Helping Those Who Care for Parkinson's Patients
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My anxiety is up (probably irrationally up) ...but I think everything is ok. I guess we'll see. Mom has been doing a bit better in the evenings with the pump, and if I give her 1/2 sinemet 45 minutes or so before disconnecting her from the pump for a shower, she seems to do fine bathing herself. She still needs help dressing and undressing, getting in and out of the walk-in tub, etc., but it's mostly working. She sits and uses the shower attachment, but that's fine. ... So it was time to switch out her medicine syringe for her pump and the battery for it was low also, so I thought I would switch both of them out at the same time while she was in the shower. I don't usually do both at the same time that way, so I thought I did something wrong, but apparently not. (I'm sure I've done it that way a couple of times with no problem.) After switching both the syringe and the battery, the screen said there was a problem and that the pump was off (the pump was off because I detached it so she could have her shower--not usually a "problem"). I clicked ok, then it said to remove the battery, wait for a blank screen, then put the battery back in. ... So I do that about 5 times, and it just says the same thing over and over. So I googled the Vyalev hotline, got a nurse to call me back in 5 minutes. She said she has had this happen on two occasions--once they got it going again, and the other time it was a pump problem. Guess which one we have? Good grief. She had me do the same thing I already did 5 times, and it did the same thing. She said there was nothing she could do and to go back to the pills for the weekend. She said to call the mail pharmacy tomorrow or Monday, tell them the Abbvie nurse troubleshooted with me, and to request a new pump. She said I *had* to tell them she troubleshooted with me and it still didn't work, or they wouldn't send me a new pump. Last Saturday the mail pharmacy called and asked me all the standard questions, and I told them that the pump's motors/servos or whatever sounded labored. She said she'd take note of that. I just thought they'd send a new one on Tuesday with the meds, but they didn't. ... So I put her med cups together for tomorrow--all 10 of them. Eleven if you count the vitamins, and 14 if you count the in-between hours of 1/4 sinemet at 4pm, 6pm, and 8pm. ... Switching back to the pills worked fine in July when her Vyalev prescription was 3 days late, so I think it should be fine. But my anxiety is still very high. I can't believe this. |
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We're getting a new pump on Wednesday, but she's doing pretty well on the pills. Probably better, in terms of getting around, but I'm suspecting there is lingering effects from the pump medication. Now I'm wondering if going back to the pump at a medium or low setting, and using 1 Rytary every 3 hours or so might be an option. ... Anyway, I'm stressed. I called the caregiver company yesterday to give a message to the caregiver that mom needed her 9am pills at 9am because the pump broke. I checked the cameras at 9:04, and she still wasn't giving her the pills. So I called, the caregiver answered, I explained that mom needed her 9am pills now, she said ok, but she turned the cameras around again in the kitchen and hall. After I got home, I checked the only camera she doesn't turn around--the one on mom's living room chair--and it showed she gave mom the pills at 9:40am. Good grief. I had called at 1:50pm and the caregiver said mom was more confused and running around more. Probably because she didn't give her the pills correctly in the morning. ... I sent an email to her supervisor. I feel like we're accommodating the caregiver more than she is accommodating us at this point. |