Kim here…
I called in last night around 930PM and spoke with the night nurse to check on mom. She said that she thinks she figured out why mom was a little agitated the night before – she hates her CPAP machine. Since mom didn’t use one prior to her hospital stay, I told the nurse that if it isn’t required, I’m OK with her leaving it off of her as long as she’s not having any issues breathing over night. I know it’s better for her, but we need to pick our battles. If she’s fine otherwise, I’d rather her do without so that she can have a more restful night and not fight with anything.
When I got in this morning, there doesn’t seem to have been any issues. It was mentioned that at times her heart rate drops into the 40s but comes back up. No one appears to be overly concerned about it (her cardiologist was made aware) but did say that it looks like at those times she’s showing afib-like symptoms. I haven’t seen that on the monitors yet so I’m holding out hope that she’ll continue to maintain a normal rhythm. Her EKG today was better than yesterday’s, so that is definitely good news.
Both yesterday during the day as well as today her BP was up. The nurse last night said it was in the normal range, so I wonder if we (I) might be stressing her out a little during the day. I know she’s frustrated and that certainly could elevate it. I am going to keep paying attention and see if I can identify any trends.
She wasn’t as active as she was the last couple of days and actually seemed a little tired/quiet. I had an opportunity to speak with her and give her a little tough love. I told her that if she doesn’t try to speak or do her exercises, she will NOT make it to rehab. Instead, they will send her to a nursing home. I asked if that’s what she wanted and she shook her head no. I told her that she has to keep trying. Guess what. She did. We worked on vowel sounds and she said some names today. Rie, Chad, and Samantha. Not just Sam, but SAMANTHA.
Chad brought Sam for a visit and everyone got a little concert. Sam brought her flute and mom loved it. Not only that, the nurses came by and opened the door to mom’s room so that they could hear her better. 🙂
Mom also made her first request…
I told Mom to keep practicing her swallowing and I will gladly get her some. But for now, she’s stuck with her sponge lollipop.