Breathing, Eating, and a little Good News

This has been a week full of good news (mostly) and small victories. It's been nice, especially since last week was a little too eventful and challenging.

Last week:

I woke up early last Thursday, picked Dad up and took him to his Dr's appt to check his ears, then took him home, rushed home myself, fixed myself a peanut butter and honey sandwich and proceeded to eat it quickly so I could get to the school in time to pick up our grandson. Chris would have willingly done this errand, but he was on strict NO DRIVING orders while we waited for his pharmacy to screw up his seizure meds prescription one more time.

I choked on the peanut butter. Really choked. I mean really really — can’t breathe gesturing to my husband and daughter to call 911 and my husband doing the Heimlich maneuver on me while shouting at our daughter – kind of choking. Our daughter called 911, but even I could hear the phone just ringing and ringing. Fortunately, the Heimlich worked (so far*, thankfully.. and obviously, it always has) and, as no one had picked up the call yet, she just hung up.

This meant my husband had to explain everything to the nice person who called us from the police station and we all had to explain to the two nice policemen who came to the house and quizzed us and obviously had expected to find domestic abuse going on. Fortunately we got all that out of the way and I still had time to go get our grandson.

THIS WEEK!

Something is shifting with Dad in the ear department because he can hear better than he has for a long time. I got Mom’s computer to connect to the Internet and figured out why it hadn’t been connecting, then helped her find an old friend. Then checked my email and found a message from our Medicaid consultant with the word HALLELUJAH! in the subject line. Mom and Dad are back on Medicaid as of February 1st! 

And I got a referral for a swallow study and therapy!

Okay, while this doesn’t sound like fun, and sitting together watching a video of “Breathing and Swallowing in Parkinson’s Disease”  (starring Roxann Diez-Gross, PhD, SLP-CCC) isn’t the most romantic way to spend an evening, I realize it’s all good for our relationship. As lovely as it is to have my husband come up behind me and throw his arms around me, it’s much nicer when he isn’t doing the Heimlich maneuver and I’m not choking and spewing bits of bread and peanut butter across the room.

Swallowing issues with Parkinson's and Dystonia are serious. If you have any of these symptoms, check in with your doc:

• Chronic coughing, especially during or after eating
• Increase in phlegm
• Food collecting around gum line
• Feeling like your food is getting stuck in your throat
• Having a lot of heartburn
• Sore throat/hoarseness 
• Frequent choking

Make sure your family learns how to do the Heimlich maneuver and you know how to do this on yourself. Talk with your family or close friends and go over the drill. If you choke, make sure you or someone else calls 911. Even if you can't speak, they'll know something is wrong and will send someone to check up on you. Don't hang up.

Watch the video, too. Dr. Diez-Gross has some wonderful information here and the tips she gives really, really help.

*this is the 6th time for me