Dad and Claudia began the day with mom early this morning. Mom was scheduled to have a CAT Scan done today but no one knew what time, so that is why Claudia and Dad arrived so early. Claudia had to open mom’s eyes and then she was awake and alert. She washed mom up and prepared her glasses and hearing aids. Mom’s hearing aids had to be cleaned well and the batteries needed changing. Claudia repositioned mom in the bed next…sitting mom up straight in the bed and pulling her up high in the bed. It is important to position her well for breathing purposes. Claudia and dad worked on stretching mom’s hands and then breakfast came and Claudia left for work but dad stayed.
Anthony came and joined Dad and Mom. He said mom was awake and alert and talkative. Dad said she mouthed a lot of things to them both and that she also laughed a lot with them too. Anthony worked on mom’s ankles a bit before lunch. Anthony said the speech therapist came to see how mom does with eating. The therapist brought mom a tray of regular food---spaghetti, meatballs… Mom did well eating it at first but quickly began to cough a lot. Anthony said that he saw a minute piece of food in her trach line again but he said no one else noticed it. The speech person took the food she brought in with her away and returned with pureed food instead. It made no difference. Mom continued to cough. We think mom has post nasal drip as she did before all this happened. Mom’s nose runs a lot while she eats. The head respiratory therapist came in to see mom and Anthony showed him that mom’s trach was sticking really far outside her neck. The therapist pushed it back in well again and fixed it. The current plan is that the speech therapist wants to monitor mom’s eating before deciding whether or not to change her food to puree or G-tube feeding again…. God help us. The respiratory therapist put her back on the vent on the lowest setting SMIV Total Rate 6 with no more CPAP mode until they read the CAT Scan tomorrow. Though I don’t know what they have to compare it to. Mom fell asleep and Anthony left. We are wondering if maybe the CPAP mode of the vent where mom has to breathe more on her own is tiring her out? We need to ask tomorrow if this is possible.
When I arrived, just after lunch, dad and mom were already in the transport ambulance on their way to the hospital for her CAT Scan. I followed behind them. All went smoothly there and we returned back to the facility. No results of the scan until tomorrow. When we returned to mom’s room at the facility, she kept hugging dad and reaching for him and stroking his face and arm. He talked to her as she did this. It was so tender to watch. I began to straighten mom’s room. As I cleaned, I stopped and asked mom, “Hey, who messed up your room like this?” and she mouthed, “Poppy” (dad!!!). We laughed!! Mom spoke to Lenny on the phone. She mouthed, “Hi”, “Lenny” and “I love you too.” Mom and I talked and she put her arm around me and stroked my hair. I had told mom that Claudia said she was trying to climb out of her bed yesterday morning and mom mouthed something along the lines of “nonsense!” in an indignant manner. I saw the sores on mom’s lower back today when she was being changed. There are 2 spots that look like skin that was rubbed away…as if a person fell and skinned his/her knees---it looks just like that. I had to ask the CNAs to get the wound/medication nurse to change the bandage over the wound because it became contaminated with waste. Good thing I was there to ask. The nurse didn’t even seem to think that was necessary but I had her do it anyway. I had mom drink a lot of juice throughout the afternoon too. Mom and I did the calendar and white board as well. When I asked her what month it was, she didn’t know but after I prompted her by starting to name the months from the beginning of the year, she knew May came next. The same technique held true for the date and the year and the day as well. Mom knew what came next. We fixed the pictures on her wall next until she was satisfied. Mom was engrossed with staring at the border near the ceiling of her room today…it was as though this was the first time she saw it. The border has birds and birdhouses BUT the birds have leopard and giraffe spots on them. Really weird and terrible for a brain injured person to look at!! No semblance of normalcy!! Then we read her Mother’s Day cards. I gave her the small dry erase book to practice tracing letters with markers and she tried to trace the title on the page when I asked her to trace the letters. She pointed twice to get my attention and also tapped me on the shoulder once. I gave her a Reader’s Digest oversized print book to read and she thumbed through the pages and read things sporadically on the story, “This Time Together” by Carol Burnett. She became sleepy around 5 p.m. but not overly so. She would just drift off and then wake up again. Dinner came --- all pureed --- crab salad, mandarin oranges, pastina vegetable salad and vanilla milk and coffee (thickened). Mom didn’t initiate eating so I gave her the first 2 spoonfuls. After 2 spoonfuls and a sip of juice, she began to cough. I waited for the coughing to subside and then I sang to her as she ate. I made up a song and a tune about eating and chewing and swallowing and drinking….similar to what I would do with the kids I taught with special needs. I wondered whether the singing would sooth her, help her to focus more (opposite side of brain from spoken language), distract her from coughing???? Whether it was coincidence or not, I don’t know but it worked. She no longer coughed at all during the meal (except for once when I stopped singing). She ate her entire meal (1/4 she fed herself) and drank her coffee, vanilla milk and 2 containers of juice! After dinner, she was awake but tired because, though her eyes were wide open, she was quiet. I gave her the pegs and pegboard to use on the bed tray and she fiddled with the pegs. She could only place them in the board when I did hand over hand prompting though. I left to have dinner with Lenny.
Claudia came to see mom next. Mom was awake, alert, with it, and “on fire!!” Claudia gave mom the METS book that Claudia made for mom with the players pictures, stats, and all other pertinent information. Claudia created the book and laminated it. Mom was staring at it and lifting the pages and flipping through the pages and looking at the team players. Studying each one, reading each page. One of the METS players made history tonight by winning the game by hitting a 3 run homer. So Claudia told mom the news and said, “Mom, mom Carlos Beltron hit 3 home runs and won the game!!” Then, Claudia showed mom the METS book and turned to this player’s page and said, “Who hit the 3 run homer?!!” Mom mouthed, “Carlos Beltron.” Mom was able to read the page. As each player went up to bat, Claudia found the player in the book and told mom that this player was up at bat. Mom paid attention and really watched what was going on both on TV and in the book. Claudia also put the METS baseball cards that Anthony bought her on the tray and mom picked them up with her left hand and studied each one too. Then Claudia read mom the book, “Pigs are Beautiful” and mom LOVED it!!! Loved it!! She was glued to every word…it is a repetitive word book, and by the end, mom finished the last line. Then, Anthony talked to mom on the phone and when Claudia asked mom, “Who was on the phone?” Mom pointed to herself!! Claudia meant Anthony!! When they read the pig book, there are pigs in the back of the book so Claudia counted them and stopped at 11 and mom mouthed, “12.” Claudia asked mom if she liked the book and said that the book is a good one with great pictures and facts and it is short. Mom mouthed, “Yes.” Claudia was trying to convey that the book was not necessarily a children’s book. They talked and talked a lot. They went through family photos…Claudia provided the first phonemic cue of each name…”This is Jjjjjj….” Mom would finish the name (Jean, John…). Claudia also played her flip video of Jean and Ava singing and mom loved that too. Claudia readied her for bed and then prayed with mom. As tired as Claudia was, she was great to be there with mom tonight.
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights..." James 1:7
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