As she ate breakfast this morning, mom looked at me and said, “Kathy, I’m so scared.” “Why?” I asked. Mom said, “I’m afraid of strokes.” I reassured her and told her that she was doing great now. Then she said, “Kathy, I’m becoming an invalid.” I reassured her again. I marvel at the ingenious ways that mom negotiates the world now…the way she patiently and pleasantly alternates using a fork and a spoon to eat scrambled eggs or the way she calmly and persistently tried to open all her food containers for breakfast (and successfully too). As I typed, mom looked at me and stared and said, “You look so pretty.” She continually asked for dad. she said she missed him. Mom asked what she would be doing today---she asked if she had therapy or not.
Mom said she had a bad sleep last night. She said she had bad dreams---“disturbing dreams.” She said she wished she could remember what she dreamt. She said one part of her dream involved trying to walk up a flight of stairs but she just couldn’t get to the top…the stairs kept growing and growing taller and taller. She said she couldn’t remember the rest right now.
I began to have mom practice opening the containers they bring her for breakfast. She opened the lid on the farina and the coffee but she couldn’t open the juice container (an aluminum cover---I tried and couldn’t open it either!!). We joked that they give people who had a stroke such a difficult container to open!
Mom is a veracious reader and she reads all the environmental print around her…especially at meal times. She reads the containers and the menus; she also reads the print on her walls too. She also studies all the pictures and reads all the writing on and around them. Mom was awake when I arrived this morning. She was trying to call the “nurse” as loudly as she could, which wasn’t very loud. She had a detailed, in-depth conversation about my life and how Lenny and I both are now. She asked many questions. The details of my life, she remembers…strange, since she typically forgets so much else.
Dad called mom and they talked on the phone as they always do in the morning. They laughed and referred to each other with terms of endearment and threw each other kisses. They are so cute. Of course, there is always the piece of conversation where mom speaks too softly and dad can’ hear her so he answers incorrectly!! Too funny!
After breakfast, we did the calendar. Mom had no idea about how to read it today, she was tired. We went over the day and date and year—all with the prompt of telling her what the prior day’s information was. Then, she knew the answers. The only constant is that mom remembers the month. Mom fell asleep during the end of our calendar conversation so, since it is Saturday, I let her rest. She napped for an hour and I straightened her room while she napped. When mom woke, we did a crossword puzzle.
Clue: Leopard features Mom: Spots
Clue: “A case of ____ die…” Mom: “Do or”
Clue: Fairytale heavy Mom: “Ogre”
Clue: Krakatoa outflow Mom: Lava
Clue: Van Gogh’s “The ___ Night” Mom: Starry
Clue: Hocus ___ Mom: Pocus
Clue: Al Pacino film set in NYC Mom: “Dog Day Afternoon”
Clue: English elevator Mom: Lift
Clue: George C. Scott film Mom: Patton
Clue: “All the world’s a ___” Mom: Stage
Mom was washed and dressed next. The 2 CNAs who helped mom this morning were wonderful with her. They assisted her with getting from the bed to the wheelchair using the slide board. One side of the board goes on the bed and the other side goes on the wheelchair and the idea is for mom to slide on the board from one place to the other. She was afraid to do it. The CNAs were so encouraging and they took so much time to explain how to do each step of the process of sliding---they even demonstrated it for mom. The 2 women were so into helping mom learn how to do it. They even talked about faith and God and what a miracle mom and the progress she made is.We put her make up on (she still mentions the blue make up bag that she wants from home and we can’t find).
Anthony, Con and dad joined us next. Anthony is so skillful at teaching mom how to exercise her legs and also to stand. He sits on a chair in front of mom and models every step of how to stand up--- First, hold the end of the arm on the chair, then lift your elbows, then lift up at the hands and wrist, then brace your feet and stand. Anthony and I also gently held mom at the elbows (one of us at each side of her) and lifted her elbows with her as she tried to stand. We repeated the process at least 10 times and each time mom stood higher and higher. The last 3 times we tried it, dad and Anthony assisted at the elbows and I gave mom a boost at the butt in order for her to stand up straight. She never stood straight up, but she came close at one point. She kept saying she was afraid of falling. She also said she gets dizzy---she and I prayed earlier about not getting dizzy and she wasn’t dizzy today! Please pray that mom actually, boldly takes some steps and walks. Thanks!
Mom ate sweet and sour chicken and rice for lunch. She did well—but I noticed a small piece of string bean and carrot at the stoma (hole in her throat). I am not sure if it fell there or if mom aspirated. We will keep an eye on it. Mom also brushed her teeth by herself using a toothbrush for the first time this morning!! She knew what to do and remembered how to do it. She tried to floss her teeth—and though she knew how to hold the floss and what to do—she didn’t have the strength to floss them.
We all went outside for a while this afternoon and Terry joined the gang. We read, talked, laughed… Anthony and Con bought mom some 5 lb. weights for her arms. She complained they were heavy but began using them with her right hand alone and the left hand with the support of her right hand! She didn’t lift them like you or I would, but she was lifting them! God bless her! She spoke on the phone to Angelo and Madeline and told them she was, “OK but I can’t go home for another 1 or 2 weeks yet” (I don’t know where she got that number!!). We all sat and talked and enjoyed each other’s company. Some of mom’s old CNAs and nurses saw us all outside and marveled at her progress. She is truly a miracle.
Terry put mom to bed tonight. Dad and I went out to dinner.
"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak..." Isaiah 40:29
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