I began the day with mom. When I arrived, mom was soundly sleeping! I let her sleep. Her bed was not down to the floor so I went and told the head nurse about it. Mom’s mitt on the right hand was also extremely loose—she took it off easily later when she woke up. She woke on her own at 9:15 and smiled and asked me what time it was. She was shocked at the time. I said she was a “lazy head” and she asked to sleep “just 5 more minutes” which is a typical mom remark that goes back to before the stroke and aneurism. When mom finally decided she was awake, she announced it to me and asked me to help her sit up. I told her we’d practice having her get herself up by using her strong, right hand to hold the bed bar and pull up. She made a half-hearted attempt and said she couldn’t do it. I helped her accomplish the task by clasping hands with me and pulling herself up---she did it!! I said, “See mom!! Great job!! You CAN do it! You have to stop saying ‘I can’t do it’ and start to think like the ‘Little Engine that Could’ and say ‘I think I can!” To my remark…mom made a face (a funny disgusted kidding around voice) and said, “Oh BS!” and laughed!! She is too funny! She said that her roommate’s husband “scares me” and I asked why and she said, “Because” and when he moved closer to her side of the room, mom said, “Uh-oh…watch out, here comes Jack the Ripper!” and she laughed again!!! We talked and laughed so much! She asked for the kids and Anthony a lot. She followed directions perfectly to turn her head to one side or the other so I could clean her ears and put her hearing aids in. We used the money board that Claudia made for mom. It is divided into 4 quadrants and each one has the front and back of an oversized, plastic coin along with the numeric value and the word for the coin. Mom named, by reading, the numeric values and the words for each coin, but she couldn’t name the coins at all, nor match them to their word or value. I had to leave for a couple of hours and came back again before lunch time. Mom was awake and in bed still---she should have been in her chair by now. She was dressed and had been given a shower (I didn’t miss much while I was gone thank God) but mom was in night clothes. I quickly dressed her in street clothes so she would be ready for PT. I told mom to help me dress her and she DID assist me!! (The pulsox –thing that goes on her finger to monitor breathing and pulse…--had the posey from her mitt entangled on it—I had to remove the pulsox and untangle everything). Mom was able to find the bottom of her shirt, then to put the shirt on top of her head and begin to pull it down over her head!!!! She also was able to pull up her pants (not efficiently but a great attempt!!!)!!!! Mom also pushed both feet (slightly but good) into her sneakers! When we finished, one of the nurses helped me get her on the hoyer pad so she could be lifted into her chair. The nurse grabbed the CNAs and they put her into the chair. Mom’s typical CNA was not here today. She had a young CNA who worked with her about 3 times 6 months ago…the CNA wasn’t used to her new routine and couldn’t believe the transformation in her!! (The CNA had forgot to put the bed down and the mat beside her bed). This CNA said that mom scared him to death today because as he was getting her ready for her shower, he went into her drawer and heard someone say out loud, "Don't forget my shampoo. It's in the drawer with my body wash too." The CNA nearly jumped through the ceiling!!! I asked mom what she wanted to do and she selected a crossword puzzle but then the physical therapist came to get her. I waited in her room. When mom returned from PT, the therapist said that mom had stood up holding onto only a walker and that mom is amazing and doing lightyears better each day!!! Mom is also working with weights now too!!! She even does it all willingly and asks how many repetitions she has to do!!!! Mom fell fast asleep when she came back. She says hello and good-bye to everyone who addresses her and does so mostly by reading the person’s name and then saying the greeting using the name!!! I spoke to the Speech therapist today who said mom would be reintroduced to food this week since mom still has the trach as an extra help to watch for aspiration (swallowing food down the wrong pipe—the airway pipe). The speech person also said a new barium swallow test would follow and that could take a while to get scheduled. I spoke to the building administrator this morning too and gave him a copy of the power point presentation of the Stroke Recovery conference Claudia and I attended 2 weeks ago. The administrator was intrigued and grateful. The administrator said it is the opinion that the staff and therapists all have worked hard with mom to rehabilitate her despite the fact that therapies are all “reimbursement driven.” This is NOT true. Mom has had no therapies to speak of except physical therapy since the shunt surgery and back in November and December (because Anthony and I fought to get it). Occupational Therapy consisted of a few weeks of feeding therapy (how to use a fork and spoon) and speech was almost non-existent except for swallowing therapy for a few weeks. Our family had to do it all alone. The criteria for therapies, as per our current health care system is awful,---especially for the elderly. It is a frightening reality to witness. Elderly people are left to vegetate if no one advocates for them (family). There is obviously so much to do with a person throughout the recovery period—the first basic step though is to recognize that the person CAN recover!!
