The hardest part

I think the hardest part in aging when you are looking after your partner is knowing what to do. Ed was mobile until mid December and then suddenly his back started to bother him. That was just before Christmas and suddenly we were helping him to move anywhere including sitting up in bed and it went from there. We were moving him every time he wanted to move. Called the doctor after Christmas and took him to the doctor on the 31st of December for X-rays on his back and I had discovered a pressure sore so that too was looked after the same day and in terms of needed medical assistance which we got from Paramed. All of these services are excellent and we were already with them because of wound care and antibiotic by IV that he required after discharge from Montfort. 

Then suddenly it was mid-January and we were exhausted so called the LHIN and they set up PSWs for us but they are only there a short time although the one hour three times a week and 3/4rds of an hour four times a week was very helpful. Then the eye appointment mid January and Ed went down on his knees and the security guard at the mall helped us to get him on his walker. Made that eye appointment as he was having trouble seeing; fuzzy was becoming more and more often. He recovered quickly from that and was walking around the house with his walker that evening. Walked with his walker to get his glasses two weeks later. 

Then mid February he was down again on the way to a Paramed appointment for wound care. Had to call an ambulance and they got him into his bed. Was that the point at which we should have just taken him to the hospital? I will always wonder that. He wanted to go to his bed though and the paramedics did do that. The next day with help he was up again and we carried on still helping him to move virtually everytime he shifted position. 

We were still lifting him all the time with the relief from the PSWs and still tired when we got the power chair mid February. That is a marvelous tool and too bad I didn't get it sooner but everything takes time to work through and I had no idea when I first heard about it. That saved a number of lifts. We were still exhausted as it was night and day with washroom trips. The OT came to assess him in March and we were going to get a hospital bed and put it on the main floor finally after discussion as the couple of stairs to the chair lift were becoming difficult. Then he was down again three days later when we were headed downstairs. I covered him with a blanket and called an ambulance. He wanted a blanket under him so I carefully did that. In retrospect I should not have done that as then he asked us to take him by pulling the blanket to his bed and help him into that. We could not lift him. The paramedics arrived and they got him up on his feet and then sat him on his walker as he felt weak and moved him to the chair lift and then down and out the door to the stretcher. 

When should I have reacted; did I do it the way that I should have? I shall always wonder that. Praying that the vertebroplasty does help him to become mobile once again.