He is off the IV for now...I wonder if also the appetite stimulant because he didn't eat much with me today. Got there near 11am with Buck and a croissant egg sausage cheese and tomato sandwich, an old fashioned donut, and a cup of coffee. He wasn't interested in anything but had a few sips of coffee...said leave it Ill have it for lunch, but when I returned later it was still there - but so was a lot of other stuff...a half eaten piece of chocolate cake, a bag of baked goods from Mary Jane, maybe he ate his real lunch and was snacking on other stuff. I said hey you didn't eat this he said I know I'm saving it for the middle of the night.
Today is street cleaning day aka move your car day...we drove in the morning, expecting to leave him and head to Ft Funstun for a walk. We mostly talked. Buck laid in bed with him. and I sandwiched Buck in on the side of the bed. The doctor came in. Felt like he was completely out of touch saying that he wasn't eating. Richard was complaining to him that the nurses are still giving him his time released meds in a liquid solution - like applesauce or whatever, and he wants to take it just like a normal medication, not in anything liquid so it doesn't start its time release properties prematurely. The Dr seemed to not be concerned. I tried to rephrase it for Richard so the Dr understood clearly the issue or potential issue. Richard is also concerned he is not getting another medication that is a companion drug to this time release. The Doctor says hes getting it - it might look different. Im still not sure but.....
We have an apt with his PCP at VA tomorrow at 11am. When I got back after seeing him this morning I tried to email the PCP to get Richards charts from Tunnell so I could get him to advocate for Richard on his meds. It bounced at the address Richard had in his computer. So I googled him and left a message at his Kaiser work number and email. Unsure if it made it to him or not, but proactive or reactive I'll be there tomorrow and I can say it again.
He has to pay $75 for round trip transportation to that appointment...
Funstun got ditched for work. I packed a watermelon aloe water, picked up some food and a fruit tart and headed back up after 3p. He was awake. His space was crammed with stuff so I started picking up for him. I noticed a brown paper bag that looked like it was from the outside and he said that Mary Jane had dropped it off with some nice flowers that made his table cheery. Almost as soon as I sat down a handsome young physical therapist named Matt came in to work with him. Gina, his occupational therapist came at the same time to check on him and let him know shed be back in 30min. Richard sat up Matt took BP. Its high 155/something. He asks him to stand and it plummets almost in half. Has him just stand there and march in place and takes it again its back to close to normal. Richard reported even though it was low, he was not feeling any dizziness. They walked to the end of the hall and back using a walker to steady himself. He did not put a waist band on him to grab him, and richard was walking quite well. Not shuffling his feet as much and only once did I see him visually lean over to the right on the walker like he was off balance.
Of course I left my stupid phone in the car and was cursing myself for not having it for video, but I also had a couple of email messages I had received that I needed to relay to him, so Buck and I ran back down to get that and his pastry I had also left ...
When I come back hes all tucked into bed! I was expecting a little more than that o.O. Since he had so much food already I did not leave what I had for him. I did leave the aloe water which he had started and liked.
The occupational therapist was going to do computer work with him today. He didn't want me to stay for it. I had already been there a little over an hour. i bided my time by reading the email message from Bill and showing him some pictures and video on my phone. no luck, so we headed out. Streets are packed so I had to take a loading zone spot and be sure to move my car early in the morning. I have to go to VA anyway, so we'll just get up early and go do something on the way.
He was complaining of his vision today. very blurry.
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