fussing at myself. Now was not the time to beat myself up over a shirt. 
 I retrieved the bag and when Hubby finished his food Youngest Daughter and I helped him dress and they allowed him to wear his hospital gown home.

Discharge papers in hand , Hubby strapped in the front seat, Youngest Daughter kissed goodbye, we made our way home.
Got Hubby all settled in his own bed and the rest of the evening went fairly smooth.

I did however repack a bag with a shirt this time.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Today I had a first.

Hubby had an audiology appointment at the V.A. and being his chauffeur and helpmate I accompanied him into his appointment. We were ushered into a small very gray room with odd looking doors. As we walked down the hall I mentioned that the rooms looked like they may have been vaults at one time. The closer I got to the door I viewed it was a thick door with another thick door attached to it. Peculiar looking in deed with long pull handles instead of knobs. Dr. Audiology took the wheel chair and lifted it over a raise in the floor. I surveyed the raise and it was a small gap in the floor. It actually felt like we were going into an elevator or vault. Then Dr Audiology closed the door, with some umph to do so! Now at this point, had I been claustrophobic I may have been screaming to be let out! Then the quiet set in. And I mean quiet. We were in a sound proof room. How cool was that?!
Dr Audiology,... I'm just going to  call him Ear Dr because spell check keeps alerting me to my improper spelling of audiology :/ My fingers are going to fast and mixing up my letters.

Ear Dr. took some time to visit with Hubby about his hearing and ask Hubby what he thought about the problem. I thought that was very nice of him. Ear Dr explained the types of testing he would do, sounds and word recognition. He fitted Hubby with the earphone equipment and while he did that I asked Ear Dr if he noticed Hubby's Lewy Body diagnosis. He said yes so of course my next question is,,,Are you familiar with Lewy Body?
Ear Dr was not as confident with his knowledge and admitted he was only vaguely familiar with it. We discussed Hubby's hearing issue as a possibility of  less hearing loss and more lack of understanding but since it's impossible to tell where the lewy protein deposits are taking up residence in Hubby's brain we will just see where we are and go from there. I liked Ear Dr for being so honest about his Lewy knowledge.

All fitted for his testing, Ear Dr left the room through the big doors and the outside noise swept into the room. Very interesting experience for me, then the silence again as he closed the door. There was a fairly decent sized window in the room, at first I thought it was one way glass but I think it was just hazed over, maybe on purpose. It was butted up against what looked like another hazy window and I caught a shadow of a person sitting down. I surmised this was Ear Dr.

I sat quietly in my chair I was offered and looked over the room. Not much to see or rather nothing interesting to go and explore or so I told myself since I could be seen through the glass and heard as I realized when I saw a microphone protruding from the wall next to Hubby. I remembered my grandmother telling me to mind my Ps and Qs. Hmm come to think of it, I use that phrase myself but I have no idea what Ps and Qs are. So I minded them and stayed quietly seated.

Hubby sat in his wheelchair waiting for the test to start when all of a sudden he shot up in his seat and he looked around the room. I will only guess that the test started and the sudden noise scared my easily startled Hubby. His eyes got HUGE and I broke out in laughter but quickly contained it in the form of the Muttley the Dog laugh! You know that cartoon dog that does that odd laugh?
Hubby could hear Ear Dr but I couldn't and occasionally Hubby would say "yes" or say a random word. This went on for a little while but I kept recalling the surprised look on Hubby's face and had to keep the Muttley laugh in check. Let me tell you, that is not easy to do in a soundproof room and you're the one making the noise! I kept turning my head hoping to see something to concentrate on and divert my thoughts. Finally I had to tell myself "Get a grip" and I did until I suppose another sudden sound startled Hubby and he jumped and looked around again. I think I snorted a little :/
I'll be honest, as I sit here and write this I'm still smiling.

The shadow of the person in the other room got up, In a moment Ear Dr came back into the room and fitted Hubby with another devise. This one wasn't directly on the ear itself but sat just above the ear towards Hubby's temple area. This was interesting enough to me to keep me occupied. Ear Dr apologized to Hubby for startling him, Hubby said he just wasn't expecting it.

