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| Forget Me Not Wreath
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Thinking back, we know now it probably had already started back in 2005. We had just come back from going to the US Supreme Court to hear an argument regarding the case connected to Bill's parents' murders. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deck_v._Missouri
Bill began to frequently have violent dreams/nightmares where he thrashed, screamed, kicked and hit. I would mention these episodes to people and they would just laugh - it was hard to picture mellow, easy-going Bill talking like something from the movie, The Exorcist. Eventually, time passed and as some got stuck sharing a hotel room with him, it became an experience they never wanted to repeat. I mentioned these night time freak episodes and doctors attributed it to night terrors brought on by the murders and the on-going trials and appeals ie. news article Another thing that happened at least that far back - Bill could no longer smell things. We never gave that loss of smell a second thought. People always brought up so and so who couldn't smell any more either and then the subject would change. In 2012, Bill kept going to his General Doctor and they kept running tests and running tests till finally the doctor began to hint: perhaps seek an opinion from a neurologist.
We went on vacation in January 2013 to Cancun and it was unbelievable the amount of time spent running to the bathroom - going and not going (one or two) had become a frustrating issue. Almost immediately upon return, Bill noticed his hand turned blue - dark blue. That did it, he called; It was March before we could get him in. We went to the neurologist, he asked questions, did some small physical tests and pronounced, "You have Parkinson's." He put him on the standard Parkinson's meds. We went back in three months. I mentioned I felt there was more going on. The doctor didn't seem to care for my butting in. I went home, called the National Parkinson's number and got the name of a Movement Disorder Neurologist. In the mean time I asked Bill's regular MD to order a neuro-psych test. He did that in May, several flags showed up. In the mean time we waited to get in to the Movement Disorder Clinic in September. It was an all day appointment. We met, a nurse, a speech pathologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, a counselor and the Movement Disorder Doctor. Each person evaluated Bill, then they met with the doctor and then he, the nurse and the counselor came back in with their thoughts. He did not quite fit the pattern of a person with Parkinson's, but instead the features, called Parkinsonism. He had also scored very low on cognitive testing and they wanted another cognitive testing to be done. This was done the end of September and we met back with the doctor in October. His diagnoses: Degenerative Dementia with Parkinsonism features. He immediately put Bill on a memory medication to help slow down the memory loss. He also put him on an anxiety medication and an anti-depressant, not to mention all the stuff Bill took over the counter for number two issues. When able to find my voice again, "I asked Alzheimer's?" He said, Definitely not, there is Lewy Body, Vascular, and Frontal Lobe and other dementias. The real true way to tell is by testing a piece of the brain. You don't want to do that do you Bill?" "No way." With the way of Google it didn't take long to study up and determine which one he most likely matched up with - Lewy.
