Claudia began mom's day with her. She found mom awake and alert when she arrived. They did her physical therapy. Claudia said, "Good Morning" to mom and mom mouthed, "Good morning" back so Claudia said, "Thanks for saying Good Morning Mom" and mom replied, "You're welcome." Then Claudia told mom that, "Ava won an American Express gift card in a contest last night." Mom asked, "For what?" Claudia said, "For her costume, first place" and mom replied "Good." Claudia also said that, when she was leaving, she asked mom if she wanted the TV on, and mom vehemently shook her head, “No” so she asked again a few times and received the same response. Claudia said, “OK then do you want a magazine to read?” and mom forcefully patted a cooking magazine. This is great news, that she was able to make a decision given a choice.
The nurses all tell us, and have done so from the start, that mom is their favorite person. That when they have a problem or need to talk or regroup, they run to her room and either talk to each other there—and include mom in the conversation—or they just run there to talk to mom. One of our favorite nurses came in to see mom tonight and told Anthony and Con all about how great mom is doing and how mom is their “girlfriend.”
When I saw mom today, we started out by using the IPAD to play Tic Tac Toe. Mom said, “Same” a few times and pointed to 2 that matched frequently. She was sometimes also able to make a choice on which spot she wanted to move to. We played this and took turns for a long while (35 minutes). Next, we tried the COUNTING game on the IPAD. Mom soon did this on her own!!! I hooked the IPAD into the CD player so I was able to raise the volume really high. This seemed to make a nice difference in mom’s motivation to manipulate the IPAD. She did the number game for 25 minutes independently. We tried the matching/concentration game next. Mom watched me do it first, then I did hand over hand assistance, then she managed to touch and move a few cards on her own. We tried the IPAD alphabet next…she didn’t know how to advance the letters at first, but she was able to follow my verbal direction along with a gesture to show her where to touch. Next, we looked at some e-books on the IPAD…I downloaded a few like “Toot and Puddle” which is a series on 2 little pigs (picture books with gorgeous illustrations), and also an autobiography of Paula Deen. Mom began to read the Paula Deen book, mouthing some of the words and scanning the page with her eyes.
We listened to music next while mom did some cutting with scissors. She made tiny snips with the scissors in a very concentrated way…we listened to classical music during this time. Mom became so relaxed after a while that she slowly fell asleep but not for long because Anthony came.
Anthony had mom laughing in no time. He and I had mom practice sitting all the way up and taking deep breaths. She seems so much better able to take deep breaths when she is sitting up straight. Just as I was leaving Anthony and mom, Flo came to see mom. Mom smiled at her as she walked in and said hi. Mom and Anthony started playing Tic Tac Toe and she was drawing circles and everything. Then the respiratory therapist and 2 other people came in—they commented on how well mom is doing and Anthony said, “No, she isn’t doing well.” And they became perplexed and said, “What do you mean?” Anthony then proceeded to tell them what the other therapists say about how mom hasn’t made any real progress since she is there. Then they began telling Anthony that there is absolutely nothing that we can do to help mom begin to breathe on her own. Anthony told them everything that has been said by all the therapists about how everything mom does is just reflexive. He even mentioned all the derogatory things they, themselves, say about mom to us. Mom’s attitude changed from being happy and laughing, to down and sad, after these 3 big shot therapists stood in front of mom and talked about how mom isn’t making any progress on the vent. What is wrong with people?!!!
After Anthony and Flo left, dad and Aunt Sophie came to see mom. Dad said that mom was awake and alert and happy to see them. He said that she smiled a lot and said a few words during their visit and that Aunt Sophie showed mom how to sew with the sewing card (Aunt Sophie is the seamstress on my mom’s side of the family).
Anthony, Con and Anthony Michael and Samantha came to be with mom all night tonight. Sammy wrote the words, “Samantha, Anthony, happy, and funny” on the dry erase board and mom read all the words. Sammy wrote other words too and mom read them as well. Sammy tried to have mom read some of the easy readers that I brought in for her to read, but mom wasn’t interested. It really seems like she is definitely reading. They all sat with mom and talked and laughed and had her do various activities. They did her physical therapy as well. They stayed with mom until she fell asleep and tucked her in for the night.
Despite what the therapists (who don’t feel like doing their job) say, mom is improving dramatically; and she continues to do so.
"Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." Philippians 2:2
No comments:
Post a Comment