Mom was asleep when Claudia arrived. Claudia woke mom and helped to get mom ready in the bed and put her hearing aides in. Breakfast came and mom complained that the turkey is too salty. She had a hard boiled egg and cracked it herself and peeled it and ate it. Mom asked for 2-3 glasses of ice water. She loves drinking it and chewing on the ice cubes.
Today was mom’s CNAs birthday and mom sang, “Happy Birthday” to her. Mom watched ‘Good Morning America” and commented on what she was watching. Claudia set her up with crosswords, word searches, pens, pencils, and the phone and phone numbers (Claudia gave mom choices and mom chose what she wanted). Then Claudia left for work.
When Anthony came to see mom today, he found her in better spirits than yesterday. He worked on her legs and they did exercises that both the physical therapist and Barry showed us. Mom did great! She had a lot of strength in her legs. Mom was able to bend and stretch her legs really well. She also was able to push very hard against Anthony’s hands.
Dad joined Anthony and mom and assisted mom with leg exercises too. Dad said that someone came and changed mom’s mattress today. They took the air mattress away and gave mom some hard one with the springs jutting out of it. I am investigating how to get the air mattress back again. The last thing we need is bed sores.
The dentist saw mom today. Within a week or two, mom’s teeth will be getting cleaned here at the facility. The dentist just needs to wait for clearance from the doctor.
Dad said that mom had all her therapies today and did well with them. The best time to visit mom is before 1:00 p.m. or after 3:30 p.m. She has therapies in the afternoon.
Mom’s friends, Maureen and Florence, came to visit her today. They brought mom pictures of when the choir from church came to see her. They enlarged one of the pictures of mom and the other choir members. It was beautiful.
Aunt Carol and I came to see mom tonight to put her to bed. We sat and talked with mom as she ate dinner. Mom asked Aunt Carol, out of nowhere, about whether Aunt Carol ever had a stroke (she did about 17 years ago). Mom compared things about her condition with Aunt Carol. She asked Aunt Carol if she had surgery on her head too. She touched the place where Aunt Carol had surgery and then showed Aunt Carol her spot. Aunt Carol has a hole of sorts in her skull while mom has a bump where the shunt is. I teased mom and told her that her bump and Aunt Carol’s hole make one full, complete person. Mom asked many relevant, pertinent questions. It was really something!! Aunt Carol is mom’s role model to aspire to be like---our family “poster child.” Our family miracle.
Then Claudia came to join us. We all went to the computer room to watch a video Uncle Mike and Aunt Pat sent to us about Ukranian food and cooking. Mom enjoyed the movie so much!! She laughed at certain parts that reminded her of Grammy (her mom). Claudia and Aunt Carol left and mom and I went back upstairs to get her ready for bed. We watched TV and talked and read magazines while we waited for mom’s CNA to come put mom to bed.
When the CNAs came to put mom into bed, they used the serita (lifting machine that mom holds onto while a pad wraps around her back and under her arms). The last time mom used this was around Labor Day and she wasn’t good at standing or holding herself in a standing position at all. Today, MOM PULLED HERSELF AND STOOD!!!!!! SHE SUPPORTED HERSELF!! She was bent over a bit (her back was) but she did it!!
“As in water face reflects face, so t he heart of man reflects man.” Proverbs27
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