Claudia began the day with mom. She did her full physical therapy/range of motion exercise. They also read through the “Getting Better” book (this is the story Claudia wrote that talks about things mom needs to do or ways she should behave in order to get better—ex. “I need to answer the doctor’s questions if I want to get better”…). Claudia thought she would try to use the 10 inch ball under mom’s knees(one at a time) to see if mom could bend either of her knees on command, but mom couldn’t do it yet. Claudia tried the thera-band next, alternately putting it under one foot and then the other. The object of the thera-band activity is to have mom complete a motion similar to pushing down on a gas pedal. Mom’s right foot couldn’t do this at all, but the toes on her left foot wiggled slightly at the command to move her foot!! This is progress; it means that mom is at least able to both understand the message to do something with her foot and to also then do something with her foot!! She was able to turn her head to Claudia's voice on the left side fully and she also watched Claudia working on her feet. Her focus is better at times now. She’s getting there.
Anthony came to see mom next and monitored the EMTs getting mom ready for her appointment with the neurologist. I came shortly after that. Dad arrived just as the EMTs were transferring mom from the bed to the guerney. We three walked beside mom down the hall and out to the ambulance. We met her at the neurologist’s office. It took a long time to hook up all the little electrodes onto mom’s head for the EEG…there must have been 20 of them at least. Each electrode goes to a different part of the brain and measures the activity there. Once the electrodes were in place, the technician dimmed the lights in the room. Only she, I, the nurse from the facility and one of the EMTs remained in the room with mom. The technician asked mom to close her eyes and relax but mom couldn’t follow the command…we would help to move her eyelids shut but then she’d open them right up. The technician asked me to help mom keep them shut and relax. I knew just what to do. I whispered to mom that we’d pray and then I “tickled” her face. “Tickling” is a word mom used (or maybe we used with mom??!!) with us when we needed to relax. Mom would gently, ever so lightly, run the tips of her fingers over our skin—like a feather touch or butterfly kiss---and this would relax us kids. Mom loved this too…so I “tickled” her face for the 20 minutes that the test ran. Mom relaxed immediately—you could see it on her face and the technician mentioned that mom was very relaxed judging by what she read on the monitor screen. When the test was over, the EMT said mom set a record for using the least amount of oxygen during a test!!! She had only used ½ a tank!!! It was anticipated that she would use much more. God is good. We don’t have the results yet but should know more in a week or 2.
Anthony, Dad and I went back to the facility with mom. We made sure she was changed and put in her wheelchair for a while. Anthony and dad did mom’s physical therapy/range of motion again right before she went into her wheelchair. We put the 10 inch ball under mom’s left knee and hand over hand moved her leg to “kick” then we asked her to “kick” but she couldn’t do it, however, Anthony said that she moved her toes ever so slightly!!! Anthony also did what he called “doing the bicycle” which is an exercise where he stands at the bottom of the bed and then takes the bottom of her feet in his hands and then rotates in a pedaling motion. Mom was very happy and smiled a lot during the visit. Dad sang to mom and she laughed almost---smiling really big!! Mom kissed Anthony when he left. He asked mom to “Give me 5!” I moved mom’s hand into Anthony’s and mom mouthed, “Four!” Anthony said, “Not four!! I want 5!!!” and mom smiled! As mom sat in her wheelchair, she leaned all the way forward in the chair and fell asleep. She was able to hold/ support her upper body by herself by leaning forward as she slept!!
Mom ate an entire cup of chocolate pudding today!! She ate vanilla pudding yesterday. She did well eating it---no signs of aspiration or of not being able to digest it.
I left to pick up Aunt Carol and Maureen, Flo and Flo came to see mom. They talked to her and, at one point, they sang in a round, “Row, row, row your boat.” They said the choir is coming to sing and see mom next Sunday, February 6. Another time, Maureen told mom she was going to go to “Dobb’s Ferry” to visit someone and mom mouthed, “Dobb’s Ferry.” She was listening to the conversation!! When Aunt Carol and I arrived, dad left to go feed Aunt Sophie. After everyone left, mom was changed and put to bed again and when Aunt Carol and I came back in the room, she smiled at us both but quickly fell asleep. We took dad to the movies again. This time we saw, “The King’s Speech.”
The pulmonologist and head respiratory therapist saw mom before I left. Mom had just fallen asleep as they entered the room. They said hello to mom and she smiled. They asked her how she felt and mom mouthed, “Fine.” They also asked her to shake their hands. The pulmonologist asked her to shake his hand and then waited and moved his hand toward mom’s and mom moved her hand toward his but didn’t exactly lift it into his hand. But she made the attempt!!! There are obvious connections being made in her brain!! The respiratory therapist told us that mom is largely not breathing over the vent at night. She does well during the day but not at night yet. I told him we had seen a positive change back in November when she was doing physical therapy with the therapist. He agreed that this helped and commented that it is typical to suddenly see a huge change---“a turn of the corner” so to speak. We anxiously await that “turn” to happen soon.
After the movie, I went back to check on mom. She was in bed awake, staring at the pictures on the wall next to her bed and smiling. She was wide-eyed but tired. I talked to her a bit and then we prayed for a while and I tucked in her for bed.
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13
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