Acopia

This is Carrie, and I'm sorry it's been so long since I have blogged, or posted any pictures--I see it's been nearly a year, as Emily is about to start her second year at Southwell. Unfortunately, that isn't what I need to write about.

Manford has been struggling the last two months or so with more and more symptoms of Parkinson's, or something--we've been to numerous doctors. At the beginning of December, we went back to his neurologist, and he put him on Requip, which is a dopamine agonist, gradually increasing the dose over the last month. During that time, he went from being very tired all the time and having some difficulty with short term memory to having much more difficulty walking, hallucinations (which are supposed to be common with that medication), speech that is increasingly hard to understand, and finally, a couple of days ago, really unable to walk safely in the house, and falling in the bathroom. He was getting up several times a night, but couldn't get back in bed himself because his legs weren't working, and he kept thinking someone was outside the house. We were to go to the neurologist that day, and had to borrow a wheelchair because he couldn't walk to the office, and after I practically begged and cried in the office, he conceded to call the rehab unit and see if he could be admitted to get some help with things. No one seemed to be listening to me that this is an acute deterioration; they all just attribute it to the Parkinson's or the meds stopping working. The neurologist started to conclude that he had Lewy Body Disease, but I am not prepared to believe that yet; he put him on Seroquel, which I gave him as soon as I got it, but this may have been a mistake, because it probably sedated him and made his speech very slurred and make him really foggy.

However, at least this started a process, because that afternoon (as we were attempting to interview three candidates for a housekeeper, to try to help retain my sanity), we were descended on by a team from the "home hospital"--two PT's, an OT, a nurse and a doctor. Apparently they didn't have a bed until Monday (this was Thursday) at the rehab unit, so they were to support us at home until then. They evaluated Manford, and started to get equipment like a walker and shower stool, and called to get grab bars put in, and were very nice and helpful. However, by the end of the afternoon, the doctor concluded that he couldn't be safe at home because even she and I together couldn't help him to the bathroom, and she arranged an admission to a medical unit and sent for an ambulance to transport him.

Meanwhile, the two young women who showed up for the interviews were thrown in with Emily and Joseph (it is summer here, so they are both home), and both were adaptable and seemed good. Emily really liked one named Laura, so we hired her. She is a journalism student but won't start school for several weeks, so she's starting Monday.

The ambulance people were very nice, and in filling out their paperwork explained to me that they were writing that he was being admitted for "acopia", which is the technical term for not coping...at that point I was exhausted and feeling quite a bit acopic myself.

In spite of the admission being all arranged, we did spend six hours in the emergency room, and he got settled into his room about 1 am, fell asleep, and I went home (luckily, my good friend Kyle and her baby came and entertained Emily and Joseph).

I missed the doctors' rounds Friday morning, and rushed in this morning (Saturday) to try to catch them, but it turns out that there are no doctors on weekends, at least not routinely. That is not very heartening, but generally the people have been very good, and they have taken him off the Requip (but kept him on the Seroquel, which I will talk with them about on Monday), and he is much more clear, able to talk and joke and try to pull himself up a bit. On Thursday he couldn't even push himself up in bed. They are supposed to do an MRI, but it doesn't seem to be happening before next week.

He says he wants Dub George and Gary McNight to visit him, but I think he's kidding...maybe you could have an out of body experience and visit him in some other realm. I think it is very hard for him to have no one know him in his former roles; he has felt very undervalued by the fact that the New Zealand audiology board won't recognize his credentials, in spite of the fact that he really doesn't want to practice here.

So, please hold us in the light, or think of us, or pray, or cross your fingers or toes, or whatever you can do. He's in Waikato Hospital, Ward 5 at the moment, but I don't know for how long. I am doing better with a whole night of sleep, and the kids are doing ok, but miss their dad. Emily has been making things for him, and Joseph is attached to his computer by some kind of electronic umbilical cord, but is also being helpful when asked. Joseph got his exam results (from the big end of year exams) in the mail yesterday, but won't open the envelope.

but at least it isn't snowing, and the hospital isn't going to cost us a quadzillion dollars, and it's January, which means that half of New Zealand is on vacation and no one has even noticed that I didn't go to work the last two days. By the way, I'm now officially Director of Clinical Training. My research is going well and when Manford goes to the rehab unit, it is in the same building as the prenatal unit where I am collecting data, so I guess I can give the students a break and do some of the visits myself.

I'm going to go and try to figure out how to get Manford a radio and speaker for his MP3 player--he is lucky in that he has a private room, but it's really in the style of an old county hospital, and not wonderful ambiance (we did bring flowers from home in a vase Emily made this morning), and no TV or radio in the room. He was amusing himself yesterday by throwing his kleenex out the window. I suspect this would be discouraged by the powers that be, so we should get him some other entertainment.

Carrie