Showing posts with label eat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eat. Show all posts

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.

Saturday, 13 November 2010

Another Fit

Dad slept almost all day and it was only around 5pm that he was more awake and we managed to get him to eat anything (some strawberries) So much for getting more fluids and fibre into him.  He was more alert with the afternoon visit from the nurses and when they said "We'll be off now then" Dad said "Oh good" He didn't mean to be rude, we've noticed in fact that he makes an extra effort to behave with visitors, so it brought a smile to our faces (and the nurses took it well). After dinner Mum, my brother and i settled with Dad to watch the television and Dad had another small seizure. It was over a bit quicker than last night and we put him in the recovery position to sleep it off.

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

The Vomiting Cavalier

While Mum was at the shops this morning and Dad was snoozing, her ancient cat sicked up all her breakfast all over the house (five crime scenes so far.) Fortunately none of it was near Dad. She is often a bit sick if she has eaten quickly and i remember Dad telling me at some point last year how amused he was at the speed of her recovery. It is often only a few minutes later that she turns up at her dish ready for another feed! Yuk.