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Acid Reflux?

I don’t know how I could have failed to say something about what may be a recurrence of acid reflux. This is an old problem for which we found a resolution two or three years ago. Since that time she has taken a prescription for Prilosec that had solved the problem. About six months ago, she experienced a couple of instances of the problem. I thought the problem had gone away on its own. Kate said she was eating more slowly which she believed helped to prevent a recurrence

I can’t recall exactly when, but she started using extra paper napkins at restaurants. This typically occurs before she has even eaten anything. As I reflect, it is something that occurs at various time during the day. She goes through lots of toilet paper which I now believe may be associated with this problem. Let me describe the problem as well as I can

Unlike her previous experience with acid reflux, what she is experiencing now does not involve exactly the same symptoms. When she has had the more serious experiences, she has to stop eating. She usually lowers her head slightly and appears to be trying to calm herself. With the current problem, she can continue to eat. As I have already mentioned, she will be having the experience before food arrives at our table

To me it appears that she is simply spitting up saliva. I do not see any visible signs that she is experiencing acid creeping up her esophagus. It is more like the normal salivation collects in her mouth, and she spits it out. I think one reason I haven’t mentioned it before was that it never seemed like something serious. In the past month or so, the problem has become more serious and seems to bother her. In fact, last night she had some difficulty getting to sleep because of it. I suspect it was more than an hour before she got to sleep after going to bed. She got up at one point. I heard her burping in the bathroom next to our bedroom. That led me to give her some Gaviscon. Before she was taking Prilosec, I gave her Gaviscon when she had a problem. It always seemed to work. I have tried it several times recently without the same success. I am not certain that it helps at all. I do know that she finally settled down and slept well during the night

About three weeks ago, I sent a message online to Dr. Reasoner, Kate’s doctor. She suggested that we try several things. She said we could take a second Prilosec in the evening. She also said if that didn’t work, we could try her taking an antihistamine. Finally, we recommended staying away from acidic foods and beverages. I tried doubling Prilosec and could not tell any difference at all. I dropped that. I then tried adding a Claritin with her morning medications. I have not been able to detect a change though I plan to continue to give it a fair chance of success. My reason is that I think her symptoms seem more like a post-nasal drip which sounds like an allergic reaction
One other symptom has made me think of the situation as more serious than I originally did. Within the past 4-6 weeks, I have noticed that she sometimes starts burping when she takes her pills. That made me think there might actually be a gastro-intestinal source of the problem. On the whole, however, I find it very confusing. What I know is that it has become a chronic condition that annoys her. It also concerns me that it might possibly be a symptom of something more serious. Unfortunately, Kate is unable to provide any kind of description. I am hoping that we might have a conversation with her doctor. I think her next appointment is in January or February

Kate does drink a lot of tea and Dr. Pepper. That would be the next step to try. That will be a hard one as these are long-standing habits.

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Sunday Afternoon

This is a continuation of the post I started before lunch.

As I was saying, Kate was ready to go and then went back to the bedroom and got into bed. I went in to see if she wanted to rest a little more. She indicated that she did. Once again, she wasn’t in bed too long. We went to lunch. The line at the regular register was so long that we went to the “Grab and Go” line where Kate got a slice of pepperoni pizza. I got the strawberry and walnut salad.

After paying I looked around and Kate had disappeared. I looked in several places and finally found her sitting at a table with the same couple we sat with last night. Kate was not as talkative today. When we finished eating, Kate asked me where the nearest restroom was. I showed her. It turned out that she is having a problem with diarrhea. When she came out, she was quite hot. We came back to the room where she took off her clothes and got into bed. I gave her an anti-diarrheal medication. That was a little over an hour ago. She is still in bed. She seems to be quite tired, but she and I both enjoyed the morning worship service. I am now hoping he will want to go to the evening sacred song service. I don’t want to leave her alone. The good news is that we are close enough that I could sit on our porch where I am listening to a concert performed by one of the military bands. Of course, I would rather be in the audience, but this would be the next best thing.

I am beginning to think about the possibility of coming back here for the last week in August. I think Kate would be up to it. I am certain that next year is out.

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Recovering from our Colds

Today seemed like a day of progress in recovery from our colds, at least for Kate . It is peculiar, but we both seem to have trouble early in the day but are better later in the afternoon and evening. It has been hard for me to determine how much of her listlessness is a result of her illness and how much might be a result of her Alzheimer’s. I suppose I will see in a few days. I think it has been a combination.

She is still asserting her independence but also showing her need for and acceptance of my help. Today, for example, I noticed that she had not taken her medicine. Instead of telling her that she had forgotten (which I usually do) I simply took the pills I knew she really needed and gave them to her. She never asked any questions, just took them. I might have thought she would ask where the others were, but she didn’t. She easily accepted my help. On the other hand, tonight when I gave her her medicine (she had forgotten to take it again), I told her to be careful because there were a lot of them. She said something to me that clearly indicated that she didn’t need me to tell her that. The reason I had done so was that earlier when I had given her the pills she had missed this morning, she dropped one of them in her bed and couldn’t find it.

I am sensing there is greater importance in my trying not to push her too much. After getting out of a movie at 2:30 today, I told her we needed to get to our haircuts. She expressed displeasure in that prospect. Normally she would be glad to get a haircut. It turned out she was tired and wanted to go home. We had been away from home since 10:00 this morning. As it turned out, I was wrong. When we got to the salon for our haircuts, we found out that they are really scheduled for next Tuesday. Thus she got to spend the balance of the afternoon (almost a full 3 hours) at home before we went to dinner. I have tried not to over schedule in the past, but this experience confirms just how important that is. She likes to have breaks at home and by herself (I think). I need to make sure she gets this time while also trying to minimize her boredom. It turned out that going to Panera, having lunch, and then seeing a movie was all she needed. It was time for a break, and she got it.

I continue to be surprised at some of her confusion. Yesterday, for example, she had gotten up from a little nap in her office. She came into the kitchen for something and was going back to our bedroom and asked, “”Do we have an iPad?” I think that she was momentarily forgetting that she has a new iPad to replace the one that was stolen last week.

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Fighting Colds

A little over a week ago we both came down with colds. That has captured our attention since then. Although Kate has had a more serious cold, I have also taken longer to come back than I normally do. It is a little difficult to assess how her Alzheimer’s has affected her behavior during this time. What I can say is that she has been more vocal than usual. By this I mean that she has moaned and groaned a lot as well as expressing vocal sighs and “ohs” during coughing bouts and other moments when the congestion in her throat and nasal passages increases.

Her typical Alzheimer’s symptoms have continued, but I have paid less attention as my focus has been on treating my cold. I have been drinking water all day each day. On Tuesday (2 days ago) I received 2 new SONOS wireless audio speakers. This made for a good time to set them up in the family room (less than an hour) and listen to a variety of music from my own CD collection as well as streaming from Amazon and Pandora. Yesterday I ordered a subwoofer to add to the system. It should be here by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

It has also been a good week to gather income tax records for our accountant. I am pleased that I have assembled 90% of what I need. I still haven’t received everything.

The one thing I have noticed today is that Kate sounded unusually annoyed with me. It occurred around the time we were to go for our haircuts. I think this is a holdover from the times when I have rushed her. It seems that every time we get ready to go someplace, she seems to be annoyed.