June 22-July 4

Day 501-513
I had a hard time settling into writing this as we had a traumatic week. Last week we had botox injections, and since the Dr. was helpful, I asked a few other questions. Glenn's back was giving him trouble, so I asked about additional painkillers. ( I never got an answer to the painkiller question!) Dr. looked at Glenn's meds, then told us we could start eliminating the use of some of them. We are weaning him from some water pills, and will go to see the cardiologist about the amiodarine, as it doesn't seem to be helping the arythmia. I then asked about the feed tube. and what procedure we needed to follow to have it removed. He asked a few more questions about how Glenn was coping without using it. I told him we hadn't used it in over 2 months, and he said OK, let's pull it out, and he did just that. It kind of popped as it came out, but it is gone! That was unexpected. We needed to cover it and keep it clean for the time it needed to heal, but it looks quite well.
Monday came along and we received news of a young man who had passed away on the weekend. I was upset for the family, and Glenn decided to mow some grass before it got too hot. I helped him get on, then went to the garden. In a while the mower stopped, so I went to see what was wrong. As I got close to where I thought he was working, a car stopped on the highway, and I could hear someone calling Glenn, and asking him if he was alright. My heart dropped into limbo and I raced over there. There he was, upside down in the ditch. Thank God he was moving, but as I got a closer look, I really didn't like how he was folded under the machine. The neighbour lady helped me unhook the seat belt, and we pushed the mower back onto its wheels, and got a good look at Glenn. He had a bit of blood on his face, but did what he was asked and could move all his limbs. The neighbour called her husband, and the guys came and helped lift Glenn back into his chair. He had no pain, and the bleeding seemed to be stopping. I thanked our helpers, and got Glenn into the house so I could have a good look at him. He was saying that now he had a story to tell. When he was on the ground, he looked under the chair and took a label out that he hadn't seen before. I asked him when he had looked at the bottom of the chair before. He also landed on an ant pile, so he had ants in his pants too! The damage seemed to be superficial, but I called a friend to come and give her opinion, and she said the same thing. He could move his hand, although it is sporting a huge bruise. His face took to worst of it, his glass nose piece jammed into the side of his nose, and he looks as though he went a round with Mike Tyson. Today the bruises are starting to yellow around the edges, so he will get pretty colourful in the next few days. I helped him put on his glasses this morning, but put a bit of padding under the one nose piece (amazingly the glasses were only slightly bent!) I think I suffered more from the shock than he did, but he knew how much it hurt. I gave him sh-- about cutting the ditch, and he commented that he didn't think that would happen. Needless to say, he won't do them any more. I went to the shop last night to see if the mower would start and run. It did both, although there was a great cloud of smoke as the oil burned out of the engine. It seems none the worse for wear, and I cut a bit of grass to see if it would keep going. It did, so we were lucky this time. I told Glenn his angel is still watching over him closely, but he should give him a break. I'm at work today and tomorrow, so Glenn is on his own. Jackie thought she might come out this afternoon, as she only worked to 12:30. I haven't heard from them, so I'll find out when I get get home. It took most of Tuesday to settle down, and the therapists were concerned yesterday, but everyone agreed that he looks the worse for wear, but really didn't do too much damage. I hope we have an uneventful week next week!
'Til next time,
Louise