The Aided Visit to the Doctor

It is officially fall now and I am taking a day off of work (my long-term substitute job with Educable Mentally Handicapped students) so that we can go to my husband's doctor. His poor walking recently has been probably due to arthritis.  So far Extra Strength Tylenol every six hours has worked fairly well until the rains came in the last several days. Kenny has arthritis and confirmed that his arthritis all over his body got worse with the rains.

Yesterday hubby only used the wheel chair to get around. We tried to use the walker to go to dinner last night, but he said that his knee was too painful.

This morning as usual I was asked many questions and as if hubby didn't comprehend/remember, the questions were repeated. I am used to this, but it seems to be increasing.

"Why are I going to the doctor?"

"So we can see about medicine for the pain in your leg."

"Pain in my leg?" hubby asks as he sits at the side of our bed getting ready. It's as if he doesn't comprehend the handicap he has had recently. I let him finish getting ready and leave the bedroom. Dog Ziggy greets Kenny who is here for the guys' morning routine.

Cheerfully hubby walks out to the den with his walker to assume his spot and greets Kenny for his usual weekday morning pill routine with Kenny. He jokes with Kenny, but respects and admires him as I do. Kenny is such a gift to me so I do not have to nag hubby to take pills, shave and shower. So I can still work, Kenny is there for us.

"I have more pills than you do," pronounces Kenny and successfully Kenny gets my husband to take his medicine.

An over-the-counter change in medicine in addition to Extra Strength Tylenol was recommended by a CVS pharmacist: Whole Body Joint Support by Finest Nutrition. The joint support tablets contain Rosemary, Turmeric (already taking that), Ginger, Holy Basil, Green Tea (gets that with Lipton), Hu Zhang, Chinese Goldthread, Barberry, Oregano, Chinese skullcap, Pine Bark Extract and Boswellia Serrata. It is the biggest pill my husband takes twice a day and a subject on conversation for the men.

Kenny gave hubby his biweekly shave before the three of us went off to the doctor this morning. Kenny physically lifted the wheel chair into our SUV in case we would need it. It turned out we only needed the walker.

I had put an Exelon Patch on my husband before he got dressed. One of the questions for the doctor is can we up UP the dosage of Exelon from 4.6 MG to 9.5 MG.  I have been trying that higher dosage, a gift from someone in the Alzheimer's Association Support Group because his wife no longer benefits from 9.5 MG Exelon. Today the doctor agreed to the higher dosage and said the joint support might not hurt. He asked about the coconut oil.

"Yes," I said. "He has taken that coconut oil for four years."

I have been reading up on arthritis and used to pride myself that my husband and I did not have this horrible condition--but now ARTHRITIS is here; it came in as innocently as my cold or allergies have come today.

At the doctor's office the pain meds are changed. Hubby will get 9.5 MG as an official prescription and the pain medicine is being changed to Tramadol HCL 50 MG three times a day which he will take at 4 AM, noon and 8 PM. He also got his flu shot and the doctor signed for a handicapped permit for our car.

The three of us then went to lunch at Olde Towne Pizzeria and Pasta Co. We each had a small salad and an individual pizza. The men both ordered a Caesar salad and a BBQ chicken pizza. I had a strawberry salad and a spinach pizza.  Then the three of us headed off for errands in Lakeland, but not before getting gas at Shells under $3.00 with my Winn Dixie card.

In the car while I drive the two men are so funny together. I am often in my own world, worried about the next stage of Alzheimer's, the next lesson plans, and what I have to do at home, but this was a very pleasant  day and I let myself enjoy their humor.

Questions remain on how mobile my husband will be with this new Tramadol medicine. If it helps him walk more, that will help his arthritis be not so painful and exercise walking will help the dementia. Stay tuned.

Back to lesson plans for tomorrow so I can go to bed early. Giving hubby that Tramadol now also.

Saga Twenty-Seven

Again this month Sally and I went to the Alzheimer's Association support group the second Tuesday while the husbands hung out at our house. Sally turned her cell phone off, but mine was on and I got several calls from the husbands during the support group wanting to know when we would be home. DH knows this is an Alzheimer's support group, but Jake, who doesn't think he has a problem, thinks this is our monthly ladies Bible study. Then the four of us had a good dinner at Longhorns. Sally and I shared the salmon dinner and Jake and DH had steak. The four of us then enjoyed the romantic comedy "Hope Springs". Both husbands could follow it. Our friendship with Sally and Jake is so important for making life normal for our husbands and Sally and I gain so much mutual support from each other.



from Pinterest--we need to friend



Last week my doctor was happy with my weight loss, but I still need to do more walking than only three times a week for the HDL number to improve. With a flare-up of carpal tunnel from over 15 years ago (maybe too much Pinterest, folks) I should not do many weight bearing exercises now. I am trying to avoid heart problems. My doctor let me cut down on one medicine which would have put me in the donut hole. Hubby is already in the donut hole with his medicine. It is interesting that Herb's cholesterol numbers in July are great and support his use of coconut oil.

