CAREGIVING: Thursday morning, Kathy had a follow-up visit with Dr. Dourantes, her primary doc. This was the first time in a week or so that Kathy had been out because of all the snow. I still had the car parked down the street. I went and got the car. Getting her and her chair into the car was a challenge because of the snow banks and ice but we made it. The check-up went fine. They gave her the pneumonia vaccine. Her blood pressure was excellent and of course the doctor couldn’t hear any of the congestion that bothers Kathy every night.
I asked whether we could switch Kathy’s blood pressure meds from Lisinopril / HCTZ to Propranolol. My reasoning is that the shaking in Kathy’s hands is less like a chorea movement and more like an essential tremor. Propranolol (or Inderal) is used for both hypertension and tremors. Dr. Dourantes looked at Kathy’s hand shaking and agreed it was worth a try. We are starting with a low dose. Many of her meds lower blood pressure as a side effect (Zyprexa and Zanaflex) so we don’t want her getting dizzy. I have enough problems already keeping her vertical.
Kathy was exhausted. When we got home she took a nap while I did some work. Dilcia was due to come that afternoon around 1:30 so when the doorbell rang at 1:00 I thought it must be her coming early. I went down but it was someone new. It turned out it was an aide from Medical Resources and she said she was there for personal care. I told her I was sorry but we had another aide coming in a half hour and there must be a mix up. When I called Sharon at Medical Resources it turned out this was the aide that was going to come on Thursdays (which we never wanted on Thursdays). But they forgot to tell her. Sharon said “She will probably be mad at me. Accidents happen.” Yes and that is why aides go other places. But the day wasn’t complete yet. Dilcia called and asked if I had listened to her phone message. I forgot to listen to my voice-mail. (Accidents happen.) Dilcia had some sort of stomach bug and she didn’t want to make us sick. So she was wondering if she could come on Saturday. So it was just as well. We ended up going to pick up the new prescription and some groceries. It was a long day.