I began mom’s day with her today. It seems that, since the day light savings time change, she is sleeping well into the morning and up later in the evening. She was out like a light when I arrived. She also fell fast asleep again after being dressed and put in her wheelchair. I woke her after being put in her wheelchair. We are trying hard to help her acquire a more typical sleep pattern (similar to what you’d do with an infant or young child) so that she will be more alert during the day when we and others work with her. I did her full physical therapy (range of motion exercise) first. As I worked on her arms and hands and fingers, I noticed that mom can now, not only express pain in her face at times (left side manipulation), but she is now also able to try to move my hand away from her left side as well!!! This is a primitive reflexive motion – one where a person tries to move away from pain or toward it to make it stop. I remember that, in the hospital, they tested this reflex many times, and mom was not able to do this then. Mom was also able to imitate (4 rotations each) the movements I did for her (hand over hand)—on her own after I finished manipulating her. I showed her a visual model of what to do, how to move, and then asked her to do the same thing and she did!! Not with the same proficiency, but she was able to follow the model!!! She did better on her right side but she was now also able to move her left side alone with only a visual prompt as well!!!!! She was able to open and close her fist 4 times, and move her wrist up and down once on the LEFT SIDE!!! She couldn’t do this a month ago!! Next, I had mom stretch both arms out in front of her and then pull them back in close to her body---with a visual model only---and she did it!!!! I also changed up the actions too---2 times arms in and out then 1 time fingers open and closed then back again—and she followed along!!! Mom also told me 2xs that she needed to “go to the bathroom.” This awareness is great too! I gave mom 2 cards I bought for her that have a pug on the front in the snow---one is wearing an elf’s hat and the other is sliding on the ice wearing a scarf and hat. Mom loved them!! She said, “So cute!” and I asked her who the picture was but she didn’t tell me Toby—which is my pug’s name. She looked at the cards over and over. Mom can read now so if anyone wants to send her a card or letter—please send one to me at: 221 Bayview Avenue East Patchogue New York 11772 and I will give them to her. Next, we worked on moving mom’s legs and ankles. She was able to wiggle her ankles on command and also with a visual model first—and on both sides!! Then, I held a ball out over mom’s right leg and asked her to kick it. She couldn’t do it at first and even began to move her hands and wrists instead of her ankles and legs but once I did a full manual prompt, mom was able to lift her leg and kick the ball 6 times on the right side. There were gaps in between kicks and a lot of visual and sometimes physical prompts, but she did it!! Nice and high too!! One of the nurses came to do mom’s trach care and said that mom is able to follow directions nicely and he couldn’t believe how well mom did while he manipulated her trach and the surrounding bandages in that she didn’t cough or choke at all while he did it!!! This is a huge improvement!! Mom is now able to tolerate manipulation of the trach much better now.
Anthony, Con, and the kids, and Lenny came to see mom too. When they arrived, Samantha told her she bought her a piggy and mom smiled. She called Anthony Michael, “My sweetheart” which is the nickname she gave him years ago as a baby! She also asked for her “Party Pig” which is a clay pig with a party hat. She also read Con’s sweatshirt, “Stamford New York an American Classic.”
We all sang and talked to her. Anthony made her laugh again too. We asked her to smile and she did and then asked us to smile too. I bought her another drawing board with letters and numbers and shape to trace. Mom traced some letters for a while.
Samantha wrote: After you and Lenny left us, we started PT. Mom and dad and everyone else are working on her arms. Mom is doing the exercises with her and Nonny is following what she does sometimes. Nonny is getting tired now, she is just chillin. Now we are doing here legs and while mom was doing it and counting, mommy asked Nonny to count with her and she started to count. Now we are trying to get her to lift her legs. Nonny did not lift her legs but she did wiggle her feet. Nonny was laughing sooooo much. Bc of daddy.
Kathy wrote: Dad said that he and mom just relaxed together when Anthony, Con and the kids left. Mom had fallen asleep a bit and then dad left when the CNA came to put mom to bed and undress her and put her into her pjs. When I came back around dinner time, mom was all snug in bed so I gave her the piggies and we chatted and watched a movie together. Mom was happy to see me and she smiled a lot and listened and looked at me whenever I talked to her. As Sammy said earlier, we were “chillin.”
“The joy of the Lord is your strength” Nehemiah 8:10
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