Family update
Mom continues to surprise us. Last week she
decided to participate in the post Christmas shopping frenzy and called to see
if I had any recommendations for new music on cds. My advice was to stick with
the stuff she grew up with. If you're really curious, I said, you could always
borrow some discs from your grandchildren. She ended up buying some Anne Murray,
Martina McBride, a Country Hits of the 60s compilation and an 8 disc album
celebrating Mozart's 250th anniversary.
Last year I talked her into changing
psychiatrists and following the new guy's recommendation for a different drug
regimen. The side effects of the old meds (olanzipine, piportil) were
aggravating her diabetes and causing tardive dyskinesia, a motion disorder.
She's now on a low dose of risperdal along with bupropion, an anti-depressant
more commonly used to quit smoking (never one of her bad habits.)
The first few weeks after she came out of the hospital were rough. Her complaints back then sounded like she was going through an addiction withdrawal. But gradually she's recovered and is taking more interest in life than we have seen in a long time. Her blood sugar levels are excellent and the shakes and twitches from the TD are much less noticeable. Right now I'd say she was a fairly healthy senior citizen, diabetes and arthritis notwithstanding. The schizophrenia appears to be in remission.
I hope this lasts. We've been here before. Indeed the last time I was so optimistic was when she started taking the olanzapine, nine years ago. Back then the new generation of anti-psychotics were being praised as wonder drugs. Now we know that they are just as problematic as the older neuroleptics and there is still no cure.
The other major hospitalization last year was Jean. He also provided us with some scary moments. His rapid recovery from by-pass surgery was going like clockwork until his sutures became infected, followed by the discovery of a clot that kept him on blood thinners for six months. But now he too is doing rather well. Diane says her biggest concern is keeping him on his diet.
For a while it looked like Mom, Jean and Eddie were all going to be in a hospital at the same time, albeit in three different cities. However Eddie still hasn't had the operation his cardiologist called for last winter, replacing a partially blocked artery with a shunt. A relatively simple procedure, this was supposed to be done in Windsor. (Jean had to go to London.) But the lack of specialists in our area, especially anesthesiologists, has lengthened the waiting lists considerably for elective surgery. I suspect that Eddie, no big fan of hospitals, has talked his doctors into continuing to monitor his situation while allowing more urgent cases to go forward. Jo-Ann is worried about him, but the longer he avoids the knife the more cheerful he seems to be.
Those were the big concerns of the past year. Although it's tempting to say something about each one of the other 17 members of the local Monk clan let's just say that we all had a good year, including me. No need to get into my bout of panic before the treadmill test revealed my heart was pumping just fine, thank you.
Update:
Not long after I posted the above I heard from Irit. Yesterday she was passing through Toronto on her way to Israel for her mother's funeral. Irit and I have been swapping stories about our moms for over twenty years. Even though in each case the roles of mad vs sane were supposedly reversed, we found that we, and they, had much in common.
Irit is the author of Call Me Crazy, a manifesto for the psychiatrized. Although we have some disagreements about drug therapy and forced treatment, I recommend her book to anyone who has been, or has a friend or family member who has been, labeled mentally ill. Because of activists like Irit today psychiatry at least pays lip service to the ideas of doing no harm and defending the rights of the patient. But the truth is many, maybe most, who find themselves under psychiatric care are being overdosed because it is convenient and keeps them out of trouble.
The first few weeks after she came out of the hospital were rough. Her complaints back then sounded like she was going through an addiction withdrawal. But gradually she's recovered and is taking more interest in life than we have seen in a long time. Her blood sugar levels are excellent and the shakes and twitches from the TD are much less noticeable. Right now I'd say she was a fairly healthy senior citizen, diabetes and arthritis notwithstanding. The schizophrenia appears to be in remission.
I hope this lasts. We've been here before. Indeed the last time I was so optimistic was when she started taking the olanzapine, nine years ago. Back then the new generation of anti-psychotics were being praised as wonder drugs. Now we know that they are just as problematic as the older neuroleptics and there is still no cure.
The other major hospitalization last year was Jean. He also provided us with some scary moments. His rapid recovery from by-pass surgery was going like clockwork until his sutures became infected, followed by the discovery of a clot that kept him on blood thinners for six months. But now he too is doing rather well. Diane says her biggest concern is keeping him on his diet.
For a while it looked like Mom, Jean and Eddie were all going to be in a hospital at the same time, albeit in three different cities. However Eddie still hasn't had the operation his cardiologist called for last winter, replacing a partially blocked artery with a shunt. A relatively simple procedure, this was supposed to be done in Windsor. (Jean had to go to London.) But the lack of specialists in our area, especially anesthesiologists, has lengthened the waiting lists considerably for elective surgery. I suspect that Eddie, no big fan of hospitals, has talked his doctors into continuing to monitor his situation while allowing more urgent cases to go forward. Jo-Ann is worried about him, but the longer he avoids the knife the more cheerful he seems to be.
Those were the big concerns of the past year. Although it's tempting to say something about each one of the other 17 members of the local Monk clan let's just say that we all had a good year, including me. No need to get into my bout of panic before the treadmill test revealed my heart was pumping just fine, thank you.
Update:
Not long after I posted the above I heard from Irit. Yesterday she was passing through Toronto on her way to Israel for her mother's funeral. Irit and I have been swapping stories about our moms for over twenty years. Even though in each case the roles of mad vs sane were supposedly reversed, we found that we, and they, had much in common.
Irit is the author of Call Me Crazy, a manifesto for the psychiatrized. Although we have some disagreements about drug therapy and forced treatment, I recommend her book to anyone who has been, or has a friend or family member who has been, labeled mentally ill. Because of activists like Irit today psychiatry at least pays lip service to the ideas of doing no harm and defending the rights of the patient. But the truth is many, maybe most, who find themselves under psychiatric care are being overdosed because it is convenient and keeps them out of trouble.
Posted: Fri - January 5, 2007 at 06:07 PM
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Published On: Sep 12, 2007 03:13 PM
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Published On: Sep 12, 2007 03:13 PM