Caring for your caregiver when you have Neuropathy

Thinking if the wife uses their landline on "speaker phone" , it might amplify husband's voice while he uses the cell phone enough that she can understand him, where he has dystonia.
Another idea- ask PCP for a referral to a Speech Pathologist, they have alot of knowledge about communication aids, maybe also breathing exercises for him to cope with the dystonia.

Those are great ideas!

So, when @dbeshears1 first posted this topic in 2022, I thought she brought up a heck of a good point. And, as we continue to live through the journey of peripheral neuropathy, it is important to say thanks to those who help us along the way. My wife and I have been married for 51 years and both in our early 70's. She knows what I go through and has been a tremendous support to me. She too has health issues but what she has is treatable. We have both learned that PN isn't going away. She inspires me to do things and gives me that "nudge" when needed. She helps me and I help her as well, we both give 51% to the other person. Debbie is right, we need to make sure we take care of the person who helps take care of us.

It would be so nice if cell phones could act like pagers, so if out of hearing range you can talk and hear it better instead of having to walk to each other to talk (you’d have to be able to turn if off when in church, appts etc). A neighbor just told me they use Alexa somehow to help them communicate. I’m looking into seeing if I can find some type of inexpensive paging type system in our home to help us since he has hearing issue and me mobility.

My daughter has an Alexa unit in her kitchen and one upstairs in her teenager’s bedroom- it’s great- you say, “Alexa- tell (name) it’s time to get up”, and “she” does- you can set the volume. They have it programmed for “Alexa, turn on (or off) the front door light”, the living room light, etc. if you buy it from Best Buy, you can pay for a Geek Squad person to come out, set everything up, register the warranty, and show you how to use it. I just did that with a printer- worth every cent!!! No hassle, no frustration with the online instructions (seems nothing tech has paper instructions anymore), no frustration with phone support people), etc.

Okay let me begin by saying that neither me or my partner if 32 yrs David could have run a 10k at any age! That said I guess the point is that if you a d partner enjoyed physical activities as part of your relationship you are mourning the loss of them the same as any long term relationship would mourn going to concerts or museums or walking somewhat long distances while travelling. David is 25 yrs. you get than me but suffered a heart attack in his early 50"s. A doctor from his team just told him he is going to need a transplant in 8 yrs!!! I found that a doctor would say that to him incredibly uncaring (probably truthful but still like a death sentence). I gave in the past 2 yrs. been diagnosed with diabetes 2 and COPD. So our time spent together gas changed also. We were lucky in that we both love home. To us that meant buying a fixer upper for our first home and doing just that ..fixing it up. From total landscaping to gutting kitchen and bathrooms we have done it all. We use to take 1 big vacation a year but we havent even do e that I the past 3 yrs. Remarkably in the summer and fall (we live in the northeast) we find ourselves in our backyard playing marathon scrabble for 4 or more hours. We do feel great about our yard that some have described as a park. We even took landscaping classes in the beginning because neither one of us knew much about what to plant where etc. So he loves to grocery shop and cook and I love to craft. Now we seem to be doing more of each hobby. So he was an old soul from the beginning which is probably why we have been together for so long. Bring diagnosed just in past week with PN what continues to surprise me us that with his illness there seems to be so much info out there and readily available to him and everyone about his heart. He just completed a repeat for him if a 6 week 3 times a week if cardio rehab (insurance paid to boot!) whereas I like you found this great site when I was googling PN. I went to the neurologist after waiting 6 mos. To see her. Okay I am trying not to compare our medical issues here but u want to go on record as confirming what someone said here .no diagnosis no treatment and no cure. Why is it that some medical problems are so well researched by the medical field and fir others it is kind of laughable? I think the only answer that can be true is to find things that you can enjoy now with your partner a d do your level best not to dwell on what use to be. Getting older is I guess as someone said a privilege

Damn u meant to type 15 yrs. Younger not 25 yrs. Younger;