Dad began the day with mom today. Mom was awake and eating breakfast (waffle, oatmeal with vanilla milk, orange juice, coffee). Dad said that mom was stabbing with the fork and that mom ate the waffle all by herself. Dad stayed an hour of so with mom and then left. He told mom he had to leave and where he was going and mom said, “OK” but when dad left, mom made a face.
Anthony came next to be with mom just before lunch. He did her full physical therapy/range of motion exercises and he worked on her legs. Though she didn’t lift her legs alone, she exerted pressure against their pushing. She wiggled her feet as well. She ate lunch and the Occupational Therapist came in the beginning of lunch and said that she probably would not be back to see mom next week because, though mom can now scoop and pierce with the fork, she eats too slowly. Anthony finished lunch with mom, he brought a sandwich so he could eat with her. Mom talked to Con on the phone today, and dad said she was mouthing answers to Con’s questions and was also holding the phone to her ear as well.
When dad came back to see mom, he said that he did mom’s full physical therapy/range of motion exercises. He also said that the lady with the puppets, from recreation therapy, came to see mom. The recreation therapist told dad that a man with a greyhound came too but mom didn’t seem to pay attention to it. The pulmonologist came with the head of respiratory came to see mom too. The pulmonologist said mom is doing great with her breathing and that next week they are going to do more with mom’s vent again. They changed all the vent lines/tubes today and cleaned things up while dad was there. They said that there is another machine/ vent? that is available and that they may use it with mom next week (while this is good, I have to ‘vent’, pardon the pun, and question why, after mom is here 10 months, are they just now thinking about using this machine???!!!!). The facility also provided mom with her own hoyer lift pad (I called the Social Worker as I was told to do and asked where and what kind of pad mom needs for the hoyer and the shower because we want to buy her her own). I haven’t seen the shower pad for the hoyer yet, but the Social worker told me 2 days ago that mom would be getting her own pads just for her use—with her name on them. There was no name on the pad that was here today, so I wrote mom’s name on it (all over). Mom has been on the CPAP mode of the vent for 5 days now!!! And doing wonderfully!!
When I came today, it was late in the afternoon. Mom was bright and alert. Again, I am noticing that, as mom’s physical ability (namely use of her left hand and fingers and arms) increases, she isn’t speaking as much lately. Her brain functions seem to come together in pieces still, although now, she is seeming to integrate her brain functions a bit more. When I arrived I saw that mom had 2 containers of juice left from yesterday---so I began to have mom drink---I am the JUICE DRILL SARGEANT!!! Hahaha! I make sure mom is drinking enough. Mom’s dinner came shortly after I arrived (chicken with a lemon wine sauce, yellow rice, mixed vegetables, vanilla milk and applesauce—we don’t give her the soup because it is too salty). I placed the plate right on mom’s lap on the bed and she grabbed the fork. She began to feed herself immediately…but then stopped. I gave her a forkful and she resisted me but ate what I offered her. I talked to her about my life as she ate. She was very slow in the beginning so I kept pushing the food together into a pile so mom could easily scoop it. After a while, mom began to push the food together herself!! She was imitating what I did and she also must have known this would help her to scoop. She was very ‘with it’ tonight. At another point, I told mom to use the spoon for the mixed veggies and the rice and the fork for the chicken---and she began to switch between the 2 on her own!!! She’d put the fork down and grab the spoon and scoop the rice and veggies with it and then she’d put down the spoon and grab the fork though she didn’t use it for the chicken only as I did. Mom ate all her dinner predominantly on her own!!! I gave her maybe 3-4 forkfuls and that’s it. I poured her applesauce in the bowl that was used for her soup (we cleaned it out first) because it was easier for her to scoop from than the small 4 oz. container. She kept scooping it out of the container onto her bed/bib until we switched to the bowl. She was tired then and didn’t do as well with the applesauce…I eventually just fed her the last few spoonfuls. It was funny though, because when I tried to help mom scoop, she would empty the spoon or fork and then refill it with food herself and bring it to her mouth!!! OCD!!! Hahaha!! We laughed about it, dad and I. Mom brought the spoon or fork up to her face but would come just under her mouth on her chin at first, but as she ate, she hit the bull’s eye! She fell asleep after dinner for about an hour. When she woke, she was coughing. We watched TV and talked. I prayed with her and anointed her with oil when I left.
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33
No comments:
Post a Comment