[COLOR="Navy"]Deb,
Take a breath. I actually can help you with this one-and it's easy. Go to Target or WalMart or Costco. They sell Miralax. It is OTC. Used to be by script, but just recently was released. You mix it with water or juice, it has no mouth feel or taste, dissolves completely. By the third day your dad will by going regularily. It's a godsend for older folks and those of us who take heavy duty meds. You can mix it with his juice for his pills. Once a day is all he needs. The cap is what you use to measure it with. Please run our and get some today if not right this second. I didn't believe it could work until I started taking it. Until I started it I was on Ducolax, fiber bars, senecot, prunes, prune juice, and still I strained. Constopation is a by word of my medication, so trust me on this one, "K?
It is all a balancing act and you never know what will tip that balance or what to do to keep it in balance. Once you thin you have it it eludes you completely with an up hill romp or a down hill tumble.
Skimp it is wonderful that you have found somebody willing to help you out with your Dad. She will not do things exactly like you would but she will do it. She is caring enought to want to do it right so she is caring enough to entrust your Dad to her for a few days. I know you will worry but keep it to a minimum. All will be ok, whatever happens, and you will have great memories with your dear family to come home with..... and hopefully some sleep as well.
I have found that I do exactly what you do Skimp. I hit the internet and learn all that I can or ask a friend. Then I go armed with knowledge to the doctor when I finally ask questions. When they say more fiber I just spit back and how do you do that when Dad won't eat? When they say more water I ask how much more when he is already drinking gallons? I have no fear of asking questions. That is what we pay them for.... to answer questions. Actually it was me that figured out Dad's diagnosis the last time he was in the hospital. They were all scratching their heads thinking stroke but nothing was showing on their test when I just piped up and ask if they had done any toxicology? You would have thought I grew four heads at that moment. I just checked when the pill bottle was refilled and counted the pills. It was a Xanax overdose. The rehab placement was cancelled and he was home in 5 days. I just called my own doctor and informed him that I had taken myself off a second medication because of side effects. He argued and said they were not the "usual" side effects. I explained to him that when I took them I had the symptoms and when I didn't they symptoms went away. Then he admitted that they were rare side effects and agreed with me. Medicine is not an exact science and many doctor's get stuck in routine. It is up to us to be an educated advocate for ourselves and our loved ones.
As for your Dad's constipation, if he is not bloated or in pain it's probably ok. Go get the Miralax, it is amazing, and the rest is just Dad's obcession.
Going to try to call Mom once again.... she's not answering her phone so hopefully she's out and about..... anybody want to put bets on her doing laundry?
Got the Miralax. Let's see if that will ease his..uh...mind.
After I posted my frustration, my 15 min break was up, and I made dad a fried egg sandwich (gah-ROSS!!!) that he loves so much, and went to feed him, and whadyaknow...he had something to "show me". You can guess. He is in NO WAY constipated. I guess it's just the newest obsession, along with head rubbing, skin picking (was it you, Deb that mentioned that your dad does this? I was stunned! My dad is not alone there, huh?) and curtain pinning.
This is the stuff that makes me feel incompetant. I get concerned over every little thing. One of you said something that is sooooo me...I want the struggle to be over for him, but when he has a bad spell, all I can think is "NOT TODAY!!!! I'M NOT READY!!!" So I just worry and bother y'all with my own issues with this horrid disease.
I know for certain that there is a God. I have a personal relationship with Him, and I give him all the glory for all my many many blessings. But throughout this ordeal, I also know for sure that there is a Satan. And he brings this awful crap like dementia and Alzheimers. Damn him. Damn Damn Damn.
You know, it seems that boys of any age just love to play "see" with their poo. What is it that is sooo interesting about it I will never figure out. But do start giving your dad the miralax and keep him on it and you will see a difference in him. It won'thurt him to go and he won't have to sit and strain which will helpa his bottom and keep hemmeroids aaway.
My dad said that we never answered the phone. Well, first you had to call the number we live at for us to answer the phone. I don't know what number he called-and I certainly home they liked talking to dad...We finally got him a phone with Large and I mean Large push buttons that we labeled with the important numbers. #1 was mine at home. #2 was my cell, #2 was my work, #4 was my cousin who filled in for me...didn't make alot of difference, but it worked for awhile. When Daddy was in the independant living they have a 9 am check. You need to call by 9 am or they call and check on you to make sure that you are ok. He couldn't call me, but he didn't miss that call!
My dad wasn't a pciker, but he was constantly filing his fingernails...cause they had catches on them./ I could never find them...but he swore there were catches.....went through a whole bunch of those dime store nail files...and toothpick! Dad had to have toothpicks...then he would use them, breakthem in half and just drop them.....I know that Mom would have rammed them through his ear if he had tried that at home..........
they all seem to have the pattern......
hang in there. I would give just a month of agony back just to see my parents smile at me again..
I administered the first dose of Miralax. Thanks for the heads up, y'all.
ibake - you mentioned toothpicks? Good GRIEF!!! Are you serious? Daddy has to have 4 or 5 at hand at all times!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh!!!!! I am aghast! Dad has a "thing" about having toothpicks! He also just drops them. And my mother would have also "rammed them in his ear" had she seen that. (You crack me up, ibake). I am waiting to jam one in the bottom of my bare foot one of these days.
We also have daddy on the phone with the L A R G E buttons, but he can't figure out how to dial it. So we have the big silver speed dial buttons programmed. How he manages to "unprogram" them regularly is beyond me - pick up the receiver, hit #1 and wait. Hmmm. You know what else? We bought him a nice cordless phone - and we've tried to teach him for THREE YEARS how to answer it. No use. Can't be done. We took it out of the house, and now he just has the corded phone. He couldn't dial it, answer it, or hang it up.
You know what this tells me? I am SOOOOOOOOOOO not alone.
And sometimes, that's all I need to know. Love you all...:angel:
