Mom is still chugging along and has had a really good week. She has stayed pretty busy, although she does end up with quite a bit of down time while I’m working. She has probably not watched so much TV in her life as she has since being home.
During the week she gets up around 7 when her caretaker arrives (remind me to come back to this in a minute). On the weekends when it’s just me, I try to sleep in a little. Saturday mornings I go in around 7 to check on her and clean her up and the last two weekends she told me that she didn’t want to get up yet and I could go back to bed. Thanks, Mom!! We try to go to church on Sunday mornings and because of Sam’s flute lesson we have to attend the 830 service. That makes for another early morning. I start getting her ready before 7 so that she has time to eat and we can start making our way out the door by 8:00. She doesn’t have therapies on the weekends, so we are able to pace ourselves a little bit during the days. E, or “Bad Penny” as she sometimes introduces herself, came over on Saturday and gave mom a haircut. E and her husband are great. They have visiting mom quite a few times at both HealthSouth and Maple Grove. They never stay very long – they are very sensitive to how it can tire her out. Her friend, R, came over yesterday and spent quite a bit of time hanging out with mom. They started binge watching Grace & Frankie on NetFlix. That kept them entertained for quite awhile.
LAST Sunday I got to take mom out to dinner! It was her first time eating at a restaurant since her stroke. She was craving a burger so we hit Red Robin!
Check out mom and her fancy bib! 😉 She really did a great job there. Not only did she eat all of this (well, she left a few fries) we split a piece of ice cream cake for dessert. It was sooo good!
She continues to work super hard in therapy. The interesting thing with the ones that have been to see her at the house really push her and try to figure out ways that she can actually adapt to this new life and regain her independence. Not that they didn’t do that at Maple Grove, I just think that there they were focused on more of the basics. It also feels like they took it a lot slower. My mom had mentioned that she wanted to try using the walker again. It had been a full week since she had walked any – the last time at Maple Grove. The therapist got her walker and was able to help mom by herself! Keep in mind that this was taken less than 2 weeks after coming home, and about a week and a half since she had last used the walker. I took a video but it’s too big for me to upload here. You’ll just have to take my word for it. 😉
Friday night was Sam’s first performance with the Marching Band. We did all get to go out Thursday to see the preview at the end of her practice but it’s not the same as watching them perform for real. By the time we got to the game, Sam and the rest of the marching band had already taken their place in the stands. We tried to get her attention but she was in her element and was so focused on playing her music with the group after every play. When half-time came, the kids took the field and did a great job! I’m so proud of her. Mom was really happy that she was able to attend as well. Because it was a pretty long day for her (she had both OT and PT earlier in the day) we headed home right after the performance.
We had a long weekend to recover from the activities of the week. Mom’s only visitor was on Sunday as I had mentioned earlier. Although today is a holiday, her caregiver did arrive for help. Now, regarding that… Unfortunately our regular caregiver is having to leave due to a family situation. We’re in the process of finding her replacement. One girl did show up in Friday for “training” – she was to meet me and my mom and work with T to get up to speed with everything. As much as I had hoped that she would work out so that T can tend to what she needs to, it just was not a good fit at all. So we crossed her off the list and T was back bright and early to help out this morning. Thankfully she can work until the 14th. I’m praying that we find a suitable replacement by then. Since she’ll be spending so much time with my mom (and a lot of time with me in the house), the person not only needs to be good with the hands-on aspect of the job but they also need to be personable as well. I told the scheduler that I would rather have no one than someone that I have to micro-manage and/or who makes my mom feel uncomfortable. Keeping our fingers crossed that we get someone else lined up to meet this week.
Mom has an appointment with a cardiologist tomorrow for a follow up and then she’ll have more therapies to round out the week. Her room is *almost* done. She’s being so patient…
If you’re interested in talking to her, email me your number and I’ll gladly have her call you! I’m sure she’d be up for a visit as well. We just need to make sure that it doesn’t conflict with her therapy schedule.