jmgoyder

This morning, before 7am, I got a phonecall from the hospital where Husband is and the nurse wanted me to talk to him and calm him down because he thought he was being held prisoner somewhere and was very disorientated. On the phone, I couldn’t convince him so I went straight in and only came home a little while ago, after nearly 10 hours of sitting with him.

It was a very peculiar day, because one minute Husband and I would be having a laugh about this morning’s ‘episode’ where he terrorized the nurses with his walking stick and then tried to actually run away, and the next minute he would ask me why we weren’t staying at his nephew’s place in Perth since it was so close (we are 200 kms from Perth). Lucidity and ludicrousness competed all day, so I’m glad I stayed so long because this is new and I needed to see it. Tomorrow I will not go in because, as Husband is on 24 hour ‘watch’ now, my presence there means the nurse who would otherwise be watching him can do other jobs and I really think this new confusion needs to be seen by a nurse and reported to the doctor.

At one point, Husband asked me again where he was so I told him and he said, “I think I must be going mad!” I reassured him of course but a bit later, when this situation repeated itself, I said, “I think you could be right!” and he reached out his hand and squeezed mine very hard with a big grin on his face, then fell asleep.

When I finally had to leave to come home, I kissed Husband goodbye and went to find a nurse, but while I was speaking to her, I heard Husband call, “Jules!” so I raced back into his room to find him trying to clamber over the bedrails. I quickly settled him back into bed and he put his arms around me and pulled me close, kissing me repeatedly on the lips, cheek, neck and whispering, “I love you more than anything in the world”, to which I replied, “Same here!”

I left the hospital and came home a bit too stunned to shed any tears.

The following is a photo of a photo I got framed for Husband for a Christmas present a few years ago. The original photo was taken around 35 years ago with Husband on the left and his fantastic mother on the right. This was the same year I first met Husband and fell in love – not just with him, but with his mother and the whole family!

It has been a cool, sunny day with temperatures in the house at around 22 but, because Husband feels the cold so badly, he is sitting in front of a roaring fire with all the windows closed and a blanket on and I have had to escape before I die of heat exhaustion!

We have had this conundrum for some time. Husband’s Parkinson’s disease makes him more susceptible to temperatures but not always in a way that makes sense to anyone else. I have just put another piece of wood on the fire in a room that has become a sauna and have taken a picture with his permission. He seems to find it amusing that I can’t venture into the room without melting.

I am not amused – ha!