Less is More

Good Morning! (8:40am)

It is a cold, cloudy, blustery morning here and Mike doesn't want to get out of bed yet, so I'm having a very peaceful, quiet morning - Praise God!  Time alone with the Lord, got dressed and ate some breakfast, doing laundry, and now updating y'all/journaling.

As I shared in the last post, Monday was a very good day. Monday night was a totally different story.  Ed came bringing supper, Catherine was here helping me with household chores and doing some baking. It took a while for Mike to settle down and eat, but he did and then went to bed around 8:30pm. About 11:30 or 12 he woke up and even after 2 Trazodone, he paced from the bed to the bathroom, shaved, turned on lights, - quietly at first then he pulled the covers off of me "Get up, Jennifer!" until finally at 2am, I had enough and went to the spare bedroom, put sheets on and fell asleep until about 5:30.  I went in to check on him and he was sitting all slumped over on the edge of the bed with the bathroom light on.  I was able to get him changed and into bed and then he slept until about 9am.

Tuesday went well for the most part.  Cheryl, the volunteer caregiver, came and he told her he was glad to see her. Yay!  They went for a short walk, played cards and Wii.  I made phone calls, took a walk, and went through papers getting all our tax stuff together.  Tuesday afternoon, we had one hyper episode where he went outside - I was only a little bit behind him getting out the door, but when I got outside, I couldn't see him anywhere. Then I saw someone sitting in a car and lo and behold it was Mike!  Sitting in someone else's Mini Cooper! I got him out and had to redirect him several times, before the meds started calming him down. I am learning when I need to give him his next dose of Risperdal.  (This is the medicine that I thought was "strong, scary stuff when he came out of the hospital that 2nd time, but evidently it was just a bad combination of meds at the time that made him slumped over, wobbly, totally out of it. Because now it is my life-saver!) As Dr. Gualtieri say "Less is More" when it comes to medication.  Right now Mike is only on 4 prescriptions which is much less than before and one of those is an antibiotic which finishes today and the other is neurontin, which we are cutting back on and will end in a few days.  Then we'll be down to only 2 - woo hoo!  I have not needed to give him the Buspar with the increase in Risperdal and last night he would not take the Trazodone and I didn't hear him all night. Hallelujah!  Now if I could just sleep. :-(

Tues., Wed., and Thurs., mornings for about an hour (until the meds take effect) he has been rather hyper.  Yesterday morning it was the car thing again so we struggled around in the parking lot for about 15-20 minutes while I kept him away from other people's cars, before I could get him inside.  Then yesterday afternoon, we went to mail a package to Caleb. I had "perishable" written on the side and Mike started to get very anxious and trying to open the package, saying I was giving away our food.  Thanks to the kindness of another customer in line who followed Mike out the door and got him turned around, I was able to get the package mailed. Then the fixation was on seeing that we had food at home.  Just before the post office, we had enjoyed lunch at Panera (thanks Sandi & John) and had both eaten quite well; however, now Mike thought he was hungry and wanted to see our food.  I drove around for a while, after giving Mike his Risperdal, waiting for it to take effect.  We got home and he checked out the refrig, pantry, etc.  We ate our bakery items from Panera and then I tried to take us to the Cary Arts Center but he said "I don't have need of an art center."  LOL!  So we had a productive time at home going through files.  I purged and he shredded.  Was so glad to get that done and he was a huge help! Thank you for praying, thank God for Dr. G and medication that is finally stabilizing and Thank you Lord for calmness and productivity with Mike!

10:35am  Rod, from Comfort Keepers arrived at 9. Mike got up and I got him showered, today's fixation is still food plus shoes. Rod got his breakfast ready so as soon as he was dressed, he ate, now they are playing Wii.  My goal today is to finish paperwork, call another Dr. in Richmond, answer e-mails and go through the spare bedroom closet.  

11:40 - Where does time go?  Don't think I've shared much on here about future plans, but I am actively working toward moving us to Virginia with my parents.  The apartment complex is working with us to shorten our lease and right now our target date is the end of March to be out.  Will definitely need help packing, or occupying Mike while packing is being done.  Maybe he won't get as hyper since he's more calm now, but that would be the type of thing to set him off.  We have an appointment in Richmond, VA at the Center for Neurorehabilitation for March 7, but now I have some questions that I'm trying to get answered and may check into another Dr. in that area.  The Center for Neurorehabilitation sounds really great and a one-stop place for brain injury; unfortunately, they are out-of-network with Mike's insurance so it would mean more deductibles and maximums to meet and more out-of-pocket expenses. Richmond is about 1 hour from my parents' farm, so not as accessible, but if we can get Mike into some sort of work routine at the farm, that will be excellent therapy and release for him.  For those who live in that area, please be praying about how you might be able to help occupy or supervise Mike for an hour or two, small jobs - like raking or picking up pine cones in your yard, weaving potholders, putting jigsaw puzzles together, etc. Maybe you know someone who might be available or looking for extra income, any brainstorming, contacts, and ideas are appreciated.  Being in a familiar place to Mike and around more people, I hope, will make a huge difference in our day-to-day life.

I need to get busy. Have a wonderful day!