CAREGIVING: Kathy never gets sick. Not everyday sick. Granted she has a terminal disease but she doesn’t groan or complain about aches and pains. No colds. But she has what sounds like congestion in her lungs. It shows up mostly at night, after we eat and after we try to get her to swallow her meds and supplements. It has been going on for a week, I think. I mentioned it to the visiting nurse and she suggested getting a patch called Scopolamine. It helps control mucus and secretions. I wrote it down for the next time I talk to UConn. I looked it up and in addition to being used for motion sickness it has some rather nefarious uses. A humidifier I ordered is up and running, it seems to help at night. Pneumonia is one of the more frequent causes of death in Huntington’s patients, so I get nervous when she chokes on food or coughs.
Today Lynn, her physical therapist came and I advised her to wear a mask. Kathy tried to do her exercises. There are three for her arms, and three for her legs. Kathy got halfway through them and was too tired to keep going. This evening the coughing got worse for a while so I called the VNA. Since she was scheduled for a nursing visit tomorrow we decided to wait.