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Today has been interesting. After getting back in the bed this morning, he had been sleeping until I went and woke him up at 2:30. I can tell that the Parkinson’s part is really starting to kick in on Lewy... He strangles on his own saliva and his breathing is loud and wheezy. It sounds like what I’ve imagined a death rattle to be like. Sort of drowning on air.
He was unresponsive when I spoke to him. Lewy was obviously alive, but not aware of anything it seemed. I touched him, called his name….no response. I finally shook him.
Lewy opened his eyes barely, and didn’t seem to know me or where he was. I asked if he wanted to get up, but no reply. So I got him up. We do this by me swinging his legs out to the floor and pulling his torso up to a sitting position.
OMG! As soon as he moved, the stench permeated everything. This was no ordinary pee smell. This was sickening. I handed him his cane and told him to go take a bath.
I striped the bed and carried the sheets, pee pads, and mattress cover straight to the laundry, and started the load. When I came back, Lewy was standing in the same spot. I took him by the hand and walked him to the bathroom. He has been taking his own baths, so I told him to go take one.
Once he was in the bathroom, I set about spraying air freshener. 1 ½ cans later, I can still pick out the strong pee odor. It is 15 degrees outside and I might break down and open the windows.Lewy is now sitting on the commode doing that wrestler high-pitched groan. I poked my head in to see if everything is alright and the blast from the now in the floor diaper…..OMG! No, OMG twice…my eyes started burning.
Lewy said he wasn’t going to take a bath. I got news for him, he either does, or I give him one. Up until now, he has not wanted me to see his privates, although, I seem to manage to everyday, so maybe …I hope will I hear water running soon.
Well, it seems bathing himself is not going to be “just go do it” any more. Lewy wasn’t able to figure out how to get in the shower. He had cold water running, no hot.
I went in and set the water temperature and turned on the shower. Tucked the curtain in, went back to work, on the other side of the bathroom wall.
Fortunately, for no particular reason, Hubbie came home early today. Just in time. Daddy turned off the water and hollered through the wall to come help. Lewy couldn’t stand up. Hubbie ended up in the tub with him, and I’m on the outside trying to lift him. We could get him up an inch or two, but he would not or could not get his legs under him. We had to let him drop back down to the shower seat and rethink the options.
We tried the second time, the third time. By then we were both out of breath trying to lift this 200+ pounds of dead weight. Then we tried rocking him. Half inch by half inch we rocked him over to the edge of the shower seat. Then we were able to pull his legs up and over the side of the tub. No easy task, when a person’s legs are stiff.
By now Hubbie had a bit more room to gain leverage, and I could reach Lewy better. We did one final big Heave Ho and got Lewy out enough to drop him slowly onto the commode seat, which is mere inches from the tub. We all had to rest for about 5 minutes.I toweled Lewy off, not that he was wet anymore, but never the less it seemed the thing to do, and put a sweat shirt on him.
After resting for a while, we got him standing, and shuffling his feet to start to get out of that tiny room.15 minutes later, we had him on his bed side putting on new diapers. He wanted to get up so we finished dressing him, gave him his pills, and walked him to his Lazy Boy, where he fell fast asleep.
That gave me time to wash all the sheets, pee pads, pajamas, and Lewy’s blanket, and get the bed remade before it was time to wake him up to go to bed.