Tonight's picture was taken in January of 2002. I was six months pregnant with Mattie. I literally have a photo file entitled, "Belly Shots," as we anxiously were tracking from month to month my/Mattie's growth. I remember this particular night captured in this photo, as we were headed to a company holiday party in the city. I was surrounded by a lot of twenty somethings and in comparison to them, I felt enormous and uncomfortable. About a month after this photo was taken, I went into premature labor. The doctor was able to stop the process, but I remained on bedrest until Mattie was born in April of 2002.
Quote of the day: There are no goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart. ~ Mahatma Gandhi
As if things couldn't get worse.... they do! My dad has been dealing with hiccups since last Wednesday. So we are talking 9 days and counting. I finally found a combination of drugs that was helping to slow down the number of hiccup bouts in a day and the duration of each bout. However, I had to STOP all of these medications last night! Why? Because while we were watching TV together, I observed the following out of the corner of my eye:
- lip smacking
- tongue darting
- dancing fingers
I knew exactly what was happening, because I observed my grandmother develop Tardive Dyskinesia from medications. Tardive Dyskinesia is a reaction to most likely mental health or gastrointestinal medications, which typically can be reversed if you stop the medication. My dad was on a cocktail of medications for a day and half with me, but of course was also given doses within the hospital for three days. In addition to the above symptoms, my dad was lethargic, appeared unsteady on his feet, and sleepy. These are recipes for disaster, as he is a big man, and I can't afford for him to fall or to fall on me. SO ALL MEDICATIONS WERE STOPPED.
This morning, I noticed that the Tardive Dyskinesia symptoms disappeared but in their place was a mental status change. My dad was talkative, argumentative, and delusional. By 10:30am, I thought I was going to jump out of the window managing his energy level and bowel movements. Thankfully today was his memory care center day, and all the staff are aware of his symptoms and issues. On the drive to the center, my dad was seeing things along the side of the road that were NOT actually there! He kept pointing them out to me and at first I literally wanted to say..... are you kidding me? But then I put my clinical hat on and my inner dialogue was.... you never confront a person having a delusion. You should either accept it, learn more, or divert the attention away from the delusion. I did both with my dad. So he felt heard and I was able to keep things calm.
Of course without hiccup medication, WE HAVE FULL BLOWN hiccups! My dad's doctor doesn't want him on anything right now until his mental status improves. I totally appreciate that, but at this point I seek divine intervention to solve this problem because I am at my wit's end.
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