Gawd, it rained again today. This morning I opened the bathroom window to see what the weather was and the back yard smells like primordial ooze. I swear—smothering heat and the smell of vegetation and mold.

Went to bed late and then Mom woke me up at three a.m. needing to use the bathroom. We were a half hour at that and then I couldn't get back to sleep until five. So I had about six hours sleep, but wasn't doing too badly. Mom was still asleep and slept most of the day. James ran out for some groceries and a paper before noon and a little bit after noon, I went out for an hour to get Pidgie some birdseed.

About six James was making supper. Mom was awake and I asked her if she wanted a little steak. She expressed an interest in it (!!!!) but needed to use the bathroom again. As always, the trip to the bathroom tired her. She was washing her hands and asking me to do something—the question was a bit incoherent; I couldn't understand it—when suddenly her knees started to shake and her head wobbled and she didn't answer me. This passed after about 20 seconds, but then she wasn't able to hold herself up. James hurried upstairs and helped me get her into her bed. She was scared—who wouldn't be?—and finally murmured that she had suddenly gotten dizzy, but her hands were shaking and I was scared, so I called up the hospice nurse, who called back immediately. She was concerned about the shaking and asked if I could give her one of the Atavan tablets that are in the emergency kit. This I did, and it did help relax Mom.

Boy, did it. She was sleepy within ten minutes and I let her sleep about a half hour and then checked on her again. She was talking to me, but it was mumbled and incoherent, but she was able to indicate her back hurt and she wanted to lie down. I had to call James again. She was literally limp and he had to pull her up while I turned her legs onto the bed and then he had to shift her.

She let me know she wanted the light out after some questioning and now she is sleeping again. ::sigh::

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:26:00 PM

Comments:

It's 1 mg. Next time I will try half if the situation seems to warrant it.

You have some good suggestions but none of them seem an option. She had just woken up and urgently needed the bathroom; she hadn't used it for 12 hours. I would have preferred her to eat before as well.

It's also very hard to speak with her. She's very hard of hearing now and questions have to be short and to the point. Most of the time she answers with a grunt and I have to ask if it was a "yes" or a "no."

She is sleeping on a futon so it is possible for her to sit up at any time. That is what she was doing last night when she had the ativan.

# posted by  Linda : 12:23:00 PM

 

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