When I came to see mom this morning to start the day, she was asleep. I tried to wake her, but she was sleeping soundly. I decided to let her rest even though it was 9 a.m. She slept until her aide came (a new person, a young man maybe in his 20s) to get her read for her shower. I wished there was a young woman to shower her and not a young man. She slept. The young man and the respiratory therapist who was present during the G-Tube debacle took her to the shower. She was back in about 7 minutes---way too quickly to be showered appropriately. I commented casually (“Gee, that was fast?”) but, of course, received no reply to the comment. After mom’s shower, she was still sleepy. The nurse even tried to wake her but to no avail. Mom would open her eyes—or keep them open after we lifted her lids---for a few seconds and then go right back out to sleep. They put mom in her wheelchair after she was showered and mom went promptly to sleep again. I put some music on her IPOD with the headphones so she could listen as she slept. Today, I noticed that she was leaning a lot to the left side rather than her usual rightward lean. Her hands and fingers were very loose during physical therapy. Mom’s aide said she ate a full breakfast of ham, eggs, croissant and juice and coffee. Mom slept until lunchtime. The aide started to feed her and very quickly the first few forkfuls – but then I told her the OT wants her to feed herself and then the aide let mom do it. At first, I gave her many verbal prompts coupled with a few physical prompts but not many and not full manual prompts---just light touches. Mostly, I helped by piling the food to one side of the dish, near the front and right side so mom could easily scoop. Mom ate the entire lunch alone!!!!! She fed herself using the spoon and the fork!!!!! Her skills increased more and more as the meal progressed. At one point, she looked at me and asked, “Where’s the music?” because I always play music while she eats!!! I started with the waltz music but that made her calm and slow and not focused…so I switched to the Ragtime music and she ate and fed herself well!!! Mom did much better feeding herself when the music was peppy as opposed to slow. I asked mom what song was playing twice and she named the songs, “Baby Face” and “By the Sea” and she also told me several times, “Oh…the music is beautiful.” I also saw mom staring at my shirt so I asked her what my shirt said and mom read, “Don’t quit 5 minutes before the miracle happens.” She had tilapia, juice, coffee, rice, string beans, and a soft roll. She ate the roll with her fingers. She ate the rice and fish with a fork. At times, she scooped food onto the fork and other times, she stabbed or speared the food with the fork. She also occasionally scooped with the spoon but clearly preferred the fork—her utensil of choice. I tried to help her eat by feeding her a spoonful near the end of the meal and mom said, “Stop that” and gave me a dirty look! I guess the hierarchy of things is timeless---she is the mom, I am the daughter. Period. Mom would stop eating to fix her glasses, so at one point, I asked her if I should take her glasses off and she said, “No, I’m supposed to wear them.” It took mom 1 ½ hours to feed herself but she did it!!!! She had a minimal amount of food left when she finished…maybe about ¼ of the meal left. She is such a perfectionist!!! She always was and it is funny to think that she still is one now!!! She is so careful when she eats because she doesn’t want to drop food or spill anything!!! I told her it is hard to relearn tasks when we are OCD (obsessive compulsive disordered)!!! Her aide patiently stood by for 45 minutes before she left and let me assisting mom to finish the meal with mom. After lunch, mom took another nap. She would open her eyes periodically and look around alertly but then in a few minutes she’d fall asleep again….out like a light. In one of the brief interludes when she was awake, I put the large, plastic buttons on the table along with the container with the slot in the top. Then I moved away. Mom looked at all on the table and picked up the container and placed it low in her lap---as though to begin the task of placing the buttons into the slot, but then she fell fast asleep again. When mom woke up, I asked her to put the buttons away for me in the container and she said, “I really don’t want to.”
Dad and Aunt Sophie came to see mom next. Dad picked up Aunt Sophie this morning. Con and Anthony came next. Mom was very tired. Ava and Claudia came next. Mom was still tired. They said that mom was predominantly sleepy and sleeping, but she did try to talk and laughed and sang songs with them. Mom sang, "Those Were the Days" with everyone. Dad brought Aunt Sophie back to his and mom's house and went back to put mom to bed tonight.
"For the Scriptures say, 'He will order his angels to protect and guard you." Luke 4:10
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