Bonding with Rachael and Scotts' lupus

As Rachael got older and Scotts' lupus Flared, I noticed an interesting interaction between Scott and Rachael. A couple days before Scott would experience a flare Rachael would stay extremely close, almost attached at the hip. Then within a couple days Scot would be down for the count with a lupus flare. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but as time went on this interaction played out over and over. It continues to this day. All I have to do to see how Scott is doing is watch Rachael. He may be having a string of good days, but if Rachael is hanging extremely close I know that within a few days he ill be experiencing a flare.

During this time Rachaels' potty training was going extremely well. As time went on Rachael could tell Scott when she need to go out. She also stayed very close to him when he experienced a flare. It was amazing to see how Rachael would wait extended periods of time to go out when Scott was not feeling well. To this day Rachael will not under any circumstances, unless she is ill, potty in the house.

With Rachael and Scott bonded so well, I was pleased to see that no matter how bad Scott felt, he made sure Rachael was treated like a queen. He would make him self get up and take Rachael for walks, sometimes just short ones. This was getting him out of the house for at least short periods and giving him some exercise. When Scott went out he had to be very careful about being in the sun. He solved this with sunscreen, long sleeves, and large floppy/wide brimmed hats. I was surprised that he didn't care that the hat's were actually women's. He bought one in black and one in neutral. This has worked well for him.

I really believe if it was not for Rachael, Scott would have lost much more functionality than he has. Although he usually walks with a cane he is still able to get around pretty well. That is as long as he has all of his medications.

I really don't know how he does it some times with his medications. He takes over 30 medications each day. Sometimes it seems that all he does is manage his medication, between what to take when, to making sure he does not run out of them. It seems like he has a full time job of medication management.

The number of medications and expense of them has placed a burden on the both of us. I have had to help him pay for his medications so he has them. I have maxed a couple credit cards doing this. I sure hope the fix the gap in the medicare drug program, as I don't know what we'll do if they don't, because Scott has to have the medications to maintain his health, and I am running out of credit cards to help him.

In my next entry I'll bring Lady Rhonda into the story and explain how she joined Scotts' family.