Friday, January 21, 2011

Immune System

I can only guess that Dad's immune system is breaking down or is compromised now. I don't know if this is a result of the dementia, I'm afraid I don't know much about the more mundane physical effects of Parkinson's/Lewy-Body. Something is inhibiting Dad's immune system from fighting off things like infections and viruses, hence the boils and the gastro-virus. And now we've got this hernia surgery coming up.
After seeing how much the boil surgery took out of him, I'm a little concerned about what the hernia surgery will do. I believe it's an out-patient procedure, so hopefully, he won't have to spend time in the hospital. But all surgeries bring pain and discomfort and possible infection. With his immune system apparently compromised, will he be able to deal with those things as well as he used to be able to?
It's all terribly ironic anyway, since my father was a devout Christian Scientist for years! Were he in his right mind, having all this happening to him, it is almost certain that he would refuse to have any sort of treatment at all. This leads to a whole new set of troubles for me... TBC

No comments:

Post a Comment