Moody's health

Moody had his annual physical exam today and also got the results from his brain MRI from last Friday.  The MRI showed no sign of strokes or problems with major arteries, but the small veins show signs of sluggish blood flow.  There is also less white matter. This is essentially the same result as his previous MRI.  They called it "small vessel disease" and recommended continued aspirin and lovastatin.  The medical term for the white matter decline is Leukoaraiosis. Patients may develop subcortical dementia syndrome.

Moody has lost about 8 pounds in the last 2 weeks which I think is directly related to the observed decline in appetite.  He's eating about half of what he was eating 2 weeks ago.  He also complained about pain in his shoulder and rib, though there is no evidence or memory of a fall.  He has a fair amount of fatigue and sleeps most of the day.  When Don and Kathy were here, he moved his plate away and put his head on the table to "rest".  He also seems to need more help than before as in dressing, bathing, and even standing from a seated position.  He was faithful about washing the dishes, but he has not done that in about 2 weeks.  The doctor gave a prescription for a new drug (an antidepressant) to help with resting more at night and that will help increase his appetite.  She wants to see him again in 2 months.  She also put in a neurology consult, but I have not heard from that person yet.

Accomplishments

Below is a pic of Patti's beautiful quilt that she made for her bed.

And ML has a new venture called Anchor B . Please check out her Website including her journal.

Remember...

The first Ed Sullivan show with the Beatles?

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a nice Valentine weekend with ML, Robert, and Georgia visiting.  We mostly ate as you can see from the pics below.

Thursday

Moody is at Charles House for a few hours today.  It seems pretty lonely here without him.  The dogs are wondering where he is. I go back and get him around 2:30. That gives me a few hours wto practice my Iolanthe music.  (Moody doesn't like me to practice - it annoys him).

LTC Insurance

I got a call that they will make Moody's claim good from a year ago when he failed a cognitive test given by Dr. Bergdolt.  That means we can get reimbursed for care starting now.  It's unclear if they will pay for Charles House, however, because they insist the place have a nurse and Charles House does not.   They will also reimburse our premiums for the last 9 months. 

Tuesday afternoon, Moody's Fearrington Friend came by and we all talked.  He'll come back next Tuesday.  Moody went with me to Voices rehearsal last night.  While he enjoyed it, he thinks maybe he won't go next week.  The visit with his primary care doc went well, though she may want him to see a neurologist and have an MRI of his head.   The says the CT scan performed 6 months ago showed sluggish circulation of blood in the brain.  She thinks a better test might show more.  I think she is going to recommend a specialist up at UNC.  His cancer check-up today was good- more on that on the Cancer Blog.

Charles House

We went this morning to Charles House for a guest visit and Moody enjoyed it so we will return on Thursday where he will be a guest for half a day.  They all sat around the table today and a UNC intern picked out highlights from the newspaper which was fun.  Today is Aaron Burr's birthday, so Moody graced them with his poem about the Burr and Hamilton duel.  They enjoyed that.  He see his primary care doc tomorrow and his cancer doc on Wednesday.  Busy week.

Calender Pics

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

A Plan...

Trying to come up with a plan for Moody's continued confusion has taken some time this week.  This morning I visited a day-care place for folks with dementia.  It was in Carrboro which is a 20-minute drive.  I'm not sure if Moody would like it.  He could go at 11:30am, get lunch, and afternoon music and discussion programs. Then I'd pick him up ~4:30.  I'll see if I can get him to go for an hour next week.  I'd probably try to do it once a week then maybe twice a week if the Long-term Care Insurance will pay for it.  They sent a nurse today to ask him some questions.  He did not pass the cognitive test and the nurse thought he should not be left alone.  So maybe, they will consider him eligible for benfits. If so, then they would pay after 90 days have passed. 

In between those two appointments, I went to a support group at Fearrington Cares for caregivers for folks with dementia.  It was interesting but depressing hearing all their woes.  One of the leaders offered a rationale for why Moody thinks there is the "other" Cathy (when Moody doesn't recognise me).  He thought Moody was looking for his other self - the one that knows and remembers- because that's the one that went with the "other" Cathy.  Very interesting thought. 

Moody was pretty good today - less confused about things.  But yesterday afternoon just as I was heading out the door to a rehearsal, he started in with the "other" Cathy search and where were we, etc.  So I didn't go to that rehearsal. I took him with me for the evening meeting and rehearsal.  He was happy to go.  He enjoyed listsening to the chorus rehearsal.