Seizure like episode

This morning we woke up at 8:15. Rick got up and went into the bathroom and then turned around to come back out. I got him and helped him to the toilet. He started peeing before he actually got seated.

When he got up he wasn’t acting normal. He didn’t want to move his feet. He took baby steps. I finally got him back over to the bed and sat him down to put his slippers on. His eyes were glassy and he was having body jerks, his arm, leg, etc. He had not had his meds yet. He had just gotten up. So I decided we needed to get to the kitchen for breakfast. With much effort I got him to walk down the hall. When we got to the steps he wouldn’t budge. I put my arm around his waist and his hand on the rail and pulled him down, moving his feet one at a time. We finally got down. He seemed to have something in his mouth to spit out so I took him to the sink but he wouldn’t spit. So I put him down in the roller chair and pushed him up to the table. He continued to shake badly this whole time and his eyes were glassy. So I decided it was not a good idea to eat or take pills. So I pulled him into the living room and transferred him into his lounge chair. I was then able to give him his medicine crushed in maple syrup. This was about 8:45 am. In a little bit he looked at me with a normal expression on his face and smiled. Then he went to sleep and is sleeping now. 9:45 am

Zombie

This morning Rick’s feet looked better. They are still swollen but not as bad. He hasn’t had any Lasix yet. I still have to get it filled at the pharmacy.

He still is like a zombie. He leans to the left. He isn’t feeding himself very well. I had to help him a lot with his breakfast this morning.

At the center this morning, he got out of the car by himself and walked towards the door without my direction. He got distracted though, by the bus that was at the door and walked toward it instead of going into the center. I was right behind him and able to get him back in the right direction.

He had his first Lasix at 8 am today.

Dr Visit

We went to the doctor today to check out his swollen feet. Dr. Snider gave him a prescription for Lasix to use for a few days until his swelling goes down.

I got his Dilantin level drawn again and Dr Snider also did some blood work.

Rick is presently taking Keppra 1500 mg bid, Dilantin 100 mg 1 in am and 2 in pm, Zoloft 50 mg qd. As well as his vitamins.

Improving

This morning he seemed more like himself. He responded in his usual ways. He smiled at the aide and the nurse. He tried to talk a little.

His feet were a little less swollen today but still hard to get his shoes on.

We went to church tonight. He responded to the people normally. But during the service he fell asleep and lay right down on the pew. He would wake up and then go back to sleep and lay down again.

VA respite & cruise

Rick was at the VA respite while I went on a cruise from 012009 to 012709.

I went to pick Rick up from the VA this morning. They said he was sleeping a lot during the day and wandering during the night. His feet were swollen very badly. I hadn’t seen them that swollen before. They have been swollen at times before but not as badly and they would get better. They weren’t swollen when I took him there.

He was sitting in the day room sleeping when I got there about 8 am. I went in to wake him and he wouldn’t look up at me. So I got his hand and helped pull him to his feet. Then I had to tip his face up to look at me. He smiled at me but didn’t seem very excited to see me. So we got the rest of his things and left.

When we got to the center (he slept the whole way there), he got out of the car by himself and walked into the center without me having to guide him. When he saw Debbie, the receptionist, he made his funny sounds like he does when he tries to make a joke. And he laughed. But he barely acted like he recognized me.

This evening when Gerald brought him home he acted more glad to see me.

At the supper table I asked him if he was glad to be home. He said, “Yes!....I am, I am, I am.”

He woke up throughout the night several times with a start. Hopped out of the bed before I could stop him. A couple of times I took him to the bathroom, but most of the time I would just calm him back down and get him back in the bed and he would go back to sleep. I wish he would sleep all night!

Dilantin roller coaster

Well after Ricks 2 seizures on 010909, Dr Pearce increased Rick’s Dilantin to 4/day. It didn’t seem to take long for Rick to start getting lethargic and lean to the left some. He’s been a zombie most of the past week.

We saw Dr. Pearce on Thursday, 011509. He said to decrease the Dilantin back to 3/day except Tuesday and Friday he should have 4/day. We started that on Friday. We got his Dilantin level drawn Thursday at the VA. It was 25.1. Already it was too high. Dr. Pearce said to keep the Dilantin dosage at 3/day all week, instead of doing the 4/day 2 days a week.

I will plan to get his level drawn again next week sometime.

The girls at Dayspring are working on getting an appt at the seizure clinic at NCBH. This will be good to have doctors who work regularly on this to look at Rick.

