Day 35 – A Surprisingly Good Day – Wednesday, May 10

A few ups and downs today but overall I think a pretty good one.

I arrived around 840am and her speech therapy had just started. Mom was still looking pretty tired. She wasn’t talking very much and just seemed pretty down. I don’t blame her. I don’t think she has fully accepted that this is her “new normal”. I won’t even say that this is her life yet, because I don’t think this is the one she will end up having. She’s making so much progress despite the severity of her injury. She continues to surprise me. Just when I start having doubts about her future, she shows me what she’s capable of.

What is she capable of, you ask? Well, after resting a bit (she was given some pain meds this morning that made her pretty sleepy) she had her PT session where she STOOD for 7 MINUTES! Before you go crazy, hear me out. She was standing assisted (therapist holding onto her with a belt that they secure around her) as well as blocking her weak side leg so her knee doesn’t buckle. But she was on her feet the whole time. Even if she cannot stand on her own or move that leg, it’s really important for her to go through the motions so that part of her body can start making the connection with her brain. I was really surprised that she could do that, considering what happened the other night.

We were able to start talking again about future living arrangements. We will talk more this weekend when Cyndie is here. She did start to get a little more pessimistic though (I am not going to post the content of that conversation). In a way, I think she is trying to be realistic about her situation however I don’t believe she has all the facts. She really cannot see or process the progress she has made or the potential we see in what’s she’s doing.

I need to make it an early night with her (leaving here at 5pm). I’m hoping she gets her nighttime meds shortly thereafter and will just sleep and rest. I’ll be holding my breath until I make it back tomorrow morning.

** I have one other thing to add – this is more for me than about my mom… I want to throw this “blanket apology” out there – I know there are a lot of people that I have spoken with on the phone and texted regarding her condition, visiting, etc. There are A LOT of you that care and that makes us all so happy. But having said that, most of the time I forget who I have spoken to or who I still need to talk to. When something happens (an accident, a room change, etc), I can’t always call people to update. My priority is updating Chad and Cyndie. Please monitor this blog for updates. That’s probably the fastest way to get info. Don’t count on me to proactively update you (and please don’t take it personally). Thanks for understanding!!