Ritalin - Day Three

Marshall got up perkier today than he has in a while and stayed in a good mood all day long. His energy level wasn't all that much better but the mental attitude was quite a bit better. Is it the Ritalin?

Tune in tomorrow for another report.

In the meantime, here's a picture of Jerry after he fell asleep midstream again. He's a little tornado but he's so darn cute.



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Ritalin - Day Two

Ritalin does not seem to be doing anything beneficial for Marshall. Today was the same as yesterday -- deep in depression. I can't even imagine what our upcoming trips are going to be like if he does not improve. We'll probably both have to be institutionalized.

A dear friend of ours called today to suggest that we ask Marshall's doctors about perhaps prescribing Abilify. He said it has worked wonders for him. We see the oncologist on Monday and we see the psychiatrist on Tuesday, so we will definitely ask.

In the meantime, I took care of my mental health today by going shopping. Spending money does the trick for me every time.


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Ritalin - Day One

Marshall started on the Ritalin today. If one day is any indication, it did not "perk him up" at all, but instead appeared to me to make his depression even deeper.

We'll see what Day Two brings.


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Ritalin

Well, Marshall's primary care physician (Dr. Bliss) and his VA psychiatrist (Dr. Bonney) have put their heads together and they believe that Ritalin might benefit Marshall. They think that it will give him a better energy level and it will also help the antidepressant work better. So they asked me to get the oncologist to approve it.

I contacted Dr. Flaig and he checked to be sure it wouldn't interact badly with all the other medications Marshall is taking (the other doctors did that, too) and Dr. Flaig gave the go-ahead.

So tomorrow Marshall will pick up the Ritalin and we will see...

In the meantime, I have a very close high school friend who was a pediatrician for many years and then went to work at Eli Lilly. He was the inventor of a different ADHD drug (Strattera) and he also worked with many ADHD kids over the years. So I contacted him to see what he thought of giving Ritalin to Marshall. Johnny said that he thought it was a very sound idea and if he were Marshall's doctor he would not hesitate to give it a try. He saw no downside. (Jane, if you read this, I'm talking about John Heiligenstein.)

So I have high hopes for Ritalin.


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A better day

Marshall got up today feeling better, thank goodness!! We had a very lazy rainy Sunday. And the Broncos won!


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Depression has not abated

Marshall is still in this deep depression.  We had to go to Pueblo today for an appointment and we usually make that a fun trip.  We always go to lunch or dinner and have a nice time.  Not today.  He couldn't really eat what he wanted because his dentures hurt too much and he was depressed all day.  When he pulls his hat down over his eyes I know it's going to be an utterly miserable day so when he did that, I probably should have suggested that we just skip lunch.  His depression always rubs off on me and then I have trouble functioning.  All I want to do is sleep and dream about better times.  Sleep is a great escape.

We couldn't get an appointment with Dr. Bonney, the VA psychiatrist, because he was off all week.  But he did call and he wants to put Marshall on Ritalin-type drug.  Something called Provigil.  He believes that will help Marshall with his low energy level and at the same time might help the antidepressant work better.  We should get that next week sometime.  God, please let that work!!

PS:  We had satellite internet installed and it is SOOOO much better than CenturyLink's DSL!

Depression continued

Marshall is still extremely depressed.  I thought it would get better over the weekend, but it didn't really change.  So tomorrow we will call for an appointment with Dr. Bonney, the VA psychiatrist.

Tonight was the scheduled night for the support group conference call and he didn't feel like participating.  I think it might have helped him, but oh well....  He has to fight his disease in his own way and I have to accept that.

And by the way, the dentures aren't working out.  He still has pain.  So we need to make appointment with the dentist again in a last ditch effort to see if more can be done.  This is also depressing since the cost for these dentures was pretty high.

Also tomorrow, we are going to have satellite internet installed.  Our CenturyLink DSL has gotten worse and worse and even the technical support person I spoke to thought that switching to satellite might be the better way to go.  CenturyLink just doesn't care much about the small market that we live in.