......4 Months Later

What a roller coaster ride the last 7 months have been.  From thinking we may have to put Ken into a nursing home/respite care facility to he's up and "supervising"/helping me hang light on the deck in EB is quite a change.  When we got here Ken was still using his walker and the last week he's been forgetting his cane.  From "I'm uncomfortable going outside (I might fall again) to forgetting his cane several times in the past week.

When we got here I didn't realize to get the Class II medications you MUST go to a Pain Management Specialist.  Fortunately Santiago (under duress) sent a couple of scripts down until we found one.  I have to show my drivers license both dropping off and picking up the script and Ken had to sign a contract saying he wouldn't pharmacy hop.  Dr Delahoussaye in Cruces is a good "pain doc".  The first appointment was Nov 7th - having to put down what I have been suspecting is however still an eye opener.  18 pages later he was done with the paperwork (I read it all to him at this apt).  Ken figured out to be 87% disabled - all but bedridden.  Wait - he gets up, gets dressed and spends the rest of the day laying back in his reclining chair...... sounds pretty much like bedridden to me.  At that trip we got a script and came back to TorC to fill it.  They didn't have that strength so bartered with doc and got a double dose pill. Dr. D. then tried ultra sound guided TPI (Trigger Point Injections).  He didn't really hit the right spot although it did a little bit of good.
The second apt with Dr D both he and his PA came in and remarked that Ken looked so much better and neither one of us had the desperate look anymore.  At this visit Dr D told Ken to take one Diladad 4 times a day.  Oh and come back in January and we'll try  P STEM OK Whatever.
Dr Santiago is weaning his off Phenobarbital (he's taking it for 58 years).  Between that and cutting back on the muscle relaxant and the NSAID his brain/thinking is AWESOME!!!!  None of us can believe how good he looks and sounds.  He's even been calling folks on the phone and is back on the computer.  (So for a "good boy" reward we got him a different tower.........:) with Windows 8)
He loves it!! (of course I stripped it of MUCH STUFF!)
He has been voluntarily going outside a smidge (taking over again a couple of things I took from him - gray/black flushing.); actually wanting to go to Carmen's to eat and helped me unload the baskets Saturday.  He cracks jokes; has an opinion (not ALWAY good), is making plans for Oregon, and wants to get outside more.  Although he won't ever be without pain he just wants to be comfortable.
Taking the med spread out is working wonders - he is rather number which we'll take for stiff and lots of pain any day.  This sums it up!

            They aren't perfect by any means (I have to have a taller ladder to go up one more step) and they hang a lot but it's the first lights we've had in years.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!