As a reminder to myself...
...I want to mention that, yesterday evening, Mom had considerable difficulty with her right knee (also her "trick" knee) for a few hours; enough so that she opted for the wheel chair in the living room, even though she insisted on negotiating the two steps into the living room on her own and did so without a problem. It was the straightforward walking that seemed to put it into a tailspin. By bedtime, though, it was fine, so I think, somehow or another, she managed to accidentally maneuver that knee into an untenable position when she was in the bathroom and it took awhile to realign it. While she was standing and securely propped, before she sat is the wheel chair, I had her lift and bend her knee a couple of times, rotate her leg at the hip and swing that leg straight out the the side. None of this worked, at the time. Once she was seated, I'd rearranged the living room so that she was in "rocking chair position" and she was settled, I had her do a series of her sittercises that feature lifting, straightening and rotating the knee. By bed time she was not only able but anxious to walk on her own (with her usual walker and environmental help, of course) to the bathroom and then to bed.
    I vaguely remember MCS mentioning something about joints during her erythropoietin (which reminds me that I constantly spell it wrong, reversing the order of the "ie" to "ei") shot dissertation, but I think it was just a question, something like, "Do her joints hurt?" to which I responded, "No," which was true at the time. I need to follow up on that this weekend.
    I did a little less anxious research again last night about erhythropoietin. So far the Wikipedia article seems to have the most easily accessible and understandable information and references, but I'm still not satisfied. Seems that not too many people who have used Epo shots for purposes other than dialysis or cancer related anemia are doing much reporting. I did, though, discover an interesting looking forum called NoBlood. I signed up for it, but haven't closely investigated it, yet. It's a little confusing. I typed in "anemia" under the title search and was bombarded with all kinds of postings that may or may not apply to my experience with my mother. It looks, however, like it might also be useful for looking up information regarding transfusions, as well.

    As a sidebar, so to speak, I want to bring attention to a couple of comments on my immediately previous post of yesterday. I'm very pleased that a couple of my readers specifically mentioned my observation that dementia does not necessarily mean that one's brain is "lazy"; or, in a better word, inactive. At the time I wrote this I was thinking not only of my mother but of many of the caregiver experiences I've read that describe what seems to be heightened brain activity, particularly in the midst of confusion. Believe me, folks, a confused brain probably indulges in significantly more activity than a lucid brain. Just dealing with the confusion ups the stakes.
    As well, Patty McNally Doherty's observations about compassionate response among those with dementia hit target with me. Although I haven't noticed this, in particular, with my mother, she's always actively displayed a removed compassion for "those less fortunate" and this hasn't changed, I did notice it particularly in my grandmother and my maternal aunt. My aunt reacted much like Patty's father right up to the day she died, which was out of character for her pre-dementia self, even though noticing others who seemed to require compassion was not out of character for her. Previous to her dementia, she simply wouldn't react to these "others" in public. However, once dementia took hold, even when she was no longer able to clearly communicate with people, she would approach those whose situations softened her heart and try to bond, sometimes just through touch. My grandmother did the same, although, for her, this stage didn't last very long. She rather quickly progressed into the prison of deep dementia, which tends to block one's environment from one, at least it did in her case.
    I think it is well worth noting both of these contingencies as they apply to dementia: normal, even increased brain activity, however confused the activity seems; and an increase of expressed compassion. It is interesting and probably significant to note that even when challenged by the bewilderment of dementia, people's brains will fight, hard, to make their way through confusion and reach out to others in their environment. It is a good thing, really, that we are living in an era where we are having to study the dementia around us so meticulously that we are noticing that "the demented" are not necessarily also "the hopelessly blocked". Perhaps noticing this is helping the rest of us work from "the other side" to increase the success of the efforts of those who are sweating to make it through the confusion and the isolation their dementia is causing them to experience. And, by the way, if you find any of this intriguing, a good source for information on what those who are experiencing dementia and their loved ones are doing to increase the visibility and participation in the world of those with dementia, browse through Mona's journal, The Tangled Neuron. It's loaded not only with possibility but with actuality.
- posted by Gail Rae @ 11:23   email  this post