I began the day with mom this morning. The head of respiratory saw me and told me when mom was woken up, she was smiling and alert. Mom asked the head of respiratory when the trach would be taken out and the respiratory therapist said it was out already yesterday. Mom is being moved to another floor of the facility tomorrow…this is a major step toward going home because mom will receive more therapies now. We need to pack her room up and move it tomorrow morning. This means mom will have all new staff working with her from CNAs to nurses. We will miss all the wonderful people where she is now…there are many. Hopefully, we won’t need to break in any of the people where she will be moving to; we’ll hope for the best.
Yesterday, late in the day, Donna and Aunt Peggy came to see mom. Donna said mom was a little confused about what to do with the button activity Donna gave her to do as well as what to do with the books. Donna said mom was able to hold the pencil and was able to make lines on the one to one worksheet. Mom spoke to them but almost silently though she mostly made sense when she did speak. Mom acknowledged the jokes and was appropriate and attentive to the conversation around her. Mom recognized Donna and Aunt Peggy and knew their names too. But Donna did notice the difference in mom.
This morning, after I searched for information on moving mom and after I let the staff know about mom’s 2 upcoming doctor appointments, I began to work with mom. Her CNA had put mom’s make up on and had her dressed and in the chair. I put the table in front of mom and gave her a bead and string activity. Mom was thoroughly confused about what to do in order to complete the activity. At one point, I told her to take the string in her hand and put it in the hole. She looked all over for holes and couldn’t find one. She then said, “Push with my hand?” and grabbed my hand and pushed it rather than pushing the string through the hole. I tried singing the directions to her as well. “Put the string through the hole, through the hole” to the tune of “Put your finger in the air” and had her sing along. She kept trying and trying to complete the task. Her perseverance and commitment to task completion is amazing! However, she couldn’t figure out how to complete the task. She would call my name and say, “Kathy, I can’t find the hole” or “Kathy, I don’t know how to do this” seeking help or direction. At one point, I did the task with her hand over hand and she became annoyed and said, “You didn’t let ME do it!” When mom did complete the task, I would say, “Excellent” loudly and she would respond with, “What did I do that was excellent?” and “Shhh…don’t say it so loud.” Mom’s attention to the task lasted over 40 minutes…but with no independent success. I would explain the task over and over and she would say, “I can’t do this.” I gave mom direct instruction, taking her right hand in mine and placing a block in her left hand and asking her to look at her left hand. She couldn’t find her left hand. She kept focusing on and looking at only her right hand. It was as if her left hand didn’t exist at all. She just could not focus on her left hand at all. It was the weirdest thing I ever saw…and something I never saw with mom. It must be part of the UTI…at least I hope that is what the problem is.
Mom is still speaking lowly….very quiet, almost silently. She won’t speak out loud even though she can. I wonder how much of this is confusion?
The physical therapist came early for mom today. I snuck down that hallway after mom got there and spied a bit. I couldn’t see much, but the leg exercises I did see were the exact same ones Anthony works on with mom. Mom is now doing hamstring curls with therabands and standing up more straightly now. She is also getting more adjusted to standing straight. Mom can now do 30 leg lifts with 4 lb weights on each leg!! She is progressing more and more each day, albeit slowly!! Yahoo! The head physical therapist said mom is very, very focused in PT and follows all directions and is joking around and using sarcasm while joking too. These are all higher level thinking skills. He told her she is doing great and mom said, “If you say so!”
Dad came next to see mom. He kissed her hello and said he heard how great she is doing in Pt and she said, “Not so great.” She fell asleep after PT.
Sammy wrote: When Aunt Kathy left Anthony, Con, and Anthony and Samantha came to see Nonny. We brought our family photo albums and we are looking at them. She loves it. She loves looking at everyone but when she saw herself in a picture she rolls her eyes at it. It’s so funny. Also she saw a picture of Grammy she knew it was her mom. While we all were looking at the pictures Caroline came in and took Nonny to OT. She only stayed for 45 min. She said that Nonny worked on putting a shirt on and Nonny held the shirt and Caroline asked her what to do. Nonny said to put it over her head but she never did it. Caroline told us that Nonny says what she should do but she does not actually do it. Jennifer came in and weighed nonny and changed her. After that she left and nonny is writing a list for Poppy to get things.
Kathy wrote: Dad and mom sat and talked and mom wrote or tried to write with a pen. When I came in between classes, they were playing TIC TAC TOE together. Mom had written some scribble that actually looked alot like her own handwriting in script in places!!
Claudia wrote: John and Ava came in the evening and Pop was still there. Pop had a
paper and pen and mom was scribbling on it – she said it was a shopping
list. She pulled the pulse-ox off her finger. John took out the wipe
off board and wrote “I love you” on it. Mom wrote a great “I” and an O
and a V and the E was missing a piece and wrote an O and a U with
prompting. John wrote his name and Ava’s name and she read it. He also
wrote in script and she read that also. John did some PT on her hands.
He then gave her a lacing card but mom did not show interest. She was
able to pull the string if John put it through the hole. A few times she
put it in the hole. Ava took theraputty out and she said make a ball,
then make it flat. Then on the flat piece Ava took pieces to make a face
and mom would take the pieces off of Ava’s and put it on hers. Ava took
out the magnet balls (bucky balls) and mom loved it! John made circles
and gave them to her to put together and then John and Ava asked her to
take them apart and she had great hand manipulation to pull the pieces
apart. Ava was talking about Brooklyn and mom looked at John and said,
“Are you an idiot letting her go to Brooklyn?”They watched a little TV
and then mom pulled the pulse-ox off her finger. John told her not to
and she said, “I didn’t, I didn’t.” While they were waiting for the
nurse she had the feeding tube in her hand and John told her if she
wants to go home she can’t pull things off. They put her in the bed and
they stepped out into the lounge. John asked the nurse to put the gloves
on for them. As soon as they came in the room mom said, “Get these
things off me, How am I gonna drive with these on?” John shut the blinds
and the lights and turned on the Met game. They kissed her good night
and left.
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" Ecclesiastes 3:1
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