15 Minutes of Alison

"Hi bobo, Merry Christmas". That is how Alison greeted me at today's visit! She was cognizant, with a sense of humor! She had just been moved to a chair and had taken her meds. She knows she has been out of it, maybe because of what Amy told her last visit. I told her she was getting used to the meds and will be able to do more each day. She is only able to move her right arm slightly (no left arm or legs). We used her breathing exercise devices once but only achieved only modest levels. She shared she had arm and leg bodies pains, perhaps from lack of movement? So I massaged and stretched her limbs.

We were able to talk about 15 minutes but then she drifted back toward sleep. At that point, Alison began to mutter and started crying out again for help. But now she is too medicated or weak to yell loudly.. “Mommy help.” “Can't do anything right.” “…back to normal.” “Be the same.” “Help me.” Can't come to your house?”

From the nurse I learned that Alison had slept all night but that she was very agitated yesterday. The doctor has been monitoring the levels of medication in her blood. Alison has not attained the desired level of Depakote or Zeprexa as she may be metabolizing the meds faster. Today they decided to increase the dosage of these two meds. When I first arrived, they had just given her the higher dosage of Depakote but not the Zeprexa yet. And then she fell asleep. I talked with the PA about the trade-off between the levels of medication vs Alison’s inability to be cognitive or move. How long do the meds take to be effective and lose their sleepiness affect? Is there a way to differentiate between day and night time levels?

Also as FYI, Alison still has congestion in her chest. They are having her use the breathing exercise devices every 4 hours but it is hard when she is so sleepy. A couple of times, when she was drinking water, she ended up choking on the water (does she forget to finish swallowing?).