Lyle and Parkinsons Part II

Shortly after we came Lyle received a new hospice aid. Her name was Whitney and she was amazing! She was a spunky young girl with lots of energy and lots of love. She came nearly every day to help care for Lyle for an hour or two and she was so good to him. She would laugh at all his jokes and puns and tease him just as much as he teased her. She would clean his bathroom, change his bed sheets as needed, read to him, check his vitals and more. She also took the time to talk to me and my kids. She was very excited to meet the baby that I would be having soon and we she quickly became more than an aid. She became a family friend.

I remember watching Whitney shave Lyle every other day. The amount of stubble he grew in that time wasn’t worth shaving in my opinion but I think he simply enjoyed the feel of the electric razor massaging his face. He would lean back in his chair and close his eyes and let Whitney gently take care of the tiny amount of growth. It looked relaxing to him and it made me smile to watch.

Lyle certainly did enjoy a good massage. He had quite a few different electric tools plugged in around his bed for massaging stiff and sore areas and he always had his muscle cream nearby. I think it was probably a generic version of Bengay and I definitely dreaded him pulling it out. It had the most powerful odor - kind of how I would imagine moldy peppermint smelling like. I could be in the basement and know he was putting it on upstairs it was so strong. But there were times that I braved the smell and went to apply it if I could see he was having particular trouble getting his foot to stop shaking.

Various parts of Lyle’s body would get that quiver at times throughout the day. One of his feet was particularly affected. Occasionally one or both of his hands might have some slight trouble and sadly even his mouth muscles wouldn’t function right at times. I knew before tending Lyle that Parkinson’s made people shake. What I didn’t realize what that it was a very painful thing. That the muscle, constantly rigid and unable to rest, made for extreme soreness and pain - thus his massage chair, and massage wands, and pain cream. It was nice be able to to help him at times by holding a massage wand where he needed it but how I wished that his lack of muscle control didn’t have to be accompanied by such discomfort.