I began mom’s day with her this morning. I arrived early and she was sleeping, so I let her rest a bit before we began the day. I checked her charts and it seems that she stayed on the CPAP mode all night—no assist from the vent---thank God. When I woke mom later by washing her face and doing her physical therapy/range of motion exercises, she was alert and smiled at me. Next, I began to work on getting mom to lift her legs with the ball under her knee. Mom didn’t lift her leg at all. She was able to wiggle her toes on command and to move her ankles too.
Our friend who works here (I won’t say who or the job) came in to see mom this morning. She loves mom so much. She is the person who had the dream about mom when her grandmother died. She and I are here with mom talking. The sweetest respiratory therapist just came in. She is taking mom off the vent!!! She set up a monitor that connects to a cord with a light and the lit part gets taped to mom’s index finger. This monitors mom’s heart rate and breathing rate. The bottom number on the machine should not go above 100 (67 to start) and the top number shouldn’t drop below 90 (98 to start). MOM IS OFF THE VENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my Lord!!!! I can’t stop crying!! (not in front of mom—crying with our friend away from mom). Now, the respiratory person is putting a cup-like piece over the now open trach area and it is held with a thin strap around mom’s neck. There is a blue hose connected to the cup that is hooked to the oxygen and it blows air around the trach hole opening (not into it like CPAP). So mom still has a hose but only one not two. Mom is doing GREAT!!!! She is coughing a lot and looks fearful when she does but her numbers stay good while she coughs and she is producing productive coughs!! This is good!! She is able to move the fluid in her chest well!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!!! Thank the Lord!!!!! Our friend who works here is with me and we are both standing beside mom encouraging her and praying over her as she takes her first breaths. Mom is doing great! Just so visitors know, she can still be suctioned but they don’t want to do it unless it is an emergency---they’d rather have mom cough on her own in order to build her lungs and improve her breathing. Every time a person walks into mom’s room, I tell her to tell them her good news—that she’s off the vent—and she is all smiles as I say it. When her nurse heard the news, she began to sing the Alleluia chorus!!!
Claudia and Anthony came to visit with mom next with me. We all talked with her. She was reading her, “All About Me” book with us. She slept a lot on and off. In between sleeping, she wanted to write and draw. Claudia, Anthony and I spoke to the head respiratory therapist just now. He said that the next steps are as follows. Mom stays on the CPAP at night and the trach collar (what she has now) during the day for another week or 2. Then she will go on just the trach collar for day AND night for another week or 2. Then she will have no trach collar and the trach will be capped off day and night for a week or 2. Then the trach comes out totally. He said that there are 2 types of sleep apnea. The kind mom had at home is obstructive sleep apnea which is an obstruction in the airway---the airway closes usually due to weight but can be from other causes. The other type is a central sleep apnea where the brain forgets to breath. He said she is doing remarkably well. He told us to show her off and what she can do when we go to the neurologist this week. He also told us that he watched an informercial last night and they were selling CDs for $360 for the set and that it had to do with neuroplasticity. He said it reminded him of mom and what we are doing with her. I told him he is right on target. He thinks that it can’t work with everyone though---but he is incorrect; neuroplasticity works with us all.
Anthony and I tried to get mom to lift her legs but all we were able to get her to do was to wiggle her feet and move them around, but no leg lifting. She kept telling us, “No” when we asked her to lift them. The physical therapist came in next and he was able to get mom to lift her right leg 5 times and her left leg once high and very, very slightly about 3 times. I saw mom stand for the first time today!! What a wonderful machine! There’s a type of harness/sling that goes under her butt and it hooks to a lift that is attached to a table. The lift hoists the harness and boosts mom to a standing position. She stands at the attached table supported by the harness while her elbows are resting on the table as she puts her hands flat on the table. Today, mom stood 2 times!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Each time she stood for 6 minutes!!!! 12 minutes total!!! The second time mom stood, she actually tried to straighten herself out – to stand straight! She also bore more weight on her legs too! The physical therapist said that, although mom is standing well and for long, this type of activity is still considered “passive” activity. This is going on her 6th week of physical therapy and she is approved for 8 weeks as of now so she needs to do more in the next week or so in order to continue with the therapy beyond 8 weeks.
We also saw the speech therapist who said that she keeps close contact with the respiratory people. She said that in the next week or so she will begin to teach mom to swallow.
Dad came to see mom this afternoon and I left.
JoAnn came to sit with mom tonight but she slept the whole time.
"For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. " Luke 1:49
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