Ok, so today, I think I have things all figured out…I stay home in the morning, go see the other facility I spoke about yesterday midday, and then see mom in the middle of the afternoon when she is awake. Well…Mom was awake midday when Anthony, Con and the kids came to see her and she was out like a light when dad, Claudia, Terry and I came to see her!! Ugh!! Psych!! Hahaha! Claudia, dad and I went to see the other facility in the next county today. The staffing ratio was comparable to where mom was originally…. 1 RN or LPN for every 5 patients on the vent wing. Twenty-four patients on the vent wing now. Not sure how high it can go because the person who gave us the tour double-talked a lot. Claudia mentioned that she noticed the woman didn’t answer any of my questions…so Claudia would jump in and restate the questions again then I would and the cycle continued until the questions were answered. There are 8 CNAs for 24 patients (don’t know if that is all on one shift or altogether dispersed throughout the day). There are 2 respiratory therapists for the 24 vent patients and they are on duty round the clock 24 hours---but never was clear if the 2 people split a 24 hour shift or if there are 2 respiratory therapists on every shift. Claudia said the person said it was 2 each shift. The place was not filthy but it wasn’t clean either, in my opinion. I felt the other place mom was in was cleaner. Same schpiel regarding the therapies…mom doesn’t qualify unless she can participate. Dad remembers them telling him otherwise the other day though. I felt it was a good stopover place until the old facility has an open bed. We saw one of the people from the old facility at this other facility! We didn’t talk to the person because we wanted to maintain privacy for the person. Also, at this facility there were mats on the floors beside the beds because there are no bed rails again!! Starting over. We asked if we could request the rails…no real reply from her. On a permanent basis, this facility we saw today is too far away for Claudia and me to remain aggressively active in mom’s program for recovery.
SOOOOO…now for mom the wonder woman!! Anthony and Con said she was AMAZING!! When she saw them, she smiled, reached for each of them and hugged each one. She also did something new today---she kept trying to sit up as though to get out of bed!!!!!!!!!!!! At one point, Anthony called me on the phone and I spoke to mom. I said hello, I love you, and I asked her what she was doing? Anthony then asked me what I said to her because she responded, “I’m trying to get up”!!!!!!!!!!!!! She kept trying to get up and kept propping her up on her arm for support too!! At one point, mom grabbed for Anthony’s hand because she wanted him to help her up!! The nurse told Anthony that mom was awake all night watching TV. When the neurosurgeon came to see her this morning, mom could not be woken up and they were all worried until the nurse told them that mom was up the entire night.
Claudia and I brought the IPAD to work on with mom when she woke. They did a word jumble game. There were 3-7 letter words. Mom couldn’t do it alone. Claudia did hand over hand prompting to help mom point to the letters. Then after the words were spelled, we would ask mom to read the words. She read some independently. We did a number game next. Mom was able to independently count 3 items and tell us the number. We did a receptive language game next, following directions like, “Touch the….” and mom had to point to whatever it was. Mom got all of them right. She even used the stylus to touch the right answer. We did a feature game next...like, “Find the one that is flat” or “Show me the one with 4 wheels”….mom did 90% correctly and used the stylus to point too. We did the vegetable game next…you look at the word and the coinciding picture and read the words. Usually, mom’s first response is, “I don’t know” or “I can’t do that” but we just tell her she can and offer a scaffolded type of assistance like a phonemic cue (pronounce the first letter of the word or we give another clue…). These techniques usually get mom through her lack of confidence. With the slightest clue, mom usually gets the answer. We played Solitaire on the IPAD next. It was difficult for mom to do certainly, but she did seem to recognize the game and the general idea of how to play to basic extent. She needed a lot of help in order to play the game. Throughout every game we played, we stated all the directions and options and answers in words so that mom can hear language along with coinciding pictures and actions. Rather than just moving mom’s hand to do things, we talk about what it is she is doing, “Reach up and then point” or “move to the left” or “Good, you touched the number!” Mom remained attentive and participatory for a full 50 minutes!!! Mom didn’t have her glasses on while working on the IPAD either. Most of the time, mom reads without glasses though. Halfway through Solitaire, mom said, “Oh, my head hurts now.” So we stopped playing and she just sat holding dad’s hand and visiting with Terry. We went down to the cafeteria to have dinner and then Terry left. Dad, Claudia and I went back to see mom. She had just been cleaned and changed. The nurse was bagging her to give her an extra boost of oxygen after mom had been changed. We had wondered about this procedure at the other facility—I don’t remember what we learned about it back then in December, but evidently, it is something practiced…even here at this prestigious hospital. Mom was trying to get her breathing in sync when we got back into the room. We all talked to her. I asked her to call dad and she did!!! (just mouthed it). She wouldn’t talk much to Claud and I at first, only dad. She gave him googly eyes and smiled and told him she loved him. She lit up when she saw him. She looked tired so we prayed and were about to leave when she said, “Please stay with me” so who could go? We stayed with her. We had to leave the room for ½ an hour while the shifts changed. While we were there, Claudia began to talk to 3 families in the waiting room and one thing led to another and she showed them the apps on the IPAD and explained how we use it with mom. Then we gave each family the address to the blog. I hope and pray it helps someone. When we came back to the room, we did the number app with mom. She traced about 1/5 of the way around each number and couldn’t point to any on command, but she named a few (8, 3…). Claudia did some dot to dot, connect the dot pictures and they made a pig. I asked mom what it was and she said, “A dog”…close, but no cigar! They did tangrams next. Mom likes to do these. She kept peeking at the TV as we worked though. The doctor came in to check on mom before we left and told us she is doing great and that she has been on the trach collar and off the vent for 24 hours now!!!!! Soon, mom got sleepy and we left. She kissed us all good bye.
“for I am the LORD who heals you.” Exodus 15:26
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