Decline

According to Dictionary.com

Decline:

noun

13.

a downward slope; declivity.

14.

a downward movement, as of prices or population; diminution:

a decline in the stock market.

15.

a failing or gradual loss, as in strength, character, power, or value; deterioration:

the decline of the Roman Empire.

16.

a gradual deterioration of the physical powers, as in later life or in disease:

After his seventieth birthday he went into a decline.

17.

progress downward or toward the close, as of the sun or the day.

18.

the later years or last part:

He became an editor in the decline of his life.

Anyway you look at it, it means...going down down down....

For the past 20+ years Wheelie's condition has been declining.

I remember vividly the day someone from Quickie wheelchairs came to the house to measure him for his first chair. It was a green one. 

He was still ambulatory, but needed a chair for 'once in a while'

This was before we moved back to California. 

Once there I remember the day and the exact spot when the next big step in decline happened.

He was still able to walk with a big stick, holding on to something, like me. 

We came back from a trip to the grocery store. We lived in an apartment.

About four yards from the front door he stopped, and exclaimed: I don't want to walk anymore!

He meant: never.

He has been using his chair ever since. This was about 14 years ago.

Little by little, sometimes quite unnoticed, he would decline. 

His speech got slurry. His legs started to spasm at night.

Sometimes he didn't make it to the bathroom on time.

Which happened several times, and not in the most easy spots. More like in the middle of  the mall.

When the time came where I had to help him go to the bathroom.

When the time came when we had to buy a king size bed, so I could sleep waaaayyyy over one one side, so I wouldn't get clobbered by a spastic fist or elbow.

When we moved back to Georgia and were able to have a house built to our specifications, like a roll in shower, no thresholds, no doorknobs (but handles)

Wider doors, special carpeting.

Declined when he could no longer hold regular utensils, so I bought him some chunky OXO handled ones.

Declined when he stopped talking on the phone. 

Declined when he could no longer put a CD in the CD player. And just stopped listening to music altogether.

The next big decline point was when he got sick with a nasty cold, bronchitis, and qualified for Hospice care.

His condition being that he would not recuperate. "Failure to thrive"

This meant sleeping in a hospital bed, with a trapeze. It meant getting rid of the king size bed and getting a smaller one for myself.

Being on Hospice was a Godsend. Not only is it free, but I was able to get some real help for ME.

It was a huge relief to have someone come 5 mornings a week to get Wheelie up, get him a bath or a shower, get him dressed. We had a caseworker who we adored. The company even organized a private concert at Shorter College in Rome.

 He was thrilled. I mean, look at that face. 

So when we moved to our new home, after our bankruptcy and foreclosure of our house, he was frustrated that he couldn't lift a finger to help. No matter how often I tried to assure him I could handle it.

In the last year the physical decline has speeded up a tad. 

First the whole damn thing  with the catheter. 

The not playing solitaire on the computer anymore

The not wanting any sweets.

The loss of appetite

The loss of his voice. 

And very recently, some vague complaints about pains. His ear, his knees, his tummy, but still refusing to take anything for it.

We got as far as using Aspercream on his knees.

He was finally convinced to take Flexeril for his legs at night. 

Since the surgery for his Supra pubic catheter, he has been having problems with his BMs. 

As his muscles are atrophying, you find more and more muscles that stop working. He knows he has to GO but can't. Guess the muscles that make you GO, WON'T.

So we up the Miralex, the Senna, the Phillips Milk of Magnesia. The suppositories.

However, only the enemas will do the trick.

He is losing weight. He doesn't eat much anymore, nothing seems to taste good to him.

The skin on his butt now needs special hydrocolloid patches to stop more sores from developing and getting worse.

Its getting more difficult to move him around, on and off the potty, in and out of bed. 

Thank God he takes naps now, usually two hours or so. 

He did finally ate the head off his Easter Bunny though, but that's it.

I have been feeding him like a child, since he can't hold a fork or spoon, and if he did, he would punch the food he managed to keep on his fork right into his eye, or nose.

No problem, 

The one thing he is unwilling

to give up however

you guessed it!

The TV remote control

It takes so long for him to push the correct buttons, and sometimes the whole thing just flies out of his hands. But good ole stubborn Dave ain't giving up. No sirreeee.

Of course he is one of those dudes who mutes the commercials, which means MORE futzing around.

And throughout all this.

Never a complaint

He doesn't smile much, even AFV seems to not tickle his funny bone anymore.

But he is patient. 

Never one to upset the applecart.

This is what it means when you say: for better or worse, in sickness and in health....

Yup. 

Love that man!!!

SGMKJ!