Speed Bump

Things have still been going well for Joe and me.  However, it seemed as though we'd hit a little speed bump this morning.  His cardiologist's office called yesterday for me to bring him in for his bi-yearly pacemaker checkup.  He missed it in November due to his hospitalization and there was a cancellation, so we hopped on it.

It was a strange morning - thank goodness for a great night sleep for both of us - Joe in our bed and me out in the living room on the mattress.  Joe got his shower and when I went to get into the shower, the shower mat was covered with poop.  I asked him if he'd had an accident in the tub which was fine for me - better there than on the bathroom floor.  He said "no", he thought maybe I'd done it after my shower yesterday.  It wasn't me.  I can assure you of that.  Then he said maybe it had been B.J. did it while we were gone yesterday.  Hmmm, that still didn't make sense to me for two reasons...1.  If it had been B.J., I'm quite sure that I would have smelled it sometime during the course of using the toilet.  My sense of smell is pretty darn good and I picked up on the strange odor the minute I walked into the bathroom this morning.  2.  If it had been B.J.  the water from Joe's shower should have washed it down the drain, I would think.  Anyway, I wound up taking the shower hose and with HOT water I washed everything off the mat and removed the mat and no more poop.  Not sterile, but would work in a pinch until further bleaching can take place.  I did leave the bathroom door and shower curtain open so that I can see if it was indeed B.J. doing this.

We got out the door right on schedule.  The visit at the doctor's office then took another weird turn.  The nurse took Joe's blood pressure four times - two standing, two sitting.  His pressure was 190 something over something.  Hmmm, kinda high she says.  While plugged up and waiting for the doctor, Joe tended to drift off and on and lean way over on his right side.  I was ready to catch him if he fell. The testing on his pacemaker takes place, he has problems standing while dressing.  In fact, I have my hand on his back so that he doesn't fall over backwards.  We start walking down the hall and then he starts wobbling and knees bouncing.  (Same symptoms as this past Sunday, same as when the Senior Center called me last Monday, same as when I went to pick him up from dialysis on Saturday, same as he did after physical therapy on Tuesday and the same as one other day last week).

The nurses had him sit down, they took his blood pressure again.  100 over ?, then 90 over ?, then 80/43.  They made him sit for quite awhile until he was able to walk once again.  The doctor advised me to switch one of his meds from breakfast to bedtime. 

I called the daycare center to check on Joe and see if he was still doing okay.  The nurse said other than leaning to the right when walking, he was doing fine.  Is the leaning, the leg loss the beginning signs of the return of the fluid on his brain?  Did he actually have a bowel movement in the shower this morning and was not aware of it?  Only time will tell.
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This morning was one of those days when I feel like my hands are tied and I'm feeling as though I'm drowning.  I should have been to work at 8:00 a.m., but since Joe's appointment was at 8:30 a.m. that meant I was missing work.  Then his appointment stretched into almost 2 1/2 hours due to everything that happened.  And, because he changed his mind and wanted to go to the daycare, he was missing out on eating their lunch.  This meant I had to go by and get him something.  That took more time out of the way and by the time I made it to work at around 11:00 a.m., I had now missed three hours of work.  And, I will be leaving around 4:00 p.m. to take him to physical therapy.  Those hours add up over the course of my two week paychecks and add stress to paying for the bills.  This is the kind of thing I try to keep from sharing with Joe as he already feels responsible for some of my problems.