Mom Update, August 9, 2011, Tuesday

Mom was asleep when I arrived this morning. I am staying at cousin, Nancy’s, cottage this week here near home. It is great!!! WOW! Such a great place…it was once an old summer resort. It probably is an historic site now. Mom woke on her own this morning after a while and was bright and alert. She looked well rested. She said she slept well. But she wasn’t happy to see me because I had to tell her to stay awake for breakfast!! Haha! She likes to go back to sleep. She told me to “go back where I came from” again today too! Too funny! Her sense of humor is great. She also said, “I want my husband not you!” When she finally woke up and began to eat, she asked me what I am “so dolled up for?”

Claudia called to talk to mom this morning. They laughed and joked. At one point, Claudia asked mom what she wanted for her birthday on Saturday and mom said, “To get out of here and go home!” Claudia told her that was a great and realistic goal (maybe not by her birthday though). JoAnn called too. I told mom about work and she listened intently and even commented as well. She had scrambled eggs with cheese and a hard roll with butter for breakfast. She didn’t want the oatmeal so she only had a little bit (I didn’t force it since it is full of carbs). I did force the OJ though! She tried to get up off the bed when I turned my back so that she could try to walk to the bathroom!! I caught her before she got too far out of bed though—thank God! Mom called dad next and it was hysterical. They both have hearing losses – dad much more than mom. And mom kept speaking in her typically low voice, sometimes just mouthing things! Mom was laughing so hard because she would ask dad a question and he couldn’t hear her but he just makes believe he did hear her and answers to the wrong questions!! Mom and I laughed so hard we cried.

We practiced zipping and unzipping with the zipper board. Mom did both but still can’t work the catch yet. Mom did snapping and unsnapping too!! She did both using the snap board. She couldn’t do the buttoning and unbuttoning at all and didn’t even have a clue as to how to do it either. She used the snapping motion to do it.

We did some resistance training next. I took each of mom’s arms, one at a time, and exerted pressure/force against them at the hand first and she pushed against me. Then, I exerted pressure at the elbow and she exerted pressure against me. Then I had her reach across midline (midline is the imaginary line that runs down the center of your body to divide it vertically down the middle) with each arm. Mom was able to exert more pressure in her left arm and hand then she was with her right arm and hand (the left side is weaker). However, mom couldn’t move her fingers hardly at all. I stretched her fingers really well on that left hand and she complained and told me I was trying to break them all off!! She is too much. Mom fell asleep for a while after that. I let her rest while holding onto 2 5 inch diameter therapy balls – one in each hand in order to keep her stretching her fingers.

Mom went to the shower next. After the shower, I did mom’s hair and make up and then we exercised some more. She practiced stretching her full arm (right and left) up as high as she could go (4 times each arm). Then she crossed her arms in front and then uncrossed them (5 times). Then we did modified sit ups—mom grabbed the arms of the wheelchair and pulled her body off the back of the chair so she was sitting forward and then she held herself forward to a count of 10 (5 times).

I had to leave at 11:30 so I left mom in the dining room with other patients/residents and the recreation therapist. Dad came next and found mom in PT. Dad said that mom did well in OT and Speech (drank more water without thickener). Mom will have regular liquids by the end of the week without any more thickeners. After PT, the therapists told dad that mom complained about her leg hurting her when they tried to stand her up today. Mom’s leg was, and still is, swollen and red.

Ava and Anthony Michael came to put mom to bed tonight but ended up calling Claudia to come because mom’s leg stayed swollen and red. Mom also seemed a bit disoriented. Dad had said mom was tired after all her therapies today and slept for a while. When dad originally told me about mom’s leg, I suggested an x-ray so the facility had one done quickly. The x-ray results show no fractures or breaks. Thank God. Claudia and I conferred by phone and the nurses put a call in to the doctor (not on premises tonight). The doctor started mom on Keflex for possible infection or cellulitis and ordered a scan of her legs to rule out a possible blood clot. The scan can’t be done until tomorrow morning----this worries me but the nurses said that going to the hospital isn’t necessary at this point based on mom’s symptoms which look like a stationary clot, if any. Claudia, Ava, and Anthony Michael all left mom around 9:00. They said she was peaceful. I called around 10:30 p.m. and was told mom was fine and that they would be keeping her still untile the scan rules out a blood clot. Please pray for mom…..we don’t need another set back.

“Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:1