Claudia and I will see mom tomorrow morning but then we leave for Toronto in the afternoon. Anyone who'd like to go see mom and do some activities with her is welcome to come. We return on Saturday. We don't want her to regress after all the progress she has made. Her room # is 165.
Claudia started mom’s day with her, but as Claudia was arriving, so was one of the physical therapists. Claudia was behind him so she let him get to mom’s room and listened to the beginning of the session from outside mom’s door. She said he was talking very nicely to mom. Mom had been asleep when he arrived so Claudia came in and woke her up by washing her face and cleaning her eyes. The therapist gave us some activities to do with mom. These are Claudia's notes:
Mom’s Leg exercises
1. 10 inch ball under her leg and ask her to lift her leg
2. Ask her to move her foot and ankle
3. Put your arm under her knee and on her other leg (over opposite
knee). Now ask her to push her knee down on your arm.
4. Place your hand on her foot and push her leg into her belly (like our
PT) and ask her to straighten her leg (down)
5. Lift her knee and her foot. Ask her to keep her leg out straight.
Later in the afternoon, Dad came to see mom. He and mom were doing a puzzle when I arrived. He said she wasn’t cooperating for him, but she cooperated for me. She completed all 3 wooden puzzles with only gestural and verbal prompts to do so. I would tell her and point to where the pieces went. Mom concentrated really hard on the pieces and you could see her trying to figure out how to turn them in order to fit in. Of the 26 or so pieces in all 3 puzzles combined, she managed to turn about 5 pieces when needed in order to make them fit. She slid the other pieces into place. Mom was very talkative today. When her CNA came into the room, she said his first and last name by reading his name tag!! He was thrilled!! Then, when he asked how she was, mom said, “Pretty good” and she also said, “Hi” and “OK” in response to things he said to her. She read from the dry erase board, “Mom needs to listen to me” “My name is Dotty Gilman” and “Dotty.” She tried to do some connect the dots pictures but didn’t follow the order of the numbers—she only connected random dots in a section. She followed my directions during both connect the dots picture drawing and with the puzzles. Mom enjoyed tracing words and making circles and random shapes on the dry erase board too. At one point, mom said out loud, "Push it, push it" as she motioned to the table in front of her. She wanted me to move the table closer to her.At one point, I asked mom to touch every finger on her right hand, one at a time on her thumb and she did it....but on the left hand, she only touched the thumb and pointer. She also laced her fingers together and then moved her held hands up and down 4 times!!!! Just with me modeling!!! I wrote on the board, "My daughter is Katherine Louise Gilman," but she read, "My name is" instead. When I left, I kissed mom good-bye and said, "Alright good bye mom I love you" and mom said, "Love me too" and shook her head yes...as though she knew I would ask her, "Do you love me?" She was already responding.
Dad came back to see mom tonight and said she was awake and alert and talked a bit and looked at magazines. She also looked at TV with him while she drew circles on the dry erase board with the markers. A nurse who hadn't seen her in a long time came in and was shocked to see her progress!!
I came to tuck mom in and pray around 9 p.m. and she was asleep so I set up her room for the night, shut the lights, turned down the TV, set the timer on the TV and prayed over her.
I am so thankful for mom's recovery and restoration. I miss her so much though lately.
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38
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