Hello Everyone!
Mom continues to progress at home but the progress is slow...much slower than when she was at the facility receiving therapies on a daily basis. She did walk a few steps both Friday and today with the physical therapist. She does better with the therapists than she does with us. She tends to "blow us off" a bit or tell us she can't do something but not so with the therapists. Speech hasn't started yet (the therapist is sick), OT and PT are twice a week. It is largely our responsibility, as her family, to rehabilitate her ourselves now that she is home. We need to get into a real schedule. Right now, it's whoever is around is around---we need to get more structure.
Mom's friends continue to faithfully visit and the choir from church came to sing Christmas carols to mom in the back yard on Sunday afternoon. This touched mom greatly. She misses choir.
Generally, mom sleeps through the night. She has days, here and there, when she cries alot though. She feels badly about not being able to do the things she used to do pre-head injury. For the most part though, she is content. We continue to work on her physical exercises as well as the mental ones. We still do Life Skill work sheets and puzzles and crosswords and play dominoes with her too. The physical work takes about 1 hour a day to do each day if done fully and correctly. Mom does leg lifts by bending her knee and extending her leg out from the knee up and down 10 times each leg. Then mom extends her leg out straight from the hip and lifts each leg up and down to a count of 10. Mom also lifts her legs 10 times from the hip with knee bent. She does stretching types of exercises on her arms---reaching across the center of her body and stretching up, down... We also work on getting mom to stand alone (without lifting her bottom from the chair) and then standing straight up tall...dad and I tell her to look up to God!
Dad is overwhelmed. I know I mentioned before that having mom back at home is much like bringing home a new baby and it is. The biggest hurdle for him and mom is getting a steady aide....in 11 days (Mondays through Fridays only), we have gone through 9 aides..........this lack of consistency is not good for getting into a routine. I thought we found a "keeper" aide on Friday, but she didn't show today.... It can take a very long time to find a steady aide and get the right match.
We all plan to attend the 5 p.m. Mass at Our Lady of Grace Church in West Babylon on Christmas Eve---if anyone wants to come, you are welcome. It will be the first time that mom is back in church since June 2010.
"Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies." Psalm 36:5
It's good to know. Don't worry...it's fine even if she's recovering slowly..
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