Things are getting more and more difficult

March 24, 2012

Hi all. It's been a while since I posted on here last but that's not to say lots

of stuff hasn't happened. But it's taken a fairly severe turn for the worse of

late.

A couple of weeks ago, Mum left Dad (dx PD 2010 then LBD 2011 and finally PDD

2012) for a few minutes and after she'd been home for a while, noticed a huge

dent in the side of the oven. She asked Dad if he'd had a fall and he said he

had. This is just the latest of many bad falls he's had in the past couple of

years. But this time it's worse.

Dad's right buttock was extremely sore/tender after the fall and after not

getting any better, we took him to see his doctor (GP) on Thursday. He (the

doctor) was extremely concerned about Dad's breathlessness and was worried he

may have a clot somewhere. Long story short, after 8.5 hours in emergency and

x-rays, blood tests, ECGs, etc later, they said Dad had (thank God) no broken

bones but does have a damaged piriformis muscle in the behind which explains his

extreme pain and that he would need further tests to determine if he has a blood

clot (which can be fatal) although the blood tests were indicating that there

was. Now we have to wait until Tuesday for a " VQ " scan to find out if there is

indeed a clot.

Aside from the obvious danger of the clot, the GP has advised that it is a

dangerous situation whether we were to treat a clot or ignore it. To treat it,

Dad would need to take Warfarin - a powerful blood thinner. He is already on

blood thinners for his heart but this is way more powerful. Warfarin would

probably help the clot but if Dad were to have a fall whilst on this medication,

he could bleed to death. But if he does have a clot and it's left untreated, it

may be OK, but could also be fatal.

When Dad was diagnosed with this awful disease, I pictured him dying from

perhaps pneumonia, a few years down the track. Now, and only now, I realise that

the only thing you can be sure of with this disease is that you can't be sure of

anything.

Thanks for listening. I don't quite know what it is I'm trying to say. I guess I

just wanted to put these horrible feelings into words as Dad seems to be

worsening and it's heartbreaking.

Tania....

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