Dad and I began the day with mom this morning. She was awake and very, very talkative. They changed the trach to a smaller size---from an 8 to a size 6--this is a step in the right direction.From here, she either gets progressively smaller trachs or she just caps off the trach she has for longer and longer periods until the trach finally comes out. Mom is already progressing quickly and is on a fast track toward getting the trach out!! I could hear her and have a conversation with her! She spoke softly but if I put my ear to her mouth, I could hear her clearly!! I asked her if she slept well last night and she told me, "Hmm...did I sleep well? I think so. Yeah." When I asked if she woke during the night, she said, "Uh...yes, I did and I watched TV." We talked about visitors and she asked about and commented on the pictures on her walls. We told her who came to see her over the summer last year and somehow we mentioned that she had been in a coma for 3 months last summer and that many people came to see her and pray for her and sing to her. She was so touched. I showed her the "Love Notes to Dotty" book one and she almost began to cry as she read the passages people wrote to her. She even said, "Kathy look at this one!" a few times. It is amazing how, before, mom went through the motions of activities, tasks...and now...she does the same things but her emotions are coming back finally. Her emotions were the last thing to come back to life.
She went to see the neurosurgeon today for a post surgical follow up and all went well there. When the EMS people came to transport mom, they realized a mistake had been made---they were prepared for and expecting a vent patient. Mom hasn't been on the vent for over 3 1/2 weeks now. They sent 3 paramedics and a guerney instead of a wheelchair vehicle. At one point, one of the paramedics said they were going to put her back on the vent to transport her!!!!!! Thank GOD I was there to say, "Absolutely not!!!" Advocacy is needed every step of the way. The facility had left the abdominal staples in for 3 weeks and wouldn't remove them (even though they removed the staples in mom's head). They kept insisting it was good to leave them in so long, but the neurosurgeon didn't agree. The ride there took over an hour. The wait took 40 minutes and the examination took like 6 minutes!! Thank God is was a great report though! Mom does NOT have a programmable shunt which means she can get MRIs...with no problem. She also does not have a soft spot on her head...the skull is still there and was never removed! The neurosurgeon said that the resident gave us the wrong information and must have confused patients. We will check the information on the records that the facility has to be sure they are right. When we all got back to the facility (we left at 9:30 a.m. and returned at 1:30 p.m.), mom was going to watch a movie but she never got there. At one point, dad left to run errands and I cracked a joke about it but mom stuck up for dad and said, "He has important things to do!" Claudia came to see mom with Paula, Claudia's friend, and mom was surprised to see them but kept falling asleep. She woke later in the afternoon when dad came back but fell asleep around 7 so dad tucked her in for the night.
"I will be with you and I will protect you wherever you go" Genesis 28:15
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