Mom's procedure -- the cerebral angiogram -- is tomorrow. Please pray for her. She is the first on the list for procedures and is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. The procedure should take 1 hour and then she will be in the recovery room for 3-4 hours. If all is well with bloodwork, and urination and cognitive ability, she goes back to the facility from the hospital. The procedure involves a twilight type of anesthetic and then a catheter through the groin up into the brain to check on the sight of the burst aneurysm and the coil procedure that was done last year. This is a one time check up.
Mom began the day this morning with Anthony and Anthony Michael. The speech therapist came to give mom breakfast. Mom ate a hard boiled egg, oatmeal, and a bagel along with thickened coffee and thickened juice. Mom fed herself the meal alone. She said the egg tasted great. The speech therapist had a chest x-ray done yesterday but no results yet this morning. Next week, mom should be eating a regular (mechanical soft) diet. Anthony said that the mat nearest the doorway did not appear to be velcroed to the floor this morning. Anthony Michael played cards with mom --- 31. She followed along with verbal and physical prompts (not sure she understood the game or not). As far as mom’s eating on her own next week, we need to be sure that the aides know that she will feed herself and should not be fed. AND that the aides know that there should be no distractions during a meal like TV. Not yet anyway.
Claudia said that last night a nurse came in to change mom’s catheter---it was already out!! Claudia said mom no longer has a catheter and the person argued with Claudia. Finally, the person checked mom’s records and saw that Claudia was right…no more catheter. Thank God Claudia was there!!!! Advocacy never ends.
When I arrived, I asked mom what she had for breakfast and she was able to tell me that she ate oatmeal!! She remembered!! She also told me she ate something else but couldn’t remember so she described it to me, “You know, it was….like this” and she made a circular motion and then she tried to tell me what it is made out of (a bagel). Then Anthony gave her a hint about the hard boiled egg…he said that they had to crack it and mom remembered—“ Oh yeah, a hard boiled egg.” I began to eat the bagel I brought for breakfast and mom stared at me intently so I said, “What are you looking at?” and smiled. Mom said, “Nothing…I just like watching YOU eat!” Anthony said he had to leave then and mom didn’t respond so he repeated it and mom said, “Yeah, so what do you want me to do?” in a teasing, sarcastic manner!! We all cracked up! I brought a beautiful piggy on a wagon (resin statue) that a dear friend of mine bought for mom. I showed mom the piggy and then as I handed her the card, I told her it was from my friend who is Geraldo’s sister to see if she could guess who gave it to her and she said, “Ohhhh from Irene!” She knew!!
We all have noticed that mom is snoring slightly again when she sleeps. Anthony and Anthony Michael spoke to the head of respiratory downstairs and the respiratory therapist said that we should bring it to the attention of the facility doctor who will then send mom out for another sleep study. Mom’s old machine from home may not be calibrated correctly now due to her significant weight loss (50 lbs.).
No sooner was mom in the chair today, she told me she needed to go to the bathroom. The nurse and CNA were so kind and put mom back into the bed (which meant finding the hoyer again and lifting her back up again)!! The nurse explained to us both that mom will be on a schedule for the bed pan now…every 3-4 hours and things will be recorded. At first mom said she couldn’t do it---but she did!! She also told me, “Oh Kathy…this is so terrible how I am now.” I encouraged her. After she finished, she asked me what the CNAs name was and called her back---mom grabbed her hand in both of hers and said, “Thank you so very much for helping me.” The CNA and I cried.
On the down side….I accidentally hit mom’s ankle on the doorway of the elevator yesterday and today she is complaining that it hurts to the touch….I pray I didn’t do damage…. I will have the PT people and the doctor look at it later.
