Today with Ray

[Guest guest]

Thanks to all who sent encouraging messages and remarked about the " hair

problem " That is pretty interesting.

I can best describe today by saying " Ray has not been sleeping all day

today " . As you may remember, he has been hospitalized and they are trying to

place him in a nursing home. the first 3 days, he was sleeping 10-12 hours

which was not at all typical. Today, he woke at 4 am or so and was restless.

When he woke up, he was ornery and didn't eat breakfast good. He was anxious

and antzy all day and nothing I did helped, not even the gum helped today.

My sister came in to visit and brought some cake and when he wouldn't eat

that, I should have known things were going downhill. When she left, I went

out with her to eat lunch and was gone for 1/2 hour. They have bed alarms

and chair alarms so they can monitor him. They took him for a walk around

the unit trying to divert him and he went balistic. He attacked the aide,

nurses and finally 2 security guards subdued him and got him under control

before I got back. Needless to say, I was very upset. Guilty that I had

left, that someone might have been injured, (however they weren't). My

oldest daughter is staying with him tonight and I will get some much needed

rest.

Interesting: one of the students came in to see Ray this morning and I

talked to her about what they would do with Ray if he went ballistic. (My

daughter was afraid they would put him in a straight jacket and take him to

the psych ward. She has been insisting that we must cover around the clock

with him even while he is in the hospital. The rest of us had begun to think

that we didn't have to be there around the clock.) The young doctor said " oh

no, we would never do that. We would try something to sedate him before

serious restraint was used and we would never take him to the psych ward. "

I asked what sedation he would get. " Well, we would start with something

like Halodal or maybe Ativan " . I pointed to the list over Ray's bed and said

" those are dangerous drugs for people with LBD. Please refer to that list

before anything is given. " She said: " what would you think might work? " I

said that the seroquel usually quiets him down fairly well. (By the way,

the nurses ask that we continue the round the clock until they figure out

meds that will work to keep him level.)

So after the ordeal this afternoon, another doctor came in and ordered 50 mg

of Seroquel. Within an hour, Ray was quiet and asleep. Hopefully the night

dose will keep him quiet through the night and tomorrow will be a better

day. Leona

Leona: Caregiver for husband Ray, age 67, diagnosed 2/04 with Parkinson's

Disease. Changed doctors, diagnosed 6/06 with LBD. Almost continual downhill

slide no matter what drugs we try.