Out of hospital, back at nursing home

Wow. What a couple of days! So much uncertainty, so little that definite enough to write about. Last night Denise was transferred from Huntington Hospital back to the Country Villa skilled nursing facility. Though she was doing well physically, she was getting increasingly manic and exhibiting compulsive behavior. She started tearing & cutting magazines to shreds... she was "saving" the pages & images she liked so she could file them away... every page in the magazine. Minutes before leaving, the neurologist tweaked the meds and the dosages. The neurologist told us that he no longer thinks we're dealing with just Reglan-related symptoms of withdrawl. He asked the SNF staff to keep an eye on Denise and notify him of any noteworthy behavior. Once back at the SNF, she apparently slept through the night.
Today she was much calmer. She was very close to her normal self. The tweaking of meds for manic phases seemed to be right on. She wasn't going bonkers, nor was she "out of it." However she was still enthralled with cutting up magazines. She gets so into something that she won't stop to use the restroom or eat a meal. We'll be working on that. I got her a Klutz book of "stained glass" projects (peel-off puffy painting on a sheet of plastic), and that seems to be a hit. She didn't take a nap today, so hopefully she'll sleep through the night.
The developments over the last couple of days have been particularly hectic & draining. Thanks are in order to several individuals & families for cranking up the support a notch. Thanks for caring for kids, making calls for me, feeding the family, driving the kids to & from school, and just plain caring enough to inconvenience yourselves and help on a moment's notice. I can't wait for the dust to settle so I can return the favors.

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