Last Tuesday the arm on hubby's glasses broke off. Because we have Preferred Care for our Medicare coverage, we have a vision plan and a hearing plan. We both went to get new glasses from Plant City's new Eye Express. The glasses didn't cost us other than our adding tints for $50 for DH and UV protection for $12 on mine. I had lost mine in Louisiana last fall and have been wearing over-the-counter ones and trying to remember those sunglasses because of my cataracts. Hubby keeps asking when those glasses will be ready and I keep telling him Tuesday, unless the hurricane means Eye Express will be closed.

Hubby can ask at night what we did during the day and I recount the events for him, usually when we pray at bedtime. We do have so much to thank the LORD for each day.

Vascular Dementia Can Be Avoided

My husband was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer's by a neurologist in September of 2010 as I wrote earlier. Recently I asked his primary care physician if it might only be Vascular Dementia and he said that we will only know with an autopsy.

Lifestyle can make a difference in whether someone gets Vascular Dementia or not. Last Friday I went to an Alzheimer's Association workshop in our area. One workshop presenter was a young nurse who when she was only 14 took care of her late Grandmother who had Vascular Dementia. This inspired this young lady to go into nursing and to reflect and research on Vascular Dementia.  She said that blood vessel damage to the brain is what causes this disease. One gets this disease by lifestyle choices that might be avoided. She has been losing weight she said.

Here are the lifestyle issues that she said predict who gets Vascular Dementia.

• History of heart attack, strokes or mini strokes

• Atherosclerosis

• High cholesterol HD and LDL under 100

• High blood pressure

• Type 2 Diabetes

• Smoking

I will have been married to my husband twelve years this month. In 2004 he had a heart attack, heart surgery, and contracted type 2 diabetes. He gave up smoking many years ago. He also has had carotid artery surgery shortly after the heart surgery. Hence he was a candidate for Vascular Dementia.

Many of the above conditions can be avoided with weight loss. I have never smoked, but I have had problems maintaining weight loss and regaining weight. After my husband started going downhill with dementia, he lost weight and I put on weight due to emotional eating. But this has changed recently with my rejoining Weight Watchers. I am determined to have the best possible health in my senior years and to not be one of those 60% of caregivers who die before their loved one with dementia dies. My doctor has been so pleased with my weight loss and the great blood pressure and HD and LDL readings that she wants to see me only twice a year instead of four times a year now.

My diet is certainly going well, but Weight Watchers does emphasize exercise. I am hoping to find time to exercise, but so far the main exercise I can fit into the schedule is yard work. Ugh! Do love to jog, but have been told to only walk now and hubby doesn't feel safe with my walking in our safe neighborhood. When we go to the gym, my husband just watches me. I guess I just have to accept that he will do little exercise there and fit this into my busy schedule of having to do everything, make a living, arrange for taxes, etc. Maybe I can start with a once a week gym visit and spend more time on weeding for exercise.

Some Alzheimer's and dementias will come until we find cures, but the one we do know about can be avoided early on. We certainly do not need to be the couple where both of us have Vascular Dementia.

Saga Two

This week James finished the recessed lighting in the family room where my husband watches so many old movies. That bright light is essential to help with Syndowner's. The picture at the left doesn't do justice to the real change in lighting in that room.



"This is the last time you take me to a doctor," proclaimed DH, as he drove us to an endocrinologist this week. Yes he can drive now. I was glad because while he drove I was writing down all his prescriptions, Centrum Silver, Flaxseed Oil, Vitamin B12 and the Ecotrin full strength aspirin he now takes instead of expensive Plavix. I didn't want to cart all those bottles in to the doctor.

We didn't know why he needed to see the endocrinologist, but found out why when we got to Watson Clinic in Lakeland. His calcium levels were elevated and that could mean surgery on a gland or kidney stones.  He collected urine for 24 hours and did a great job of remembering to do this even while I was gone. Shortly he will take a bone density test also to see if calcium is not getting to his bones and if he has thin bones.

A researcher interviewied me about coconut oil and the benefit to my husband. I pointed out DH's passing his driver's test at an ALZ clinic and also the fact that Byrd Institute said that they didn't think he should be dressing himself now based on his MRI. Yes, indeed, coconut oil is helping DH.

