reindeer flying drunk vs MS

Memories of Christmas morning broke new ground this year with a phone call from Patti’s care facility that she had been found on the floor next to her bed about a half hour before dawn.

After physical and neurological examination she appeared OK and had no complaints nor remembered anything. Of course Multiple Sclerosis related memory loss, Patti’s MS short circuiting of pain neurotransmitters and probable shock confounded examination.

Incoming day shift found her during 7 AM ‘observation’. Overnight shift reported her asleep in bed at the previous hour’s 6 AM check.

Nursing staff wanted to keep her up and alert, just in case (some kind of concussion protocol), and on priority monitoring and evaluation. After a couple hours – a bruise beginning to develop on her knee was the only observable concern.

Continuing with plans to pick Patti up for Christmas Day with family still seemed the best of possible ideas.

All things considered, in fact, Patti was firing on all cylinders right through the day. Patti never gets up as early as 7 AM and has not gone without at least one mid-day nap for at least a decade. She was beyond impressive for someone who began the day falling out of bed, participating with over a dozen family members in Christmas Day festivities .

After about the umpteenth time of pestering her if she remembered anything about how she ended up on the floor - she turned to me while riding in the van and said, “the damn reindeer were flying drunk.”  

You got to love it!

For the First Day of Christmas, I do know that Patti is getting the return of two bedside fall mats and that beginning last night her high-low mechanical style bed will be lowered to as close to the floor as possible when sleeping, about a foot (30.48 cm) off the floor.

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer