I started mom’s day with her. When I arrived, mom was sitting in bed awake with a serene look on her face and a smile and it came to me that she looked like she was praying. When I began to talk to mom, she put a finger to her lips to shush me and closed her eyes and continued to meditate. Maybe she is finally resting in God. I readied her room and turned around to see that she had been holding something in her hand the whole time---her trach balloon!!! She had ripped off a piece of her trach! I took the piece from her hand—after fighting her for it!! She had a tight grip on it. I brought the piece down to the respiratory therapist (the 2nd in command) and she panicked and said, “Oh that’s not good” and began to call for assistance. She was initially concerned that mom’s alarm didn’t go off but soon found that it didn’t need to go off because mom wasn’t in any respiratory distress. Thank God!! She is breathing fine. They had to change her trach because of this. As they worked on her, she frequently tried to push their hands away and/or made gestures with her hands as if to say, “What are you doing to me?!” This level of awareness is all a good thing. I called one of the nurses to help me pull mom up in the bed (it always amazes me how no one thinks about the position she may be in while sitting and how it could affect her breathing by obstructing her airways!). When they left, the head of respiratory came in and said hello to mom—she responded by waving at him with her index finger and smiling. He was amazed. He asked how mom was and she mouthed, “I’m OK” then he asked if she slept well and she shook her head, “Yes” with a smile. He was blown away at her level of awareness. I set mom’s bed tray up and gave her the small magna doodle, her pencil, some paper, a squeeze ball, her sewing card and a nut and bolt. She chose the pencil and paper and immediately began writing something. I kissed her good bye and left for work.
Dad came to see mom next just before lunchtime. Later in the afternoon, they both went to the Recreation Room to decorate gingerbread men Christmas ornaments. Claudia joined them there later on. Claudia said that mom was in a good mood. Dad and mom decorated one together. Claudia accidentally kicked mom’s feet and mom said, “Oh my feet, WATCH!” Then mom was grabbing at the blanket of the lady next to her and saying, “Tell that lady…” but didn’t finish and repeated this over and over and never finished. Claudia kept telling her to keep her hands in her own chair! Mom was sewing her sewing card while Claudia showed her FRUITS on the I-TOUCH and with each new fruit, mom stopped sewing, looked at the picture and labeled the fruit independently. When they got to the strawberries, mom used a pincer grasp to grab the strawberry and put it to her mouth and looked Claudia in the eye and put it to her mouth. Claudia told her, “I know you want to eat a strawberry. Soon you’ll be eating. Soon. Just keep getting better like you are.” She labeled things like: “PEACHES, WATERMELON…” Claudia put a drawing program on next and mom drew all over with the stylus and her finger. Then Claudia tried to make another gingerbread man ornament but mom wouldn’t do it and the more Claudia prompted her, the more mom did it all wrong---almost on purpose. She took the eyes and put them on the hand and looked at Claudia like, “Did I do it right?” When they finished, mom ripped it up. They moved mom back to her room then. Claudia did the tangrams on the IPAD there. Claudia did about 5 pictures hand over hand, then modeled, and mom did 1 or 2 by herself!! (Shape matching). Then mom pushed the IPAD away. Then mom did nuts and bolts. Took them apart and then tightened them. Then she played with the magnetic piggies that JoAnn bought her (“when pigs fly”)---putting them together and pulling them apart over and over and also making them reach each other. Then they came to put her into bed. Dad and Claudia went then to buy mom a sweat suit for mom’s neurologist appointment tomorrow.
JoAnn came to sit with mom and dad next. Mom was sleeping the whole time. Then dad left and Con, Sammy, and Anthony Michael came to sit with JoAnn. Mom was coughing a lot when she woke up. They all talked to her and mom played with a little ball. She mouthed things to them but they didn’t understand her. Mom blew mom kisses as JoAnn blew them to her. Yu could tell which people mom likes and doesn’t like when they enter her room. Then they left and got mom ready for bed, and they said the “Our Father” for the night time prayer and Sammy said that mom made the sign of the cross when they did.
Also, several people who work at the facility commented to dad that he looked tired and asked if he was OK. Dad is having a hard time again…please keep him in prayer. Thanks.
"if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20
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