As we were finishing our lovely lunch, my great friend S started to hiccup.
My hiccup wisdom came in play here.
Burt, I said, had been hiccupping. I hadn’t noticed but then I did. An online support group had shared this issue so I was primed.
In Burt’s case, it was likely an autonomic whatever problem. In [S’s likely we were gabbing while eating. Come to think of it, I have to admonish Burt to swallow before he talks. Hmm.]
Burt had been hiccupping heavily for a while. He doesn’t complain of real pain but I saw him wince during a bout of hicculping.
Let me explain my real pain comment as an aside here. Burt yells ouch if he cramps. He screams when we turn him; that’s fear of falling, not pain. When he says ouch and I ask, he can’t articulate what hurts. I know that when I touch him with a cold hand that he’ll say that hurts.
I realized that the frequency and push of the hiccups was hurting his chest.
When I asked Burt’s wonderful physician to prescribe Lyrica (per the wisdom of my Lewy tribe), she said no. Let’s start with sugar.
I gave a spoonful of sugar to Burt as directed. A cold sip of water as a chaser was helpful. S followed our doctor’s orders as well.
this is our life 