I began the day with mom this morning. Claudia slipped on the ice in her driveway at 6:20 a.m. and fell—sore hip and arm—say a prayer for her. When I arrived at mom’s room, she was fast asleep. I began her physical therapy/range of motion exercises and put her glasses on and her hearing aids in. Shortly thereafter, her CNA came to get her bathed and dressed. While mom’s CNA (certified nurse’s aide) got mom ready for the day (sponge bathing her and dressing her), the CNA began to talk to me. We had a long conversation, she said, “My residents give me hope every day. I look at them and think, ‘If they can make it, so can I.’ And I watch your dad, sitting here day after day, waiting for her. There aren’t many men in the world like Mr. G. I want to find a good man like him.” Then she said, “Hey, Mrs. G. you need to get better because you have a really good man waiting for you.” She also commented on how committed we are to each other and to mom as a family...and she said that she can’t imagine how hard this all is on dad (and all of us). She said that she had a recent break-up and was very, very distressed over it but the only thing that kept her going was thinking about how much dad loves mom and how there must be good men out there. She said that many spouses would not make the commitment to each other like dad does with mom…coming to see her twice a day or sitting by her side all day long. She said many spouses would find other people to be with or turn to addictions. Once again, it is a wonder how God takes one person’s woes and turns them into a way to bless and help somebody else. You never know.
While she dressed and bathed mom, I noted that mom used to be able to follow commands to hold onto the bed rail or to help in turning, but no more now at this time. Mom’s vent was down from 12 to 10 and the tidal volume was raised from 500 to 600(this is all good in the weaning process).
Anthony and dad came next and did her full physical therapy/range of motion exercises. Mom looked at Anthony when he spoke and also turned her head to look at dad when he spoke too. She smiled a lot at them and tried to mouth words but they didn’t understand what she was saying.
I came back to see mom in the afternoon and she gave me a kiss hello and good-bye. She had just returned from the recreation room where they all were “playing drums” to music. Mom usually likes to do this. Mom was sitting in her room in the wheelchair (sitting up really well—supporting herself upright well) and watching the Food Channel when I arrived and left.
Claudia, Dad, Con, Anthony Michael and Samantha saw mom this evening and mom was awake. They read the “All About Me” book, grabbed her hands to make her clap and to clasp her hands, and they also did her full physical therapy/range of motion exercises and full leg lifts. They wrote her name on the white board for her to read but she only tracked it with her eyes and didn’t mouth her name. Claudia used the scrunchy, orange tube again to exercise mom’s arms. She put the tube in mom’s right hand and pulled away from her and she held on and moved her arm 5 times. Then Claudia put the tube in her left hand and moved the tube up and down first so that mom’s grip would be better and firmer and then she lifted her arm out and in. And when mom holds the middle of the tube with her left hand she did this better. She has never done this before. Mom also tried to grab the tube from Claudia---ANOTHER FIRST!! They did the thera-putty in mom’s hand and she pulled the putty to the side across her body and with her left hand she pulled in an outward motion away from Claudia (another first). She did this against gravity!! Anthony Michael and Claudia did 10 pegs in the pegboard and mom looked at her hand the whole time (which is NEW and great!! Good focus). Claudia is working on attention—getting mom to focus on what she is doing. This is a goal for mom, to pay attention to the tasks at hand and to her body as she does things (Mind/body connections). Dad and Claudia tried to get mom to do a “High Five” but mom didn’t do it—they waited 7-9 minutes for a response and then mom mouthed, “Don’t want to” and dad said, “You need to!” Mom mouthed, “What?” “Pull” and “Five pulls.” She moved her right and left arms up near her face too but never reached her face but came close!! She moved around a lot tonight.
“…be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 2:1
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