Heading Off For a Relax and Renew Overnight With My Cousin

Ah, the bliss! The joy! As I've just explained to my dog Xena, I'm posting this blog, then I'm getting dressed, then I'm going to go for a walk with my little furry chum in the gorgeous cool fall day. She made a little sound of 'how can I wait that LONG?' and settled herself next to her blanket, not on the blanket, because that would mean she expects me to be hours yet.

I already slept in - sigh - went upstairs for coffee and breakie with my mom and read the paper while my husband went back to sleep. He takes medication in the morning and needs to go back for more sleep, till lunchtime. If I don't go upstairs with mom, I end up talking to him and keeping him from getting back to sleep.

Brad has bipolar disorder, and over the past fifteen years we've gotten this whole schedule thing working very well. He and his psychiatrist have worked out his medication to give him maximum functionality and minimum fatigue levels. He works in the evenings to accommodate this schedule, and as long as he gets his second sleep cycle things work extremely well.

Meanwhile, every few months or so he usually has an episode of some kind. At the moment he and his doctor are tweaking one of his antidepressants. It's reverted Brad back to the sleep schedule he had when I first met him - awake all night, only falling asleep at 6:30 in the morning. Brad's not too keen about it. He wants to go back to his old Welbutrin (his doctor was trying him on a newer version, a slow-release version, but it hasn't been good at all. We try them out because a lot of the newer meds have fewer side effects, and Brad is on a powerful daily cocktail.) Last night at work, for example, Brad was trying to say something to his manager and his ability to speak absolutely froze up on him, like a stroke. He found it very frustrating and embarrassing. But his manager is aware of Brad's situation and I actually think it's good sometimes for people to see what Brad pushes through.

Anyway, my wonderful, fantastic cousin Julianne (that's her with her dog Molly) has me over at her place whenever we can schedule it, and it helps me recharge so I can keep doing all the caregiving I do. On the weekends I give my mom a break from all the grandma-care, like this morning when Mom made a dash down to the farmer's market to order organic turkey and buy local produce. I stayed upstairs, helped Gram with her housecoat, fixed her tea and her breakfast and settled her into her chair in the living room. I do all the weekend morning puffers, eyedrops and nitro patches, too.

But now, I'm off for a walk with Xena, and then I'll be catching the bus out to my cousin's, where she has a bottle of Glenfiddich waiting for me. We'll have dinner and watch 'The Notebook', which is her favorite movie and which I've still never seen. Time to chill out, relax, enjoy my cousin's company and renew myself. Oh joy! Oh bliss!