Monday, March 29, 2021

Where do we go from here?

Ed told me that he was sitting up in a chair today which is great but that he can not stand on his own and walk. He actually did that when the Paramedics took him to the hospital although he tired and they did help him but he was still mobile. I was just so relieved that he did not break anything when he when down although he went down with my arms around him and I supported him to the ground. I have the still strained muscles from that episode. He is pretty heavy and I had lost seven pounds in just a few weeks helping him to move. I haven't gained any yet because I am trying to do as much as I can while he is away to set up the place so that it is ready for his return. 

His X-rays from the end of December and his X-rays on arrival at the hospital are virtually the same. But the more in depth CT scans pointed out degenerative disc disease. I found it interesting because Ed never complained in his entire life when I knew him about having a sore back except for one occasion but these ancient fractures at L1-L2 must have happened many years ago. When we first flew to England in 2008 Ed suffered pain spasms in his back and was unable to even roll his suitcase let alone pick it up and fortunately the plane exit was ramped as stairs might have been impossible for him. A good course of voltaren (one of my cousins happened to have a tube) and about five days and it had disappeared. Now I really regret not pursuing that particular health issue on our return. Although our doctor at that time tended to relegate everything to aging and didn't do too much in the way of testing. 

When Ed started to suffer a couple of years later from what ended up being bradycardia and fainting spells we had the good fortune to have called an ambulance where the paramedic recognized that he probably needed a pacemaker and at Montfort that whole process was put into motion and a much needed pacemaker was inserted and it was like night and day as Ed  was back to doing everything he had done before the bradycardia and fainting spells had dominated his life for about a year. My prayer is that he can do it again but it is nine years later and he has had a pretty rough three months and is nearly 78 years of age. He will need intensive physio for a bit to help him regain his muscle tone and then we can get back to the stationary bike and walking hopefully. I also need to have information on the kind of equipment I need to look after him initially like a wheelchair and other types of devices that can be near to his hospital bed at home whilst he gains in strength. 


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