My friend was injured at work (tore something in his elbow) so he can't work, drive, or lift stuff. On Tuesday his grandfather needed a lift to Lake Charles (about 2hrs away) for an appointment with the doctor that makes his leg braces. He has some condition where his ankles got very weak and kept turning so he was walking on the sides of his feet. They won't go straight anymore so he needs physical therapy & the braces. The braces were rubbing so he went in for an adjustment. But he was recently given some new meds & kept falling asleep every 20seconds to 2 minutes. He kept taking out his phone, dialing, and then falling asleep-- sometimes while dialing and sometimes after dialing. A few times the phone slipped from his hand. He was reading a magazine but kept falling asleep and it fell to the floor. He said he didn't understand why he kept dropping things and I said "You keep falling asleep". I started catching stuff for him. I texted my friend to keep him appraised. The old man took out his phone dialed, and I got a text saying "TF **** called me and fell asleep!" I could hear my friend shouting through the phone so I woke the old man up and told him his grandson was on the phone. During another phone call I noticed he was falling asleep so I gently woke him up. He said "Stop pestering me!" then smiled and said "I'm just messing with you".
I went in to the room with the doctor with him to find out what the issue was with the braces (at my friend's request). Old man kept falling asleep while the doctor was talking to him. She sighed and turned to me and explained things and we discussed how he needs "aggressive" physical therapy to stretch the muscles. She was very concerned about the narcolepsy & said he needs to talk to his GP about the prescription. She said he needs to use the walker so he doesn't fall & insisted that he not drive. She added some straps to his brace & told me what needed to be done with the braces so they wouldn't rub (basically that he had to tighten them an hour after first putting them on after his muscles loosened a little). While waiting for the adjustments to be made, the old man was reading a catalog, fell asleep, woke up and sang "I saw the light" and fell back asleep again.
We went to eat later and he kept falling asleep while trying to order. The waiter was a bit impatient and disappeared for about 30min. Once we got the food, the old man kept falling asleep while trying to eat. He was holding the food up to his mouth, then his eyes would close and he'd droop, then he'd sit back up and continue eating. When it came time to pay, he fell asleep while trying to get the money out. Waiter was more patient and actually laughed a little (but I think he noticed I was leaving a tip so he was more mellow).
Conversations were rather interesting because he would start to tell a story and partway through he'd fall asleep. Then he'd wake up and either continue the story, start a new story, or pick up in the middle of a story he hadn't started yet. LOL.
I gave him a neck pillow to make the ride more comfortable so he slept quite a bit. When we got back into town, he woke up and sang "Hooray Hazel, she put me down" and then went back to sleep again. After dropping him off he asked me to run to the store with my friend's fiance to grab a few things. Left the house around 7am and didn't get back til after 5pm. They made him wait 2hrs past his appointment time at the doctor's office and he took over an hour to get ready after I arrived to pick him up. LOL.
My friend apologized for the trouble, but I found it amusing and it was interesting to hear his stories when he could manage to stay awake long enough.
Today I took my cat to the vet for what are now weekly shots. It was a different doctor in the office this time and she reiterated what the other doctor said-- it's only a matter of time for the poor kitty and all we can do is keep her comfortable. I gave her wet food when we got home and just gave her some rotisserie chicken a few minutes ago. She doesn't seem to be in pain, her breathing is fine, but she can't really walk-- she falls over and drags herself. She's very determined to get to where she wants to go and she pulls herself up on the cat tree and pulls herself up on my bed and climbs on me for cuddles. I'm not looking forward to the inevitable.