Sally, Jake, DH and I traveled to Disney's Epcot in Orlando this week. In celebration of passing of the driving test I actually enjoyed my husband driving the four of us to Orlando.  I wanted to drive his SUV, but he said it makes him feel like a man to be the driver. He really is a safe driver. On the return trip, however, DH was happy to have me drive. Again we got in free due to the generosity of some friends. Jake and DH got better acquainted during the day as did Sally and I.

How wonderful it is for me to have Sally to share the journey of husbands having Alzheimer's. We commented that the men may be about the same stage of Alzheimer's, although we do know that this disease takes different forms with different men. We also noted that they both husband's need organizational skills of their wives to complete projects--my husband to weed and Jake to paint a fence. During the day at Epcot we had plenty of opportunity to observe the interaction of our husbands who are enjoying forming a friendship as are Sally and I. Sally had read my book and so knows all about me and I was able to ask her getting-acquainted questions also. What a gift from the LORD this couple relationship is turning out to be!

Tampa Date

By this time I am an old hat at getting my husband to go to the doctors. Prepare him the day before, and the day before that, and the day of the appointment remind him in the morning, making sure he has time to get ready. This time it is a memory assessment--I didn't use that Alzheimer's word. He drove us to his 10 am appointment with Assistant Director Nancy. We walked up the winding path to the building and he did not see USF Johnny Byrd Alzheimer's Institute on the face of the six-story building on East Fletcher Avenue. He signed some forms. See his back--doesn't it remind you of my birthday card below (6/26)!

The entire appointment was actually fun. My husband felt that us two ladies were ganging up on him. I told Nancy stories of things he had lost and forgotten and the problem he has with thinking I don't wash clothes but brought them back to our bedroom unlaundered. Nancy heard the Full Moon story below (7/26) and the three of us laughed about it.

"Nancy, he thinks the clicker to his car door also opens the garage door."

"Does he help around the house?  Does he still drive?"  "Yes" to both I answered.

"Who makes sure he gets his medicine? Who cooks? Who takes care of the finances?" "I do" I told her.

She asked him lots of questions and he was comfortable answering or not answering them. Then I left the room and she gave him a more thorough test than the 30 question test he had been given in his doctor's office.

When his private interview was completed, I returned and she gave a preliminary assessment that his word fluency and word finding were somewhat lacking. He has difficulty with time and date (even though he has a watch which tells him the answers), and new learning is more difficult. All of what she said I could vouch for.

Next she said she would get his B12 reading if his primary care physician recently took that. If not, she gave me a script for it.  She would order his MRI from December 2008. The B12 reading is because B12 deficiency is the one easy-to-cure kind of dementia. Thursday morning he will have another MRI at USF's University Diagnostic Institute to compare with the December 2008 MRI. The final dementia diagnosis will be September 7th. At that time they will see if he fits into a research study. Then we will know if it is probably Alzheimer's or not.

We went to lunch at Panera Bread not far from the USF campus. My hubby always has me order his food these days. I ordered 1/2 beef sandwich and a salad for him (he had been so deserving of beef that I did not try to sneak a Mediterranean meal in on him). We drove by Busch Gardens and he remarked that we need to save money so we can go there or go to an Orlando attraction. Noted--embrace the moment while we can.

We went on other errands including visiting my father-in-law's grave in Tampa. I reflected today that my husband likes to watch WW II movies because his dad was in that war as you see on his grave marker.

Sunday at church my friend Sherry who works with an attorney bought us our wills which were witnessed after the worship service, notarized and signed. Another couple did theirs at the same time. Usually we don't do "work" on the Sabbath, but this was a wonderful gesture that saved us $500. I now have Non-Springing Durable Power of Attorney for my husband; later on if I had to get guardianship it would be at least $6000 with a yearly fee of maybe $1500 from then on.  All of this is unnecessary since now I have Durable Power of Attorney. I am also his Health Care Surrogate with my husband's son as the alternate and other alternates in the various other documents. We are making copies of our Living Wills for our automobiles in case of an accident. Other documents with their blue backs are going in the safe.

I got the silver alert phone number today on a refrigerator magnet. It is 877-404-SILVER or 877-404-7458. The silver alert is used when a car/person is missing. The family can call in the car description.

Hubby doesn't worry. He didn't think about wills and graves today. I plan to enjoy him and keep him as healthy as possible for as long as possible.
.

News on My Husband

On December first of 2008 we went to my husband's doctor. I told her of concerns about his memory. A year ago he scored 29 out of 30 on a memory test. That day he scored 22 out of 30. She told my husband that he has dementia. A brain scan was ordered and he had that scan on December fifth, his 71st birthday. A week later we learned that his brain was normal, but obviously he does have dementia.

We are assuming that he does not have Alzheimer's. However, he is taking two medicines for his short-term memory: Exelon Patch and Namenda. These medicines should slow down the dementia.