August 23rd, 2010 - CT Scan etc.

Today we went to have Mom's head CT scanned, an ultra-sound of carotids and an electro-something on her ears to determine the cause of her "light-headedness". We won't know the outcomes of the CT or the ultra until next Tuesday. The audiologist, who did the electro thing said that Mom has a problem with her right ear. It could be viral or it could be having to do with her circulation....we should know next Tues. I hope when we visit with Dr. Waldrop the neurologist.

August 7th, 2010

Mom said her head feels "other wordly" and thinks an appointment with the brain doctor would be a good idea. I'll call Dr. Waldrop on Monday (he's the neurologist) and make an appointment for diagnosis.

July 24 - Face swollen again - Droopy returns

Mom's face swelled up again like Droopy. She had gone to lunch with the Sunday School group and had eggs benedict. I called the place to find out what was in the eggs and there was nothing with MSG or out of the ordinary. She had birdseye veg/pasta combo for dinner, I checked the contents of that but there was nothing that sounded MSGish or otherwise. So this is the third iteration. The first we thought was dental, the second we though was chinese food, and now this. She always swells up the same way. Lower face and lips.

Mom's balance issues

This page http://www.americangeriatrics.org/education/forum/falling.shtml does a wonderful job describing Mom's balance issues.

In part, her med's cause the dizziness in addition to the fact that her blood pressure drops when she stands up (I measured this repeatedly last week with Mom walking around, standing up, sitting down etc.) and the Physical therapist said that it can be offset by increasing her fluid intake).

Also, Mom has lost some of her physical strength and this is probably because she isn't doing her weight bearing exercises as regularly as she used to.

Also, Mom's eye's do not adjust quickly to changes in motion like turning your head, lifting your head etc. ( a function of age) which is why we do the eye exercises.. I would compare that to spinning around, stopping and wondering why the room still spins.

The good news is that most of this is treatable which is why we have spent the last 6 weeks in therapy. Mom has responded well and has improved but needs to keep up the good work and practice what she has been taught. It would be helpful if she would add some strength building exercises to her regimine so that her legs would hold her up. Too, bicycling or treadmilling would be great for increasing her stamina. And then there is the issue of fluids... Mom needs to drink more during the day to keep her blood pressure from dropping when she stands up and moves.

I'll copy this onto the blog for long term keeping. If more comes up on Thursday, which could be our last day in PT, I'll let you know.

Visit to Neurologist for nerve conductivity

We visited Dr. Waldrop today and had Mom's feet/leg nerves tested and her left hand. The outcome is that she has severe polyneuropathy. ( I failed to ask what "poly" meant but I'm guessing it includes her hands -- I'll check on that tomorrow).

Given that the neuropathy progressed very slowly he says that it is most probably genetic in origin. I asked him about us and he said we could end up having it as well.

To rule out other causal factors, he tested Mom for diabetes and heavy metals which are also causes of neuropathy. Mom's tests came out good. He also checked her B12 levels and they too are good. So, in his mind, this confirms his diagnosis of genetic polyneuropathy.

His recommendation was for Mom to take a B complex vitamin daily as it should make her more comfortable and possibly slow further progress. As for us, he recommends adding B complex to our daily regime as well as it could delay neuropathy in us.

Long and short of it, this is a contributing factor to Mom's balance problems in addition to her eyes. Physical therapy should help and we are seeing him in 6 weeks, at which point the therapy is finished and we can see how much progress has been made.

Neurology doctor

Today we went to see Dr. Waldrop at Kennesaw Neurological associates. Mom wanted to see if she had positional vertigo per a guess from Dr. Cantwell. Dr. Waldrop reviewed Mom's CT scan and ran through several balance tests; tested Mom's senses and her reflexes. She has no feeling in her feet and no reflex in her feet. She has cerebral atrophy - most probably a result of the stroke and that affects balance. More than likely she is suffering from multi-functional balance issues which is consistant with a person her age. The semi-circular canals start to deteriorate, vision becomes challenged (Mom cannot shift from indoor light to outdoor light with easy anymore), and balance is challenged. Given the brains neuroplastic quality, he is sending her to physical therapy which should help and on March 10, he is going to run some electro???? tests to see if her nerves are sending impulses. Today she had blood drawn and is doing a 24 hour urine test to see if there are any underlying problems that are contributing to her situation. Otherwise, he thinks she is in great shape for her age.

Doctor Myerson visit

Saw Dr. Myerson today. He's the rhumetologist. He did a thorough history on Mom and looked her over. Tested her strength, listened to her vitals.... He pronounced her amazingly healthy and well recovered from her 2008 ordeal.

He too said her dizziness is from Positional Vertigo and said we should get a referral from Dr. Cantwell for an occupational and physical therapist. They can help get the "rocks" in between the semicircular canals reorganized (the cause of the vertigo). He explained that the rocks don't move as well between the 3 canals as they do when we are young, hence, the dizzy sensation. These rocks can be moved via therapy so this gives us a new mission in the New Year.

Regarding her hands, he gave her some meds to try out that won't interfer with the coumadin. If they work we can get a prescription, if they don't it hasn't cost anything for the samples.