Re: Hiking sticks/Gert

[Guest guest]

Barb

I haven't had such a good laugh in a long time Thanks

Gert

[Guest guest]

Sally

Thanks for the imput. I feel so bad that he( my husband) feels defeated by this illness. He's only 57 (Dx 2000). He's had a great attitude up to this point. I think he's embarrassed to use a walking aid. But thank god he has agreed it's necessary.

Gert

[Guest guest]

Welcome to the "Busted Face Club."

Ralph began as a member with shins. Then he promoted to the black eyes

and skinned head. Then it was backwards. One day into the compost

pile. Ugh.

Yes, they are stubborn but there comes a time to be dramatically forceful.

By word or deed.

Ralph always looked as tho he had been mobbed in a back alley some where.

But he even fell out and over his wheel chair.

One day he sat down so hard in his lounge chair it tipped over backwards.

I had to call for help on that one. Thank goodness for a strong neighbor

with a sense of humor. Of course Ralph thought it was funny. In a way it

was.

Ralph would start out using the walker and wind up carrying it all folded

up. Have you ever tried to unwind a tall, heavy man from the legs of a

walker? Not funny. Especially when he is just outside the back, door too

close for me to open it.

No fun for patient or care giver.

Enforce the rules if you can. If not keep, plenty of peroxide, saline

solution, bandages and the 911 number handy. You will need them all

Oh, the joys of care giving can be over whelming.

To all you patients, maybe a good gift to the care giver would be a

class in weight lifting.

A sympathetic Barb in Arlington.

High

five minus one.

--

"Love is a fruit in season at all times." Mother

[Guest guest]

Sally

Funny you should mention buring your head in the sand. I secretly think about where to hide sometimes, but realize even that is selfish since my husband can't run (HA) and hide. Having a teenage son is enough stress for one mother. I lost my own mother 6 years ago and still miss her everyday. My dad's been gone for a dozen years, Mark's parents are both gone too, so really all we have is each other. I cherish everyday with him and try not to think about being a widow and alone before I'm 60( I'm only 48).

Gert

[Guest guest]

Gert

Yes, we've all been there. Elmer went face first, elbows first, head

first, then switched to backwards going butt first, back of head first,

back first ...... well, you get the idea. He fell on or over anything

and everything is sight. He tripped over his toes, the walker, the

wheelchair, his shoes, the table legs, his table, and anything else

that was there.

He insisted on walking when he should have been riding. As long as he

could figure out how to stand up, he was off and going. The nurses in

the nursing home finally figured out how to second guess him but they

had to be quick.

It's just part of the disease as is the stubbornness that goes with it

to try to stay on your own 2 feet as long as possible. It's a hard

thing to give up. Hang in there, Gert.

Sally in KS

Daughter-in-law to Elmer who left us 7-24-01

[Guest guest]

Gert

It's a lot to accept and knowing that the only thing to be done is to

manage the symptoms is, to say the least, depressing. Elmer was just

passed retirement age when he started with problems but was able to

maintain fairly good health up to the last 2 years of his life.

Everyone's progression is so different with this stuff that there are no

guarantees for anything. I know well how hard that is. I thought last

year was hard losing my brother to leukemia and Elmer to MSA. Now I'm

contending with my mother and Alzheimer's and that's a whole new ball

game. It really does make you want to bury your head in the sand some

days. :<(

Make sure your husband does carry information on him to identify that he

isn't drunk. You would hate to have him end up in the drunk tank

instead of the hospital if he is someplace without you. Good Luck At

least you know you have lots of company and aren't going through this

alone.

Sally

[Guest guest]

Hi to all,

BOY, can I relate to all of this!!! I have fallen 19 times now and I

make everyone VERY nervous around me, ALL the time, but I NEVER know

when I am going down. Yes, I too am trying to stay on my 2 feet as

well! I use a cane now with the neuros convincing me to do so. Still

we just never know until we're donw, I hate this...........

Hugs,

Valarie

[Guest guest]

Ken too was a member of the " Busted Face Club' in very good standing.

Actually, for him it should have been called the busted head club since he

fell once and hit his head on a cement camping table and had cranial bleeding

and didn't get out of the special care unit in the hospital for ten days. His

doctor never stopped reminding me that he had suffered a major head injury

that could account for many of his symptoms. He also was stitched up often

and had scratches on his face many more times. One time, he fell early in the

morning and opened a cut over his forehead. We chose to wait for our Urgent

Care clinic to open rather than deal with the ER and several hours of time.

So, we got breakfast burritos and sat in the parking lot until the Clic

opened, and they could stitch him up. When the doctors arrived and saw us

sitting there eating breakfast while Ken was bleeding away, they were very

amused. But, our experience over the years was that the Urgent Care Clinic

could get us in and out with much less hassle and much faster than the

hospital ER, so we used it whenever it was at all feasible. Once we were at

Mesa Verde Park, and he had to be stitched up. So, we stayed there an extra

week and learned to love that part of the country.

Love, Barbara

[Guest guest]

Gert,

Your message struck me, because I was only 48 when Rob was

diagnosed. I remember having the same thought, about being a widow

before I was 60. I had also just lost my father when Rob was

diagnosed, and although it sounds a little silly now I remember

thinking I would lose my mother, my husband and my beloved cat all at

the same time. And, of course, I cried a lot.

Well, now I'm 52 and Rob is 55. We're hanging in there, and although

Rob's illness has definitely progressed, he's still doing fairly

well. And my mother is doing well, at 86, and the cat is currently

basking in the sun on the sunporch, even though it's a chilly 27

degrees (F) here in Boston. What scares me now is not Rob dying, but

what he will have to go through before that. But we take it one day

at a time, and make the best of it. (Or try to. We do have our

moments!)

Since Rob was diagnosed, we've been to Palm Springs, Aruba, Florida,

Las Vegas, Spain, Turkey, Greece and Japan. We're trying to do

everything we want to do while we can still do it. So enjoy every

day, and do what you can, and most of all, enjoy each other.

Carol & Rob

> Sally

>

> Funny you should mention buring your head in the sand. I secretly

think

> about where to hide sometimes, but realize even that is selfish

since my

> husband can't run (HA) and hide. Having a teenage son is enough

stress for

> one mother. I lost my own mother 6 years ago and still miss her

everyday.

> My dad's been gone for a dozen years, Mark's parents are both gone

too, so

> really all we have is each other. I cherish everyday with him and

try not to

> think about being a widow and alone before I'm 60( I'm only 48).

> Gert