I began the day with mom this morning before work. Mom was asleep when I arrived. The head of respiratory therapy followed me into the room, along with another respiratory therapist. The two watched as I woke mom by talking to her and then finally by opening her eyelids...she was awake with her eyes closed. She opened her eyes and smiled at me broadly---like an angel, so pure was her look. The 2 therapists began talking to her and she turned to them and smiled with a pleasantly surprised look on her face. The head of respiratory asked me how long I would be around this morning because he said he'd like to run an experiment with mom's vent settings for a while just to see what will happen. Then they began to talk to mom again as he fiddled with the vent settings. I left the room to get mom's hearing aids, I told them the aids were not in and it may be difficult for mom to hear without them. When I returned with the aids not 2 minutes later, the head of respiratory said that the experiment was already over---"Let me tell you what occurred" he said that, though mom's current progress on the current settings was very, very good (rate 6, PSV 12) and that she should definitely be ready to have the vent lowered, when he put the vent on the CPAP mode, mom's respiratory levels began to rise, so he went back to the original settings. He left then. I asked the other respiratory person if the fact that mom was barely awake could have effected the results, and he said, "Of course it does." He said he had mentioned this to the head person but the head guy didn't want to listen. Later today, when dad came, he asked the head of respiratory about going back to the CPAP mode while mom was more awake and the head of respiratory said he would try again on Monday morning. Whatever. Please pray that mom gets off that darn vent. Mom's aide came in with breakfast next. Mom had hard boiled eggs, juice, vanilla milk in oatmeal (mom likes this, her aide figured it out), croissant with butter, coffee). The aide said she figured out how to get mom to feed herself, she gives mom a fork of food and says, "OK feed yourself. and mom bites tiny bites of food off the fork and then puts the fork in her mouth and feeds herself. The aide also said that she knows that mom feels most comforted when someone sits next to her and not facing her. Mom closed her eyes once and her aide told her to open them and mom did!!!! Her aide tells mom, "lift" or "eat" or "chew" and mom follows every direction and eats independently!! Her aide is so good with her. So is her night aide (3-11 shift). Before I left for work, I told the aide to wait a minute while I prayed with mom. I anointed mom with frankincense on her temples and forehead (good for concentration) and then I prayed with mom. When I finished, the aide asked if we all do this with mom. I told her we do and the aide said, "That's the difference in her!!! She is so much better than everybody else here because of the prayers!!!"
Dad was with mom next and he said that mom was awake, talkative, and alert all day. He said she ate a good dinner. Claudia came in the evening and said that she, dad and mom played UNO!!! Mom held her cards alone and picked up a few cards alone too and even selected one or two cards correctly. They looked at the picture dictionary next and mom turned the pages half way alone, then hand over hand the rest of the way. Mom had a hamburger and fries for dinner. Claudia gave mom a choice of doing a crossword puzzle or a jigsaw and mom picked the crossword eagerly...she grabbed it. She guessed 2 clues:
- --- "Snow vehicle" Mom said, "Sled"
----" a blank for news" mom said, "nose"
She didn't guess the rest. They sang songs on the IPAD next: all the words to MOON RIVER, MORE...then Claudia played music and did a slide show of the family photos on the IPAD and mom paid attention to the pictures. Then they played a number game on the IPAD but mom was very tense with Claudia doing the hand over hand prompting. When Claudia said, "Why are you fighting me? Don't you want to do this?" Mom said, "Yes. I'm not fighting you." They tried the Oral Motor exercises on the IPAD but mom just looked and wouldn't do it. The last thing they did was the oral motor exercises that Carmine showed us. Then they tucked mom in and put her to bed and prayed.
"Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on..." Philippians 3:13
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