Listening and Talking

When I arrived home today, Dennis shared the good news that he was up at 8:30 this morning. In addition to getting out of bed early, he ate a huge breakfast, did some weight lifting, walked outside for a while and was cheerful. A nice change from yesterday.

His drooling is getting beyond pesky again, though. His botox has worn off, and his nurse practitioner is reticent about receiving another injection. She is afraid that his pneumonia last month was, at least in part, exacerbated by the injections. This was disappointing news, as his speech is so difficult to understand under the best of conditions. The more saliva he produces, the more difficult his speech is to decipher. The injections were the first intervention that helped even a little bit.

What all of this means for me is, simply, we are not communicating as easily. Dennis is the talker and I am the listener. Okay, those of you that know me well, know that I love to talk, too. But, I am basically lazy, and if I am around someone who likes to talk more than me, I easily acquiesce. Dennis likes to talk more than I do, so I have become the listener. It isn't easy being a listener, however, when the talker is so difficult to understand.

We have played these roles for so long, it is difficult to change. I simply need to become the talker, once again, as Dennis takes on the role of listener. I have a feeling, deep down, that the transition will be much easier for me, than it is for Dennis.

Until tomorrow,
Ann and Dennis

Saliva, Once Again and Again and Again

Our friend, Melinda came over for dinner last night. Rod, her partner, has been working nights for over a month, and she needed to get out of the house. We always have lots of laughs together, and I needed some good laughs.

Dennis disappeared into the master bedroom/bathroom suite about 5 minutes before she arrived. He only came out once to sweep through the kitchen and say hello during the five hours she was here.

Dennis loves Melinda, so I was surprised that he was so anti-social. I know he was busy "unconstipating" himself, but he also just sat on the bed and watched Tv quite a bit of that time. There was a tiny bit of pouting going on, too, due to a few words we had exchanged earlier. However, I knew there was more to the story.

He had been too embarrassed to come out and talk. He was salivating at a rate similar to a small waterfall. He wouldn't have been able to talk or eat, so he simply stayed out of the picture.

Perhaps the Mayo will have some answers for us. If not, the Struther's will have to hustle on the referral to the specialist for Botox injections. This issue needs to be resolved. Soon.

Until Tomorrow,
Ann and Dennis
Living with Shy-Drager

Saliva, Once Again

I must go back, soon, and count how many of my blog entries concern drooling. It is one of the troublesome symptoms for Dennis. It affects his speech, his eating, and his desire to eat a meal with others. It embarrasses him, too.

The pills that work for so many, according to his doctor's nurse, do not work for him. The eye drops that have the surprise affect of cutting down on saliva, are not working either. Today, after work, I will stop at the hospital health store and fill his prescription for a home suction unit.

I know that this is not a life threatening symptom, at least not at the moment. So many of his other issues are more important, health wise, to manage. But this one, this icky saliva issue, affects his quality of life more than the others.

We are both hoping that this suction thing will work. If it doesn't, all that is left to try is Botox shots to freeze the glands.

I am afraid, if he has to turn to Botox, that he will come out looking like Cher or Micheal. Ick!

Until Tomorrow,
Ann and Dennis
Living with Shy-Drager, Multiple System Atrophy and saliva, and saliva, and saliva

Dennis' drooling has gone from frustrating to exasperating. He can't seem to utter even two words without having to swallow. Yesterday, he was unable to communicate with the bank and make the transfers to pay-off our loans. Today, when I came home, he was attempting to talk to a nurse at Struther's, his clinic, and they could not comprehend anything he was saying.

He had been begging for help with the drooling. The medicine he is taking is no longer working, but they have limited medications for this problem. His Parkinson's doctor is reticent to give him a stronger dose, due to blood pressure concerns. His general practitioner, however, did encourage him to increase the dose and experiment. The whole point is moot however, the medicine simply does not work, anymore.

Dennis carries a towel with him, almost every where he goes these days. This towel is just to mop up the drool that is continuously sliding out of his mouth. As I have mentioned before, he is not much fun to watch eat, and most of this is due to the drool.

This is really getting exasperating, for both of us. I want, so much, to understand all that he says to me. I desire to enjoy a meal with him without cleaning his face three or four times. I need to be able to go out to eat with him, without anyone either staring at him, or avoiding looking at him. I hope to have a conversation with him without asking him, three or four times, to repeat himself. I wish that he could be understood by others, so that I am not always interpreting for him. I need him to feel capable, once again, and not always dependent on someone else.

Is this asking too much?

Until Tomorrow,
Ann and Dennis
Living with Shy-Drager, Multiple System Atrophy and way too much drool