Everyone’s on Vacation! – Monday, December 18, 2017

I just realized that tomorrow marks 4 months that mom has been home with us. She has really made a lot of progress and I’m so proud of her. This week will be one of the biggest challenges since she’s been discharged from rehab.

Mom is staying at an assisted facility doing a respite stay. I haven’t traveled out of town since mom has been home and when I did before (when she was still in rehab), Cyndie came down to keep her company during my absence. Our schedules didn’t line up this week, so we needed a place where mom could stay and be taken care of and kept safe. We talked about having someone come and stay at the house since we thought that would make mom most comfortable. We had someone lined up but that person flaked out. At first I was really angry but honestly I think it was a blessing in disguise. Being in this facility, mom will have a chance to interact with other people and participate in some activities. I think that will definitely help the time go by faster. I am sure she gets so bored sitting in this house. There really is only so much TV you can watch, especially if you were never really a TV watcher to begin with.

We took mom up yesterday afternoon to start her stay. I am glad we did, because we needed a lot of time to get her TV set up and work out some of the kinks. We had a nice lunch with her and left shortly after dinner. Her set up there isn’t perfect and may pose a little more challenge than she’s accustomed to, but I think ultimately she may end up better for it. She’ll have to force herself to be a little more adaptable and she may be pushing herself to do things out of necessity. Of course she has help when she needs it so even though things may be a little tricky, she won’t be trying to figure things out on her own.

As we were driving to see her this afternoon she called me! She had her care manager help her with the phone, but she was calling to see when we would be there. Due to some miscommunication, she thought that we were going to be staying for lunch with her. Unfortunately since we spent so much time there yesterday, we still had a lot to take care of before our flight. We visited for about a half hour before we took off. While we were there she told me that she didn’t sleep a wink last night and she was hoping to get a nap in today. I told her that not sleeping is normal the first night or two. It’s a different place, different set up, and we all have a little bit of anxiety. I told her that I was sure tonight would be better.

Chad, Sam, and I came home and have been working to get the house ready for everyone’s arrival next week and also get ourselves packed. Just a bit ago my phone rang. It was mom! And she called me all by herself! She didn’t get to nap today, but she had PT and did some walking down the hallway with the therapist. I asked what she’d been doing today and she told me “oh, this and that”. I really do hope that she has been doing “this and that” and not been sitting alone. Yesterday on the way there I asked her to commit to doing at least one activity each day. Eating in the dining room does NOT count toward that goal. She understood. Yesterday she did participate in a couple of things and met a couple ladies. She seemed eager to get to know people. When I saw her this afternoon she didn’t sound as enthused, but I am chalking that up to her being tired from not sleeping at all. When I spoke to her a little bit ago, she actually sounded much better. She wished us a good trip and I told her I’d try and call her tomorrow.

I hope she has a great night of rest tonight and tomorrow is an easier day. It was such a relief to hear her sounding better. Not sad. Not angry. But good. She sounded really good. Have a great week! I’ll post again when we have her back home and I can give a full report. 🙂