Ear Dr left the room and in a moment I saw the shadowy figure take a seat. So at this point I'm pretty much thinking I'm right in believing it's Ear Dr.

This time I hear a beep noise, I look around, Hubby says nothing. It stops. I hear it again, Hubby says nothing, so I ask, "Can you hear that?" Hubby says "yes" Then I hear the voice of Ear Dr coming from Hubby's head. I sit quietly and concentrate on the beeps that Hubby isn't acknowledging and the ones he is.

Ear Dr. returns to the room, disconnects Hubby and says that it appears that Hubby has lost some hearing but they were going to fit him for hearing aids. He said that it wouldn't restore Hubby's ears back to his youth but it might help remove some of the stress Hubby may be experiencing trying to hear and providing him with less stress and some comfort was what they wanted to do.

I sure did like Ear Dr.

So our Audiology appointment went quite well. Hubby should have new hearing aids in a few weeks. Lets pray that Hubby does get some relief with them.

Recipe for Disaster

Since Dec Hubby has lost about 1 lb a week. His last weigh in was 2 weeks ago until today where he had an appointment with a dietician and she weighed him. Hubby had lost 4 lbs. Dec 16 he was 198 lbs, today my Hubby is 166 lbs. It's obvious, he looks frail and weak and walks frail and weak.

What prompted this appointment was me asking for a nutritional supplement for Hubby because of his weight loss. Hubby is 100% service connected through the Veterans for his combat time in the Korean War. As such he qualifies for medical care, medical supplies and meds themselves. I felt that the nutritional supplement would benefit Hubby since he has diminished his intake of solid foods in the last 3 or 4 weeks. I felt a liquid would help to keep some nourishment and hydration in him. Apparently this is going to be another one of those fight for "luxuries".

The first luxury we had to fight for was pull up disposable undergarments.
2 attempts to get this style of undergarment were met with resistance and incorrect fulfillment after the agreement from the V.A.
The third attempt was successful after a face to face meeting with the pharmacist and an explanation as to why that particular style was necessary. Yes, I had to give a very good reason for the V.A. to send Hubby the pull up briefs. I informed him that Hubby was still mobile to some degree and the tab type garments were a hindrance to him. He still wanted to maintain some independence and I wanted to maintain his dignity. At this point I took the plastic garment, placed it on the man's desk and told him those would not help with either of those things. Apparently my plea was successful and Hubby started receiving the correct ones.

During the meeting with the dietician she told me that getting liquid supplements would be difficult and the pharmacist would have to approve it. To start with I had to keep a record of everything Hubby ate for 3 weeks, he would need to be weighed again and the pharmacist would have to approve the request with a good explanation. I'm already drafting the plea :) I'll let you know how it goes.
Dietician also gave me some high fat high protein recipes for Hubby. She told me that his last blood workup was good for sugar & cholesterol so there was some "wiggle room" for her to make suggestions.
She suggested I use whole milk, ( I was using 2% for Hubby) instant breakfast, butter, gravy, puddings and custards, sweets, cakes, cheese sauces etc etc.. The more she suggested, the more my stomach growled.
She said serve about 6 meals a day on small plates.
Poor Hubby, having to be subjected to so much food.
But I know he could actually eat more that way, I've been known to eat nearly half a cake throughout the course of a day because I cut tiny bites of it and nibbled on it as I passed by it each time. By the end of the day I wondered what happened to the cake?! Umm forget I mentioned that part :)

I informed Dietician that one of the problems associated with Lewy Body is constipation. I was concerned that Hubby eating that much food and him having mostly no activity would not be helpful. My reason for liquid supplements were to keep some nutrition in Hubby since his appetite has decreased for solid foods yet he still wanted something and I wanted to keep Hubby hydrated to prevent any more body pain than he already has. I also told her that Hubby got anything he wanted when he wanted it, so wiggle room didn't mean anything to me.

So away we were sent with a handfull of papers. I started making a mental grocery list. The longer I made the list the more I realized, this may not work out for me! I'm weak!! I have carb addiction! I want sugar and chocolate to be my friend!  :)
Oh my, I will need lots of prayers for a strong will against temptation.
This seems so unfair ;-)