A bit of relief over here… After spending quite a bit of time looking at mom’s scans, the neurologist has determined that there really is no reason to have her repeat the tests at this time. It appears that after they removed the clot, blood flow to the brain was restored. Nothing weird going on here and nothing specific to follow up on. She’ll go back for a follow up in 3 months. At that time he’ll probably just do some neuro-checks (squeeze my hand, move your foot, etc) to see if there is any improvement from the previous visit. Unless something crazy happens, we’re off the hook with him until January.
We have been doing a little bit of walking on our own with mom. My hope is that we can do it anytime the physical therapist isn’t here that day. Yesterday we did two rounds. The first from the kitchen to the front door and then later from the living room to the front door. We just finished our first pass and went from outside of the bathroom, into the dining room, through the kitchen, and to her spot in the living room. All without a break! She feels like she did worse than yesterday but the truth is I did very little to help her along. There were several instances when she had a hard time lifting her left foot off of the ground. We were patient and waited for her to get the energy to move it. I explained to her that even though she may not feel like she’s getting better, she very much is. When she started walking before, she was getting a lot of assistance. When I walk with her (or even make her stand), I do as little as possible. There are times when I am probably making her struggle a little too much but I really want her to build up her strength and stamina. She’ll thank me for it later.
Hopefully she’ll have a good night of rest tonight and will be ready to show off for her physical therapist tomorrow!