Anyway…mom will need the ‘bed alarm’ when in the wheelchair too. The request was put in by me to 4 different people. Mom talked to 2 of her old CNAs and her old primary nurse. They all can't believe what mom is like now!!! They all love to talk to her too! They all want to remain in touch forever! I had to leave to cook dinner and then go to work and told mom that Claudia and Dad would be there soon. She said, "Oh...OK, so they're going to take me home?" She is persistent!! This is great! When I came back this morning I was about an hour later than I wanted to be and mom said, "Why are you so late? Where were you?" I don't know if she now pays attention to time (I had pointed out the clock on the wall earlier) but it seems that way. She said the same thing to Claudia later on too. Dad came next and he and mom talked and talked. Shortly after that, Claudia came to see mom. Claudia said mom was amazing!! They did the snap, button, and zipper boards Claudia bought for mom. Mom had to do the snaps hand over hand but really wanted to try hard to do them!! She couldn't latch the zipper at the bottom but she DID zip it up and down alone!! She asked Claudia where she (Claudia) was before and Claudia said I was at work doing home ABA and mom said, "Oh...home ABA. What's that?" and then listened attentively to the description of what that is. Next, Claudia took out the action cards she bought mom (mom did this activity for over 1 1/2 hours). These cards have photographs on them of various people, places and things. The first picture was of a flower and a bee and, when Claudia asked her what it was a picture of, mom said, "A flower in the process of blooming!!" Another picture was of a mother, father and kids in the snow making a snowman. Claudia asked mom what season it is in the photograph, winter or summer, mom said, "winter" Claudia said, "Yes, how do you know that?" Mom said, "Because there's snow on the ground" Claudia asked who the man was in the photo and mom said he looked like "Christopher in the Sopranos" and the man DID look like him!! Then Claudia asked who the man was again and mom said, "A father" and then Claudia said, "This is the father so who is this? (pointing to the woman)" and mom said, "The mother" and CLaudia asked, "The father is a man or a woman?" Mom said, "A man." Claudia said, "The mother is a ___" and Mom answered "A woman." Then Claudia asked who kids were and mom said, "Their children" Then Claudia asked who the children were and mom didn't know so Claudia said, "Their ddddd...." mom said, "Daughters." Then in another photo, people were eating and Claudia asked what they were eating and mom said, "Breakfast" so Claudia said, "No, not breakfast...take another look" Mom said, "Oh lunch!" Claudia said, "Yes, how do you know that?" Mom said, "Because they're eating sandwiches." Then Claudia asked mom what month the photo of the snow is and mom said, "Monday" so Claudia said, "No, Monday is a day of the week" and then Claudia named all the months and asked again, Mom said, "Monday" then mom said, "Why can't I talk??!!!!!!" She knew it was the wrong answer. Claudia said, "Because you had a stroke" and mom said, "I did?" That doesn't sink in yet. Claudia said, "But you know what, that's why I'm asking you these questions so you can get better." Claudia named all the months again and this time mom said, "Probably January" and Claudia said, "Yes, it probably is because January is a winter month. Why isn't it July?" Mom said, "Because there is snow on the ground." Claudia asked if mom wanted to continue and mom said yes. At one point, Claudia day dreamed and mom said, "Come on. Give me another one!" They did this all night. Then they talked and Claudia put the mitts on and mom was mad at that. She told mom they are expensive mitts and dad will have to pay lots of money if they get lost... blah, blah, blah...mom wasn't buying any of it. We keep the mitts on because we only have 6 more days until she is decannulated and we don't want her to decannulate herself again and start over God forbid. Mom also puts things in her mouth when she is tired and not thinking straight. Mom calmly states very frequently "I didn't do so good" but we know how great she is doing and tell her all the time!!! Amen.
"Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name" Psalm 96:1
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