I Have Or Know Someone With Parkinson's
Sorry about that little break since my last story, "Part 1". But i had a pretty good excuse.
I was trying to get my mom out of the effing Hospital!!!
Oh and by the way, it was my birthday on New Year's Eve. Normally i would have gone to see The Grateful Dead in San Francisco, but i had just taken a little vacation at the beginning of the month and mom hadn't been doing so great, so i stayed close to home.
Oh. And by the way, when it's your birthday...
Take your Mom out to dinner. Send her some flowers. Do something nice for her.
After all, she did all the work.
But back to how messed up Parkinson's can be.
So in Part 1, i told you all about my mom's last trip to the hospital, about 9 -10 months ago. Yeah, that sucked big time. But not as much as this little 12 day tour!!.
So, i'm The Hammer, right? Me? Call 911? No freaking way!!
Freaking waaay!!
My mom was in bed all day New Year's Eve. She was unresponsive to her meds... even though we had been hitting the times and doses dead on for the past 24 hours, and she hadn't been eating well or getting enough fluids.
She looked pretty bad.
In the middle of the night she guzzled three glasses of water and then went to sleep, but wasn't any better upon waking a few hours later, at which time she took her morning (6am) meds. By 8:30, after no improvement, and now completely unable to swallow or communicate with me. i talked to my brother and then made a decision to call 911.
I thought she was on the verge of going into shock. i've seen her in all sorts of Parkinson's Hell, but this was really bad. And i knew she needed IVs at least to get something into her body.
I carefully gathered her medications, outlined her regimen of pills, and informed the EMTs about her condition, explained how important her meds were and went down to begin the horrible waiting game we all do at hospitals.
I repeated my little discourse on my mom's medication schedule to whoever would listen. The ER Doc. The admitting staff. The nurses.
It was at the hospital, reading up a little more on Sinemet, specifically the differences between the sustained release and quick release varieties that i ran across an article stating quite strongly the belief that Hospitals are not the best place for those afflicted with Parkinson's.
And they were right!
Now, don't get me wrong, my fears were justified when they told me she had a core body temperature of 91 degrees and a UTI infection (which we already knew about) and so i'm glad i called 911.
But i was appalled at how poorly the hospital handled my mom an went about diagnosing and treating her. They thought she was an invalid! Despite me telling them how she has PD and "gets this way". They wanted to do spinal tap. Uhhh....no. They wanted to know what was causing her dementia. They wanted to find something else wrong, it seemed.
Anything but PD!
I kept telling them what my mom's story was. You know, Parkinson's...
About freezing up.
That she needed her meds.
Did anybody listen to me? Ask the guy who has been involved with my mom's care from the very beginning
My mom's daily Sinemet intake was at roughly 300Carbidopa/1200Levodopa. Sometimes a 50/200 on top of that- so she wouldn't freeze overnight.
And these guys, despite the fact that we had the bottles and med schedule from her neurologist, decided to give her 1/2 Sinemet 25/100 3 times a day. When the neurologist told me that, this after we went toe to toe and had a discussion about PD and Sinemet, how patients can get a little strung out on it. i even brought up DDR, Dopamine Disregulation Syndrome... you know tried to convince this guy that i knew what i was talking about...
Well, when he told me the miniscule amount they had her on? I LAUGHED IN HIS FACE! And said "You really think that's going to do anything for my mom?"
He upped the dose to 50/200 4 times a day and the next morning my mom was back "on". But this was three days after she had been admitted.
THREE DAYS OF BEING OUT!! And when she woke up. She was acting crazy as a loon. Couldn't distinguish reality from the dream world. She was talking nonsense.
And this s a good time to take a break. "Part 3" still to come.....
I was trying to get my mom out of the effing Hospital!!!
Oh and by the way, it was my birthday on New Year's Eve. Normally i would have gone to see The Grateful Dead in San Francisco, but i had just taken a little vacation at the beginning of the month and mom hadn't been doing so great, so i stayed close to home.
Oh. And by the way, when it's your birthday...
Take your Mom out to dinner. Send her some flowers. Do something nice for her.
After all, she did all the work.
But back to how messed up Parkinson's can be.
So in Part 1, i told you all about my mom's last trip to the hospital, about 9 -10 months ago. Yeah, that sucked big time. But not as much as this little 12 day tour!!.
So, i'm The Hammer, right? Me? Call 911? No freaking way!!
Freaking waaay!!
My mom was in bed all day New Year's Eve. She was unresponsive to her meds... even though we had been hitting the times and doses dead on for the past 24 hours, and she hadn't been eating well or getting enough fluids.
She looked pretty bad.
In the middle of the night she guzzled three glasses of water and then went to sleep, but wasn't any better upon waking a few hours later, at which time she took her morning (6am) meds. By 8:30, after no improvement, and now completely unable to swallow or communicate with me. i talked to my brother and then made a decision to call 911.
I thought she was on the verge of going into shock. i've seen her in all sorts of Parkinson's Hell, but this was really bad. And i knew she needed IVs at least to get something into her body.
I carefully gathered her medications, outlined her regimen of pills, and informed the EMTs about her condition, explained how important her meds were and went down to begin the horrible waiting game we all do at hospitals.
I repeated my little discourse on my mom's medication schedule to whoever would listen. The ER Doc. The admitting staff. The nurses.
It was at the hospital, reading up a little more on Sinemet, specifically the differences between the sustained release and quick release varieties that i ran across an article stating quite strongly the belief that Hospitals are not the best place for those afflicted with Parkinson's.
And they were right!
Now, don't get me wrong, my fears were justified when they told me she had a core body temperature of 91 degrees and a UTI infection (which we already knew about) and so i'm glad i called 911.
But i was appalled at how poorly the hospital handled my mom an went about diagnosing and treating her. They thought she was an invalid! Despite me telling them how she has PD and "gets this way". They wanted to do spinal tap. Uhhh....no. They wanted to know what was causing her dementia. They wanted to find something else wrong, it seemed.
Anything but PD!
I kept telling them what my mom's story was. You know, Parkinson's...
About freezing up.
That she needed her meds.
Did anybody listen to me? Ask the guy who has been involved with my mom's care from the very beginning
My mom's daily Sinemet intake was at roughly 300Carbidopa/1200Levodopa. Sometimes a 50/200 on top of that- so she wouldn't freeze overnight.
And these guys, despite the fact that we had the bottles and med schedule from her neurologist, decided to give her 1/2 Sinemet 25/100 3 times a day. When the neurologist told me that, this after we went toe to toe and had a discussion about PD and Sinemet, how patients can get a little strung out on it. i even brought up DDR, Dopamine Disregulation Syndrome... you know tried to convince this guy that i knew what i was talking about...
Well, when he told me the miniscule amount they had her on? I LAUGHED IN HIS FACE! And said "You really think that's going to do anything for my mom?"
He upped the dose to 50/200 4 times a day and the next morning my mom was back "on". But this was three days after she had been admitted.
THREE DAYS OF BEING OUT!! And when she woke up. She was acting crazy as a loon. Couldn't distinguish reality from the dream world. She was talking nonsense.
And this s a good time to take a break. "Part 3" still to come.....
By:
johnnybliss
Age:
41-45
,
Male