Two seizures in the same morning

4:30 am

Rick woke up very agitated. I took him to the bathroom and then got him back in bed. He started having those little spells. I kept him as still as I could in the bed. This went on for about an hour. He seemed to settle down a little and I thought he was getting better. Then he got agitated again and went into a full blown seizure. He jerked for about 30 seconds and then went into the deep snoring breathing for about 5 minutes. Then he moved a little and went back to sleep breathing deeply but not the heavy snoring. (5:34 am) He would try to get up but go right back to sleep with heavy breathing and some snoring. He had 4 Dilantin yesterday. One at breakfast (7 am) one about 10 am and 2 at supper (7pm)

During the first part of this time when he seemed to be calming down, he started crying and said, “I hurt for her.” Many times he would look at me and smile. At 5:50 am he wet the bed. I got him up to the bathroom and he voided some more. I was able to rig the bed so he could get back in it. Then he went to sleep.

He woke up at go to the bathroom at 8 am. I had to go to a doctor’s appt so Chantel, the HHA, stayed with him. She took him back to bed after he finished in the bathroom. He slept about 15 minutes and got up again. She was able to wash him and get him dressed and get his breakfast. She gave him his morning pills about 8:30 or 9:00 am. He started having his little spells. She called me on my cell phone asking what to do. I told her she could take him to his chair in the living room. So she did that but before he got there he had another full blown seizure, jerking, and heavy breathing with snoring. By the time I got home she had been able to get him up in his chair. He woke up and we tried to get him up to the bedroom. He couldn’t pick his feet up to go up the steps. So we took him back to the couch in the living room. He’s been sleeping there ever since. It is 10:45 now. He woke up at 11:30 and seemed to be pretty normal. He went to the bathroom without trouble walking up the steps.

He has slept but now he is walking around. Rick and Crystal have invited us to go to supper tonight. I think we will try to go.

Seizure like episodes

This morning Rick woke up with the alarm at 6 am. We didn’t get out of bed until about 6:15. Rick went to the bathroom and then I noticed him having one of those little spells. Just a cough (not really) and a start. I put him back to bed and was able to get myself dressed. Then even in the bed he continued to have those spells. He got restless and very sweaty. He didn’t want to stay in the bed, but I kept him there. He got up once to go to the bathroom again. He said, “I’ve got to get out of here.” So I figured he needed to go. He didn’t do very much, so we went back to bed.

By this time Chantel, home health aide, was here to give him his bath. But that didn’t happen.

Rick stayed this way until 7:45 am. He acted like he needed to get up. I asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom. He said, “Yes.” So we went. He emptied his bladder this time. Then he went back to bed and went to sleep.

Oh, I forgot to say that I gave him his meds at 7 am. So probably they were taking effect by this time.

The entire time he was having these little spells. He would settle down for a short time and then get restless again. This was going on from 6:15 to 7:45 am.

I start work at 11:30 am today so we will see if I can take him to the center later this morning.

Seizure

Rick had a seizure last night. It was a full blown one. Yesterday morning about 4 am he woke up agitated. He had several of those little episodes. I prayed with him and kept him in the bed and that is all that happened. He finally settled down about 5 am. I didn’t go back to sleep, but he did.

I had been trying to give him his meds at 7 am and 7 pm to keep him on a regular regimen. He was on Dilantin 100 mg bid. So we were having a lat supper after having Christmas with Erin and Robert. I was just finishing up getting dinner ready and had stopped to get Rick’s meds ready. He was standing by my side. I had spoken to him a couple of times telling him I was going to get him something to eat and get his meds.

Then he had the seizure. He sort of doubled over and I was able to grab his arms and lay him down gently on the floor. He seized for about a minute and then fell into the heaving sleep with deep snoring for about 10 minutes. Erin and Robert were here. They helped me get him to bed. They carried him. He would sleep a little bit and then get agitated and kick the covers off. Then he would go back to sleep. This went on for about an hour or so. He finally went to sleep for the night about 9 pm. At 9:30 pm I decided he needed his meds, so I finished mixing these and woke Rick up to give them. He took them without problems and went back to sleep, after a trip to the bathroom. He slept until 4 am. We got up to the bathroom and then he went back to bed. He went on to sleep but I didn’t. I maybe slept 20-30 min just before getting up at 6 am.

I called Dr Pearce today. He said to increase his Dilantin level back up to 3 a day. He said that maybe it will be best to keep his Dilantin level up as long as he doesn’t have the side effects.