Mike and I learned a lot today...
Mom was in physical therapy when we arrived around 10 am. We met her pt, Ginger and another pt from Marianjoy which will keep us connected to all mom's favorites over there. Therapy went ok, mom still listing, but the fact that she can tell she's listing is good, means she knows she's off balance.
We watched some HGTV and had lunch. Lunch was decent, and mom ate well. Her stomach is less upset, and she's been regular. Yeah! I put a call in to dietary to request yogurt in her daily diet. If you are looking for a treat to bring, yogurt is an excellent choice. After lunch, she had occupational therapy(?) with Mercedes. Her regular ot is Megan. Mercedes gave us a packet with exercises for her left arm, shoulder, and hand. She taught us how to do them, and there's a picture guide in the pouch of mom's chair. She suggests doing them twice a day, once at the minimum. If you are there please be diligent about this. They only take 5-7 repetitions each and there are about a dozen.
She also suggested once a day to practice reading out loud, doing word puzzles, crosswords, etc. The Scrabble is down under the bed, too. She also suggested we encourage this every day, to help her retrain her pathways. I have a work puzzle book from the dietary staff, which I will enlarge at work on the copier. I'll put the puzzles and pencils in a book bag . She suggested the large print Reader's Digests. Mom always liked those, too. I will stop at the library to check one out. Other large print books are also welcome and might be a good gift idea.
The other thing Mercedes did was to give us a new arm piece for lefty. It should stay on the wheelchair, it's called an arm trough. It is much more supportive than the slippery thing she was resting on before, which it turns out was not a proper fit to that chair, causing it to wobble. This trough will give her much more support for her shoulder, you can lay a terry towel in it and it's not sweaty. Please check to see that this piece is on the chair at all times, and no one removes it. The sling is found, and needs to be worn on every transfer from chair to bed, bed to chair, etc. this is extremely important to support the shoulder and protect from dislocation. The nice soft sling that Lisa made is too loose, so please use the white one. It is only necessary to wear it during the transfer, so it shouldn't cause a problem with her neck hurting, as it only needs to be on for short spurts of time.
Mom's shakes were extreme today and I asked if she was getting that medication twice a day or only once in the am. Mom always takes it twice a day at home to get the best control of her tremors. It turns out that medication was somehow missed since the transfer last Tuesday! No wonder she was shaking so badly. The nurse, Irma called and had it ordered ASAP so she will have it today. She apologized for the mistake, and this is just one example of why we need to be present. They don't know that her shakes are never that bad, so it never occurrd to them she might be missing a medication! We are her best eyes and ears because we know her the best.
I have been renamed 'Karla the Crusader'. We will all have new names in due time, so be careful what you do!
As we were getting ready to leave, mom was all set up to watch the Cubs game, and Keith, Ronnie and Elinor were on their way in. Perfect timing...John and Kelly are visiting tonight. Stay cool everyone.
