Mom Update, September 29, 2011, Thursday

Mom’s update Thursday, September 29, 2011


SORRY this didn't go out last night, I was so tired and forgot.

I started my day with mom. When I entered her room she had a CNA and a nurse in her room and I asked if everything was OK. Her nurse told me she was very emotional today. Mom was sitting up in bed crying with tissues in her hand. I asked her what was the matter and she said that she wanted to come home and she didn’t think it was ever going to happen. I told her about how great she is doing and the fact that yesterday she stood 6 times and 3 of those times were without help. I told her about where she started, on a respirator and in a coma and how people told us we were unrealistic about her recovery. I told her about that nursing supervisor who told Anthony, Con and I we should see a psychiatrist because we were unrealistic thinking mom would get better or get off the respirator. I told her we were right! She did get better and continues to get better everyday. I also made a few jokes to make her laugh. She stopped crying and we ate breakfast. Mom ate all of her breakfast and would occasionally stop and cry.

Dad called and I told him mom was upset and crying about wanting to come home and mom chimed in, “Oh, don’t be so dramatic!” She spoke to dad and while she spoke she broke down again and cried. After she spoke to dad, I made a joke. I am always kidding dad that he likes to make piles (piles of papers, piles of books, etc.) so I told mom she has to get better and get home to clean off the piles on the dining room table! She laughed so hard. At one point mom said, “I feel like I am having an awakening today.” I told her she seemed very “clear” today and she agreed.

The nurse came in and told me that her doctor ordered an ointment for her face and it would take a little while for it to come from the pharmacy.

After breakfast I started to do work with mom and she rolled her eyes and then laughed. I asked her if she wanted to do work and she said sure. (She loves to tease me) I started out with a calendar worksheet. At the top of the page was a calendar and then questions to go with the calendar. The first question was, “What day does Mark have a doctor’s appointment?” Mom had to look at the calendar and find the date. She then had to write the date on the line. She was able to do this although her processing is sometimes slow. One question was, “What is Mark doing 10 days after the doctor’s appointment?” Mom found the doctor’s appointment and then counted 10 days to a box that said, “Sleepover.” Mom repeated the word over and over like it made no sense and then finally it clicked. She started to write and wrote an “H”. I was wondering where she was going with this. She then wrote “ell”. She said, “That’s not right.” I asked her what she was trying to write and she said, “He’ll”. So I told her she needed an apostrophe and she put it right in the correct place. I watched as she wrote, “He’ll be at a friends house for a sleepover.” Holy cow! I was stunned. Can you imagine if I stopped her at the “H” or the “Hell” thinking she was wrong!? Next we did a math worksheet where you were given 6 two digit numbers and you had to put them in order from smallest to largest. I took two pieces of yellow paper and placed one above the line we were working on and one below the line we were working on. I asked her which was the smallest number and she was correct. I then prompted her to cross off the number she used. Now I asked her which was the next smallest. She looked at the numbers and was able to write the next number. I then prompted her to cross out the number she used. We continued until the entire row was in order from smallest to largest. As we were working on the worksheet she told me she liked this activity. We also did a patterning and money worksheet. She had a difficult time drawing the shapes for the patterning worksheet. I had a worksheet that I thought was probably going to be too difficult but I tried it anyway. It was following directions with regard to ordinal numbers. She read a sentence that would state, “Draw a hat on the third person.” She was able to do the entire worksheet. Her only problem was that she realized that the items she was drawing didn’t look like they were supposed to look. Big deal!

Anthony, Anthony Michael and Sam came to see mom. Anthony showed me how mom stands all by herself. He puts the walker in front of her and places his foot in front of hers to make sure she doesn’t move forward with her feet. Mom puts her own hands on the walker and stands up! She did this many times. At one point Anthony Michael and I tried to help mom stand straighter so we pushed on her bottom and she said, “Stop it” and stood up straight!

She was tired so we switched activities. I showed them how great she did with the worksheets. I also showed them how to use the deck of cards to have her work on memory skills. Next, we took out the box of shapes a colleague gave us and I placed four shapes on the table and we named each one. I then took one away and asked her which one was missing.

When I came back mom was with dad. Mom said, “I did beautifully in PT today,” I told her that was great news. She said, “I was very happy with what I did in PT.” I asked her what she did and she said she walked with the walker. Dad spoke to the PT and he said she is “right there” on the edge of being able to walk with fewer people helping.

I brought Bananagrams with me. It is a banana shaped zippered pouch with letter tiles in it. I gave dad, mom and myself 16 tiles each. I told her we were going to make our own crossword. Mom made a word and dad and I helped her make more that attached. She had a hard time with the concept that they had to touch. She also would spell and read words backwards. It was weird. We played for a while helping each other make words. Dad left to get us pizza and mom sat with the tiles making single words and then she asked for a pen and paper. I gave them to her and she would make a word and then write it down. She made a few funny words and laughed to herself.

Dad came back with pizza and we all ate together. He also brought back dominos (the game). After dinner mom and I played dominos. Mom needed prompting but kept saying I used to love this game. I told her she would remember and it would come back to her. I also asked if she wanted to keep playing and she said yes.

Mom was put into bed and as soon as I turned off the light mom started to cry. She had a tough time. She was very upset and kept apologizing for crying. I told it was OK and that she needed to get it out. It was getting late so I called Kathy to see if she could come stay with her because I had been gone all day. Kathy came and I left. She cried with Kathy for a little while and Kathy was able to get to the heart of the matter. Mom is afraid to go home because she won’t be able to do anything around the house. She feels that she won’t be able to take care of dad and cook and clean. Kathy told her that dad has become a good cook and he even straightens up the house and cleans. Mom eventually stopped crying and Kathy put her to sleep, said a prayer and left.