I began the day with mom this morning. She had already eaten breakfast. When I arrived, the door to her room was closed and the curtain between her bed and her roommate’s was drawn. This is the protocol when a resident is being cared for, but no one was with mom at the time. Several other doors of residents were closed on her wing as well, but not all. Mom’s door is to always be open and the curtain drawn so that there is clear view of mom at all times; especially since the decanulation back in December. I put mom’s hearing aids in and opened her squinty, shut eyelids and she sort of smiled at me when she saw me but didn’t talk to me at all. She mouthed, “Good morning” to the respiratory therapist though!
The respiratory therapist said mom’s phlegm was thick still but clear and not much of it, however, the therapist said that mom sounded a little “bronchial” and slightly “wheezy” when she listened to mom’s chest with the stethoscope., so the therapist said mom was going to get a “treatment.” The treatment is like an inhaler to an asthmatic person. This therapist said her belief is that mom can still suffer from allergies because the vent is NOT a closed system. The therapist said airborne and ingested allergens can still get into someone’s system regardless of the vent—through pores or any other openings where air touches and can get into the body—places where oxygen comes into the body.
As I did mom’s physical therapy/range of motion exercises, I noticed that her ankles and feet were stiff today. I also noticed that her left ankle is beginning to turn outward rather than remain at midline (rather than straight in line with her leg). The physical therapist gave us boot-like supports to put on mom during the day now in order to prevent foot-dropping (a condition where the feet point out straight like a ballerina’s but in a lying down position) and this can result in a permanent condition that cannot be corrected which will prevent a person from ever walking again. The boots also push and support the ankles so they don’t tilt outward. Mom slept through the physical therapy.
After mom woke up, we practiced throwing/rolling and catching the 10” ball. Of the 25 times I threw the ball to mom, she caught it 23 times (the ball would land on her stomach area which gave her a moment or 2 to process what to do to catch it with both hands). Mom rolled the ball to me about 6 times independently. The faster we did this activity---toss, catch, roll, toss, catch, roll—the easier it was for mom to commit the task to memory and complete it. Next, I did the calendar with mom. Claudia made laminated monthly calendars for mom. I sked her the name of the month—she didn’t know, so I showed it to her and asked again and she read, “April.” Then I asked her what day and date it was (one at a time) and she didn’t know, so I showed her and she read, “Saturday” then she read, “2nd” I wrote “2011” and asked what year it is and
mom read that too. Then I wrote sentences on the white board. “The month is April” and she read it, “Today is Saturday” and she read it, “The date is April 2, 2011” Then I wrote mom’s name on the white board and she read it (I wrote it in block letters). Mom couldn’t trace in the lines of the block letters of her name. Then I wrote “APRIL” in slashed letters—like connect the dots—but mom couldn’t trace them. She did make large circular motions on the board though. Then I asked her if she knew who I was. To this, she pulled me close and put her arm around me. She didn’t know my name. She kept reaching for me and mouthing, “Is it…is it…” I wrote it on the board, but she would not read it. Finally, later, when I asked mom what my name was again, she repeated me and mouthed, “Kathy.” She began to get very sleepy just as her lunch arrived. Her CNA said mom ate eggs and oatmeal with vanilla milk for breakfast, and coffee. For lunch we fed her because she was so tired and kept falling asleep as she ate. She had chicken in Chinese sauce/gravy, pineapples, mixed vegetables, rice and tangerines—she also drank 2 cups of juice but didn’t want her coffee. She fell asleep out like a light as soon as she finished lunch. She had a sneezing fit after lunch and it went on and off. I played music in the background all morning…oldies from the 20s, 30s, and 40s.
I asked about mom’s lab test results from last week---urinalysis came back positive but they are not going to give her any antibiotic for it unless she runs a temperature. They don’t want to flood her with too many antibiotic treatments. Mom was grabbing at her trach all morning too!! She grabbed it so strongly at one point that I didn’t think I would be able to get her hand off it…but I did. I scolded her for doing it each time. Obviously, that didn’t work to keep her from doing it.
Dad and Terry spent the afternoon and evening with mom. Mom had a late shower today -- late in the afternoon. Her aide was looking for a strong, new hoyer pad because we heard that someone fell from the hoyer because the pad broke!!!! Luckily, the person was not hurt. We are going to buy mom her own pads. The hoyer is a machine that works on hydraulics and the patient is lying on top of a pad with straps and loops...the loops attach to the arm of the machine that then lifts the person up in the pouch created by the pad so that the aides no longer have to lift a person to get the person from a bed to chair to shower guerney.... They said she slept when dad was there, then she slept when Terry was there...and she woke up to eat dinner: Crab salad and soup (she didn't like and wouldn't eat) but she did eat the 3 bean salad, pudding and coffee and juice. Mom was awake for a while after dinner but then promptly fell asleep around 7:15 when dad and Terry left.
"...we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1
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