Claudia reported that each morning, when she arrives here early to see mom, the curtain around mom’s bed is drawn so that she cannot be seen from the hallway or doorway when you glance in the room from the hall. She complained that when no one is visiting, the curtain should be drawn so that anyone passing by can see mom at a glance. Claudia impressed on the head nurse and another nurse that the curtain needs to be fixed ASAP!! That way, mom can be monitored better. Claudia said that mom was very awake, alert, connected, and followed/tracked her with her eyes. Mom made some of the same faces she used to make before too. She even smiled a few times too. Claudia moved her arms in physical therapy and they moved pretty well—not too stiff or painful. Her legs and feet moved well though her feet are not as straight up as they were. Mom’s glasses were very clean which means she can’t touch them (not good). Mom had a shower today…finally!! After almost 3 weeks…thank God. She must have felt refreshed.
One of our friends from the facility just reported to me this morning that this person’s job is on the line for talking to our family (past and present). I have gathered some information about who was in charge of mom the morning all this happened. I know who the respiratory therapist was who was on call with mom that morning. I also heard that he was a nervous wreck and kept saying that mom pulled her trach out and he couldn’t do anything to help her (which is why the team came to respond). The person implicated is someone John and I saw in mom’s room when we came back to the facility that afternoon of the incident—he was tampering with mom’s vent while we were in the room and he grabbed all her charts too and fled the room quickly. This all happened while we were in mom’s room talking to one of the nurses. He came in a big hurry and pushed to the vent and began to change numbers and calibrations… I thought it was odd at the time because, to my knowledge, mom’s vent is set up for her and her alone. We are still gathering information about that day—no one at the facility wants to tell us much of anything (except our favorite people—but even they have not been free to speak as well…they privately advocate and help us). What a crazy system!!! I will say one thing, it appears that my conversation with the building administrator the day the incident happened was taken seriously because every time mom’s bell even rings once, or even when the alarm bell is moved, or whenever mom coughs…2 people run in to check on mom!!! It’s too bad it took all this in order to have people take their jobs seriously The head nurse came to have me sign the Care Plan that says that it has been ordered that mom wears mitts now when no one is with her. I read the plan carefully and realized it said “Reason for mitts – pulled trach out” so I noted next to that “possibly, not proven” I also requested a copy of what I signed and she said she would tell medical records to get me a copy. I don’t know when to ask for copies of the reports of what happened that morning.
Mom was in the regular chair (not the wheelchair) when I arrived and she appeared to be looking out the window. She turned toward me when I said, “Hi Momma!!” in a cheerful voice. She had the TV on and someone had set up her lap desk on a table in front of her and the “All About Me” and “Getting Better” books were on the desk. Mom couldn’t do much with them though unfortunately because she now wears large strong foam mitts on both hands to prevent her from pulling the trach out when no one is visiting. We take the mitts off as soon as we arrive and place them back on her hands when we leave.
I left the room for a few minutes and left the “Food Channel” on the TV for mom and when I returned, she was watching it and also looking at me. When I came back into the wing, the respiratory therapist in question (who is on mom’s ward today), was in the lounge watching TV!!!! When I entered mom’s room, he followed me and asked, “Is everything OK?” I replied yes and asked why and he said that someone paged him to go to mom’s room. Interesting. Mom’s CNA (who we love) told me she washed mom well in the shower and did her hair several times in order to get it clean. She also set mom up at the table with her tray and books and put her hearing aids in and glasses on. She is so cute and kind and loving.
Mom has been up and alert for the past 2 hours I am here. She frequently looks at me and smiles too. We stretched her fingers, ankles, and arms and hands a few times together. She watched me the whole time was unable to even move her arms or hands or fingers. She appears to be so weak that she is unable to move. We listened to some Vivaldi for a while together while stretching. If mom’s arm falls from the arm of the chair, it just hangs there. I am noticing that the day respiratory therapist is hanging out in the hallway by the hallway monitor now all morning since I am here.
Mom and I looked at pictures of our family and some nature shots I put on her IPAD. She focused on the pictures really well. She became tired and fell asleep finally after being awake 3 hours with me. It is difficult for me to find a routine of things to do with mom since she is back because she can’t really use her hands yet. I am noticing that she has been keeping her feet at 45 degree angles at the ankle rather than dropping them straight down which is good. She has her sneakers on her feet—maybe this tends to help in the support. Mom is also breathing above the vent (even though the vent is on fully) and this is good too. We went over the calendar—telling and showing her the name of the day, month, year, date, several times. We are back to auditory and visual learning without the physical ability. As mom became sleepy, I encouraged her to nap and I ran my fingers through her hair to relax her (she loves that). She would only cat nap and wake and look for me and then go back to sleep. Then she went to sleep finally for about 2 hours, but she had been awake since early this morning when Claudia arrived!! Mom awoke from her nap coughing and choking a lot but nothing to suction when the respiratory therapist came to suction her. She did a lot of swallowing which is good too.
I had the CNAs move mom to the bed from the chair at around 3:30 (she was sleeping for 2 hours at that point). Lenny joined me in doing mom’s physical therapy/range of motion exercises once she was in bed. She looked at Lenny and in his direction when I pointed and said, “LOOK who’s here!” Lenny asked her how she was doing today and if she felt good and mom mouthed, “Yup.” She also gave him a loud smacking kiss and then she gave me one too! She also mouthed, “I love you” to me about 3 times during the course of the day, sometimes in response to my telling her I love her and other times uninitiated. During physical therapy/range of motion exercise, mom mouthed, “OW” a few times. As Lenny was doing mom’s physical therapy, he asked, “It’s not so bad is it?” mom replied, “No, it isn’t.”
I anointed mom with Frankincense because it improves mental clarity. Then, Claudia came as mom and I were singing Glen Campbell and then the 3 of us sang every song from the GODSPELL sound track and mom sang too!!! Not every word by far, but she did mouth a few lines and words!!! I had to leave the concert at Sound of Music soundtrack to go cook dinner for Lenny!! Shucks!! Claudia took out the white board and drew and wrote words as she and mom sang---at one point, Claudia wrote Do Re Me instead of Do Re Mi and mom looked at Claudia disgusted until it was fixed!!! Claudia laughed and thought, “Gee, mom still has to be picky with my spelling even now!!” They sang all the songs to Fiddler on the Roof, Sound of Music, and Guys and Dolls together. Mom DID touch her glasses 3 times!!!!! It took her all of today, but she did do it!! Claudia tucked mom in, prayed with her and set her up for bed time. She told the night nurse about the curtain and keeping it open at all times as well. We both had so much fun singing and “chair dancing” with mom tonight!!! What a wonderful day. Praise God.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
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