Tuesday 16 November 2010

Absent without leave - passive seizures

Dad has been very quiet for a few days. He thumbs a few pages of the newspaper but doesn't really read it, despite having read one every day of the 29 years that i have known him. He often stares at the television for long periods but we can't say how much he is actually interested and how much he is drawn to look in its direction simply because of the sound and motion. He is not interested in food, but mostly puts up with us spoon-feeding him and seems annoyed almost at our insitence that he tries to drink more too. He told me the other day "Stop trying to pump me full of water"
After Dad's recent seizures i realised that he has, i think, been having seizures for a while, but seizures of absence rather than active physical seizures. There are periods where he stares at nothing and it is impossible to get his attention through talking and waving at him. They tend to only last 10 - 20 seconds each time, but it has happened several times most days. He often says a few words of a sentence and then suddenly stops without finishing it. We had noticed that he 'zoned-out' every so often, but it was only after seeing him have an active seizure that i really thought about it. I'm sure he was only confused last night though, when he hiccupped loudly while the nurses were here and i said "Been on the sauce again Dad?" and he replied "No you've been on it for me!" Serves me right for being cheeky.

No comments:

Post a Comment