In case you missed it yesterday----mom is getting ready to come home!!! She will be home in 3-5 weeks or sooner!! PTL!!!!
Claudia began the day with mom this morning. She set mom’s breakfast up and set her up for the day when she finished eating. Claudia said mom was crying a lot this morning. She wants to go home and says 2-4 weeks is too long to wait. Her CNAs were so comforting.
Dad came to see mom next. She had done some ‘dot-to-dot’ pictures all alone!! Dad was soooo excited to tell Claudia and me that he had his first training session with mom and the therapists today!! He said it went great! He successfully helped her transfer from the wheelchair to the bed and back again. Then, he also helped her transfer from the wheelchair to the toilet and back again!! He said the PT and OT people were cheering for him and mom!!
So here we are, dad, mom, Claudia and I, in the main dining room of the facility. They have a live band playing 30s, 40s and 50s music. We are gathered around mom singing….”Don’t get around much any more” and “It had to be you”….the list goes on. And wouldn’t you know it? They sang, “Let me call You Sweetheart” Papa City’s favorite song (he was mom’s father—he and grammy lived in Brooklyn so we kids called them Nonny and Papa City to distinguish them from our Long Island grandparents!). And mom is singing too. And I start to cry as I remember a little over a year ago when Claudia and I sat on either side of mom holding her hands and singing to a CD as she slept soundly in a coma. This is what I wrote on July 7, 2010:
Ma,
Claudia and I are on either side of you singing to old 70s music—we are moving you to the beat of the music—dancing with you!!! The recreation therapist brought you to the recreation room with other people. The therapist is an amazing person!! This is one of these moments when I know I will remember this time with you and Claudia for the rest of my life---to my last breath.
Ma, we are STILL making memories!!!
I love you mama!!
Kath
P.S. As we sing, the other residents are smiling and watching---see Ma, because of you, other people are happy!!
My God, my God…how far mom has come!!!!! Amen.
What is it about music that revives and restores and jars the memories? As we sing, I am looking at people whose bodies are curled and eyes are closed…mouths hanging open…even a person with no nose…and when certain music came on---lips began to move and singing started!!! It was a miraculous sight.
The 4 of us took a walk downstairs to the vent/respiratory unit next. We wanted to tell all mom’s old nurses and aides there about her great news! The nurses and CNAs gathered all around mom!! Mom told each one her great news. Each one received the news with such joy. At one point, Mom grabbed our favorite nurse by the hand and told the nurse, “I love you so much” and the nurse returned the love to mom and began to get teary saying, “Nonny, I am so very, very proud of you!! Please stay in touch always! I want to be here the day you leave and with your permission, I want to video you leaving here.” Mom smiled, as did everyone else. One of the respiratory people asked mom to cook a meal for them all when she gets home and said they would all come to visit!
Word traveled quickly and before I knew it, when I got home later, one of mom’s CNAs texted me to say, “Oh my God!!! That’s amazing!! I can’t wait to be invited over for dinner!! I’m so happy for all of you. You all did an amazing job with her and you should be proud of yourselves. You are an amazing family. You are the most amazing family I have ever met and I am honored to have met you all and been able to lend a slight hand. I love u all!! Hugs!!”
We will let all of you know the day that mom leaves the facility so that you all can be here the day she leaves if you would like to be.
"Your love and truth are all that keeps me together." Psalm 40:11
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