Mom’s vent is down from 10 to 8 (rate). This is good. Please continue to pray that the vent goes down and mom gets off it once and for all. Thanks. I began the day with mom today instead of Ava. Ava had bad migraines and couldn’t go to mom. Mom had her eyes squinty shut so I opened them and she smiled and looked at me with wide, happy eyes. I noticed that her right mitt was not put on correctly and that the “posey” (small, soft cushion that goes in the mitt to prevent hand/finger curling) was not in the left mitt. The left hand is the weaker of the 2. I told the nurse and he found the head of all the nursing staff, and I voiced my concerns to her, as well as to the nurse in charge at the desk. I did mom’s full physical therapy/range of motion exercises. She wiggled her toes on command on both feet but couldn’t move her ankles on command. One of the nice respiratory therapists came in today, and gave mom a small, crystal piggy!! Mom was so surprised. I said, “Mom, look who’s here?” Mom said, “Who’s that?” but when she saw the piggy, she mouthed, “Thank you!” I said, “Isn’t that great?!” and she said, “That’s great!” As we did her exercises, I asked her if she wanted to listen to music and she shook her head yes, so I put on Andrea Bocelli and when I asked if she liked it, she mouthed “Yes.” I asked her if Claudia brought it and she mouthed, “no” then I said, “Who then? Anthony?” and she mouthed, “I think it was him.” Her arms and hands shook a lot during physical therapy which is good because it means that her brain is making connections with her body. I kissed her good-bye and left for work.
Dad came a little later and did mom’s full physical therapy again. He said that, when he put his arm under her right leg, mom lifted it slightly. He said that she also moved her feet side to side and up and down. The coordinator who arranges the tests at the hospitals came to talk to dad and said that St. Charles Hospital has all the paperwork for mom to get the modified barium swallow test, the CAT Scan of her sinuses and head. The only date they have available is for March 28!! She is trying to see if Mather Hospital can get mom in sooner. Then, dad and mom went to a birthday party in the recreation room. A man was there playing the guitar and mom mouthed the words to some of the songs and everyone became very excited about it. At one point, mom grabbed her trach line and dad removed her hand and said, “Hey! Don’t touch that anymore. We want you to get better and come home. We all want you home! Are you listening to me?” Mom said, “Yup.” Dad said, “What did I say?” Mom said, “You want me home.” Dad and I worked on trying to get mom to lift her legs one at a time. Dad put his arm under her right leg and I kept repeating, “Move my leg” over and over and alternately moving mom’s leg up and down. She managed to move her right foot on command this way and moved her leg slightly upward too. She did this about 3-4 times with the right leg and wiggled her left ankle several times. She also flexed her right calf muscle. I said good-bye to mom and left for work. Dad left shortly after I did. John came to be with mom tonight. He said that, when he first saw her, he said hello and asked her who he was and she said, “John” and gave him a huge smile. He showed her the piggy that Ava bought her for Christmas and asked her who bought her that and mom said, “I don’t know” so John told her. The second time John asked her who bought her the piggy, mom said, “Ava” so she remembered. John did mom’s sewing card with her and mom couldn’t do it alone so John put the lace through the hole from the bottom so that the tip of the lace stuck through the hole. He then had mom grab the lace and finish pulling it through. At first, John prompted mom hand over hand along with verbal prompting, but then Mom did it all alone. He also did all the family photos with mom too. She couldn’t name anyone but she looked with interest. As they went through each photo, he told a funny story about the person and mom laughed. Then, John did Carmine’s pictures with mom and she spoke a lot but he largely couldn’t understand what she was saying. John did mom’s full physical therapy/range of motion exercises and mom counted with him as she exercised. They joked and laughed the whole time. John said that tonight was one of the best night’s he had with mom and the most alert looking she was.
“Love must be sincere.” Romans 12:9
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