Happy 54th Anniversary Dotty and Jean!!
I began the day with mom this morning. When I came into Mom’s room, her bed was not down to the floor, the mats were not near one side of the bed and the bed alarm was disconnected. I found the head nurse and brought her to the room to show her what was what. The nurse said she would take care of it. Mom was out like a light. She would wake up and speak to me briefly but she would go right back out again to sleep. I sat and worked as she slept. Her CNAs kept coming to check on her and to see if I wanted her awake but I told them to let her sleep. Finally, mom woke at 10:30 a.m.!! One of her CNAs who did a double shift, night shift, said that mom was still awake at 11 p.m. last night when she left. Once mom woke this morning, she kept asking me for “5 more minutes” to sleep. I let her sleep. We talked about mom and dad’s anniversary and how long she is married today. I brought her a card to write out and sign to give to dad. After mom was dressed, I put on her make up and did her hair.
After that, mom and I set out to write the card for dad. I began by lightly writing in pencil, “Dear Jean, Happy Anniversary.” Then, with a pen, mom tried to trace over the words I wrote---she couldn’t do it. Instead, mom wrote alongside the words or over the top of them. At first, she slowly and deliberately wrote distinctive marks on the page—unlike any others she ever tried to write. As she continued writing, actual but random letters appeared!! It took her over an hour to write the card. She would slowly write, then she would sit and ‘read’ what she wrote. Then she would think some more and write some more and repeat the process. Whenever she appeared to be finished, I would ask her if I should put the card into the envelope but she would get extremely annoyed at me (making a face) and say, “Noooo…I’m not finished writing yet. It appeared to mean a lot to her to write this card for dad. Mom frequently said, “I don’t know what else to write” but then set about carefully and thoughtfully writing the card. Her appointment at the facility salon came next. She went to get a hair cut. After her hair cut, we went outside. Anthony, Con, Sammy, Anthony Michael and Dad came to join us outside. Dad brought mom a bouquet of roses, a card, and a balloon. We hung the balloon on the wheelchair. Dad said that yesterday, mom named all the colors dad pointed to!! We sat outside and talked. Mom loves watching people and thoroughly engrossed in doing this. After an hour, we came inside. Sammy brought her string for making bracelets and sat with mom making a bracelet. Any time we asked mom what colors she likes, she would say, “Red and orange, green and blue, shiny yellow, purple too.”
Sammy wrote: Nonny fell asleep after aunt Kathy left. She only fell asleep for about 5 min and PT came to nonny and she went to go. She stayed for about 45 min.they told us she did good. She came back and looked a little tired but they changed her as soon as she came back to the room. After nonny was done getting changed, we hung out for a little while longer. Poppy stayed with nonny.
Claudia wrote: Mom was in the chair when I arrived. Dad was still with her. Mom had Anniversary cards on her table and a newspaper. I took out my computer and wrote a social story for mom about wearing her mitts. Dad left to go home and I then imported the Social Story into a power point so I could review it with her. I played the power point and she read each slide. We read and reread the story many times throughout the night. She then asked for the “Cutter”. I gave her scissors and coupons to cut out. She cut for quite some time. I then took out a book of mazes and gave her a marker. She had to draw both straight and curved lines and stay within the white space. It took a lot of concentration, but she was successful. There were a few times when she went off the path and stopped and said, “That’s no good right?” I told her no it went off but keep trying. This held her attention for almost an hour. She was then put into bed and I stepped out. I came back in and we watched “Storage Wars” on TV. I explained the show and she was very interested. She talked a lot tonight. At one point the man from the patient next to her walk past and mom said, “Oh it’s Mr. Happy!” (he never has a smile on his face). We talked about the mitts and she was calmer but still wanted them off. I reviewed the story but she rolled her eyes. She asked a few times to remove the mitts so she could scratch her eye. I took off one mitt but explained that it had to go back on. I shut the lights and put the timer on the TV. I kissed her good night and said a prayer.
'He will order his angels to protect and guard you" Luke 4:10
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