Mike has had a fortnight of pampering and beauty treatments, starting with an essential oil hand massage at a meeting of the Oxfordshire MND Association. Our lovely friend, Kath, gave a demonstration and provided the oils for a wonderful afternoon of relaxation. Best bit by far was watching Mike’s Dad give a hand massage to one of the carers.
It’s been a pretty good week for Mike. On Monday we saw our incredible MND team at the John Radcliffe and Prof Talbot was so impressed by the state of Mike he described him as an anomaly. A year ago we asked the tough question about lifespan and were told that bulbar onset, the flavour of MND that Mike has, is usually 2 years from the start of symptoms. That’s Christmas this year. But it is progressing much more slowly than at the beginning and isn’t doing what was expected at all! This is great news and must be a God thing.
Following the Chocolate Button Incident Mike only challenges his airway occasionally now with a spoonful of yoghurt so he has been losing weight; maintaining weight leads to a longer lifespan (as long as you don’t choke on what you’re trying to eat) so from next week he will be switching to a new feed. The dietician suggested that perhaps it was time for a pump but we like the flexibility of small bottles at mealtimes; if he didn’t have to wake up for a feed I think he’d just spend all day in bed watching Netflix.
If you’re of a delicate disposition you may want to skip this next bit because it’s about saliva. As is common in people with MND Mike’s saliva is thick and there’s a lot of it about especially when he lays down to go to bed or reclines in his special chair. This is quite annoying as his constant coughing keeps me awake and drowns out the TV, so something had to be done. Hyoscine patches have done a reasonable job but the past few weeks the saliva situation has been worsening. More medications were tried with no improvements and bouts of debilitating nausea and vomiting. So the only things left were Botox (works for three months) or radiotherapy (irreversible).
Mike chose the botulinum toxin which involves three injections into his parotid and salivary glands. Sounds painful. On a positive note the car park was quiet as it was a Friday and the consultants were all out on the golf course. Mike’s not great around needles but after a thorough explanation of the procedure decided to go ahead. I attempted to distract him half way through by falling off my chair but he still felt light-headed afterwards and needed a little lie down.
I don’t know about you but I can’t see a difference.
Sounds like an eventful time, with good news, and challenges to deal with. Keep up with the weight gain!
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Julia, you’ve made my Monday. You guys are awesome! Sending you big love and hugs x
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Your courage and humour in light of the hurdles you face are awesome! Had a giggle today 🙂 take care both of you! X
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Yes you both are incredibly incredible that sea can certainly get stormy sometimes will pray about that saliva! I remember from working on the ward how distressing that can be, thanks for sharing that as we can pray specifically. Julia the image of you falling off your chair was so funny – some people will go to any lengths……….. I don’t know …….. oooh! ( as Frankie Howard used to say)
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Julia both you and Michael , never cease to amaze us – the positive way that you deal with everything thrown in your path, you manage cope with . We trust and pray that God’s hand is there somewhere helping you . Ever in ours prayers Moira and ken .
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Love you both and these updates are great xx
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Poor Mike. I really do not think that falling off a chair is a very good idea, Ju, even with the best intentions. X
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