Mom asked me to comb her hair and put on her make up. We did that together. We did the calendar first and she knew the answers just from having me tell her what yesterday was! Mom also asked for a cloth so she could clean her glasses!!! This is a first!! When mom reads the calendar, she begins at the left and counts to the right but them, instead of going to the left on the second row, she reads the box and number directly under the last number she read and counts backwards so to speak from right to left, then goes down a row and counts left to right and repeats. She doesn’t do this when reading words though. We began to work on money concepts next using the huge board that Claudia made for mom (the board is divided into 4 quadrants and in each one there is velcroed either a quarter, nickel, dime, or penny [fake oversized plastic money] and its coinciding name in words and then in numbers). We read through all the pieces of money and then mom fell asleep. She slept only for 5 minutes and we continued. I took the coins away and had mom match them to their word and numeric amount. She was really confused with the penny, she read the nickel and dime and said, “Oh I cheated, I read it” and she knew the quarter (the first one we did). Next, I showed her the words and had her match them to the coins…confused. BUT, when I showed her the numeric amounts, she knew the match for all!!!I showed her the words again next and she only knew the dime and quarter. (Her roommate called out the answers! Too cute). I then showed her the coins and she read them to match them to the correct amounts…she has no idea which coins are which without reading them…but thank God this is a good strategy to use. I showed her the words next and she was stumped on the penny again. Mom knows how much the value of the coins is…strange—she doesn’t know the names.
When dad came, I asked mom to tell him what she ate for breakfast and she remembered she had juice and then I said she ate something with a spoon and mom said oatmeal…then she guessed a bagel when I described it (bread product that is round with a hole in the middle and starts with a B) and a hard boiled egg when I described it (you crack it and it’s white).
Mom loves to play games and loves a challenge. She used to tell me that, when she was little, she used to pretend to do complicated tasks because they made her feel important. She seems to take on the tasks she does now in the same way. I stopped to take a note before and mom said, “Hey come on now…what are we doing here?” and laughed which meant that she wanted me to keep her working. Thinking about how she was my teacher early in life and how now I am hers is such an honor.
I spoke to the nurse about mom’s ankle and the nurse said it is just bruised. I will have PT look at it too.
Mom’s friends came to see her—Flo, Marty and Maureen. We all moved to the lounge to visit and mom knew them all and greeted each one by name. Mom read some cards today. One was from Con and John’s cousins Jodi and Sal, another was from a choir friend and another was from a friend of mine. Mom loved reading them and said it was so nice of the people to send them.
Mom had lunch in the lounge while her friends visited. She had tilapia (she didn’t like it or eat much of it), yellow rice and mixed veggies (she ate both of these). She drank most of her juice too. She fed herself the entire meal and had minimal spillage on the bib. Physical Therapy came to bring her to the PT gym as soon as she finished lunch.
Mom did well in PT but we got no details. In OT, mom worked in a mock kitchen area. She practiced reaching for objects on a counter etc. The OT said she did well. When she came back,she was tired but talked with us all. Mom SANG her first song today!!! Previously, she would just mouth all the words. Today, SHE SANG…!!! with Maureen!! They sang, “How do you do my partner” from grade school. Then they sang “The elephant has a great big trunk.” I remembered the song from childhood: “The elephant has a great big trunk, he takes wherever he goes, there is no lock and there is no key and he never packs it with clothes!” Mom also talked on the phone to Lenny today---very cohesively. Mom also called Aunt Sophie today and talked to her too. I asked her what Aunt Sophie said and mom said, “She said she loves me from the bottom of her heart.” Mom kept fiddling with the hoyer handles while we all visited---on and off she would ask how she could get them off or if we had a knife or a scissor. All in all, mom visited the best she has yet with her friends.
After her friends left, we went back to mom’s room. The CNAs put her to bed. I left and dad left a few minutes later. As dad was leaving, he put the mats beside the bed and mom said, "Oh good, you're sleeping here tonight with me?" Con, Sammy and Anthony Michael came to be with mom tonight. Sammy did Nonny’s nails---took off her old polish and put new polish on. They played games and talked and watched TV and “chillaxed” as Sammy says. Sam said mom was doing well. Sammy said that after a while they dimmed the lights and told mom it was time for sleeping. Mom kept telling all of them to go to sleep. They pretended they were sleeping but mom just stayed awake and wouldn't sleep so Sam sang Nonny a lullaby and played with Nonny's hair until she fell asleep...but then a nurse came in and woke mom. Watching all the kids work with and care for mom, but especially Sammy and Anthony Michael (maybe because they are the Gilman babies) makes me smile and cry. When I listened to Sammy's phone message to me as she reported on Nonny tonight, it just touched my heart. The love all around mom and the love that she is bringing out in so many people is amazing.
"Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory."
Psalm 50:15
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