Time for an update. The past two weeks have been hard for Mary. She is growing weaker by the day. Her back pain has eased a bit, but she has been having nagging case of diarrhea. She hasn’t been out except for a few short walks in our courtyard. (Down to the elevator and back.)
She had an appointment with her primary care doc yesterday. It was a struggle to get her down to the car. (elevator and no stairs) Originally, this was for a followup on her back pain resulting from her two falls. But Paula brought up the issue of the diarrhea. We had tried the BRAT diet (Banana, Rice, Apple Sauce and Toast.). The diet wasn’t doing much good. Wasn’t doing her much harm other than making her hungry.
We had hoped the Doctor would do blood tests to make sure she wasn’t getting dehydrated but he didn’t. We have been pushing fluids (mostly juice and water). He prescribed a drug called Lomotil that is used to slow down the flow of food through the intestinal tract. He told her that she could eat anything she wanted. That being said, we will probably make sure that she gets a healthy diet (ie. less sugar, less dairy, etc.)
So she ate a full meal for dinner with our family last night. The Lomotil didn’t seem to do any good. She had another blow out episode. We have been forced to use “Depends” to limit the mess.
This is beginning to suck the wind out of our sails. We are really trying to avoid having to put her in a nursing home but that day is coming we fear. We will probably ramp up the use of home health care so that Paula gets some rest. Paula and I are looking forward to our trip up to San Francisco next weekend. Home care scheduled. Hopefully her diarrhea will have eased somewhat.
calherewecome 