I have to admit, it was really rough when mom was in the hospital. We honestly weren’t sure how much she’d recover. But like a phoenix, she appears to be on the right track. Before anyone gets too excited, her state of “getting better-ness” is relative.
Mom won’t ever walk again. She needs lots of help even to stand. We don’t see that ever improving, even with therapy. She has basically been discharged from all therapies, but we are working with hospice to see if she might be able to continue some level of physical therapy to see if she could get to the point of making transfers a little safer and easier. There’s no word on that, so thankfully we have some wonderful caregivers that are able fully help her.
She doesn’t talk much. She has her moments, but it takes a lot out of her. When she does choose to talk, she’s extremely soft spoken so it’s sometimes difficult to hear her. Again, that just takes so much energy.
She’s back on a modified diet. Her swallow reflex is delayed, which can lead to her choking (and was the cause of her aspiration pneumonia). She can’t drink regular drinks, they have to be thickened. We have to be very careful about what she eats and drinks.
Her short-term memory is pretty bad. She got her hair done last Thursday morning. I was asking her about it that afternoon and she was adamant that she didn’t get her hair cut. With some convincing she finally believed me (I think I eventually had to show her a picture). So if you talk to her and she doesn’t say much or can’t remember something, don’t get offended. It’s just something that happens.
It’s not all bad news though… She’s back to participating in some activities when she’s up to it (she’s actually at Bingo as I type this!). She looks better, rests a lot (no escape attempts – she hasn’t attempted even once to get up by herself since she’s been home) and best news of all – looks like she WILL make it to Cyndie’s wedding after all! We are T-minus 6 days and mom has been doing great. She has her outfit picked out and our favorite caregiver switched her schedule so that she can join us. Not only to help mom, but she has become so important to us in such a short time. She’s truly wonderful and we are so happy to have her attend the wedding as mom’s “+1”.
Looking forward to posting some pics of mom and the bride next week!