Mom has been home for one week now and I’m calling it a success! Lots of adjustments but we’re all working through it. One of the things that I struggle with is patience, and this is an opportunity for all of us to improve in that area.
Although the routine is a lot different than it was at Maple Grove, her first week was far from boring. I mentioned before that we’ll have an aide helping out in the mornings during the week. “T” officially started on Monday and mom likes her a lot. She’s very sweet with mom and takes her time with her. When mom knows that T is coming in the morning, she wants to wait for her to get her out of bed. I don’t know if it’s because mom is trying to give me a break or not. Really I think it’s because T does a better job. She is the pro, after all. The bathroom is about 90% complete – hopefully that’ll be wrapped up within the next day or so. Since the shower has been out of commission, mom has had to suffice with bed baths. Mom said T does a great job with that so it’s been OK. She did get a real shower yesterday though and she said she felt SO great.
Mom met all of her therapists this week. She had assessments from PT, OT, and Speech. She really liked them all. She had an actual PT session yesterday and the therapist really pushed her. When asked if she can do something, mom will often say no without trying. I’m not sure if she’s being modest or defeatist, but when the therapist asked her to try, mom was actually able to do more than she said. The therapist was really happy with mom’s potential. Everyone seems to understand that she has a good work ethic and wants to get better and they will push her and not let her get away with much. So far she’s getting 2 sessions each from the three disciplines, so that’s six therapy sessions a week. I like that it will break up the week and give her something to do during the day.
She had quite a few visitors during the week. Cyndie and Wade arrived on Sunday and it was so nice to be able to spend time together as a family. Cyndie was a tremendous help while she was here. T was responsible for mom during the mornings when she was here but after she left Cyndie spent the most time taking care of mom with transfers and helping her get around. She and Wade spent a day and a half prepping meals for mom so that all I had to do was thaw them and heat ’em up. Such a big help! All together I think they managed to portion out 50 or 60 meals! They had to head back to work so left Thursday afternoon. Mom is already missing them. Hopefully they will be able to make it back down for a weekend sometime. I know it’s not easy for them to get down here so we are all really thankful for any amount of time they can spare. It means so much to mom. One of the cool things that happened during the week is that we all got to see the solar eclipse together!
R came to see mom. I can’t believe that we’ve been in this house for 11 years and this was the first time she’s been here! They found some Korean dramedy and spent a couple of hours sitting on the couch watching and laughing. It was really quite cute. I’m not sure how often she will be able to make it out but I know that mom does look forward to those regular visits. She also had a nice with the Asst. Pastor and some ladies from her church. I know that mom was happy to see them. Hopefully they will be able to make it out again sometime, even though I know it is far for them. That same day, good friends of ours came to visit as well. It was a nice visit for the whole family. Sam got to see her friends and we got to spend a little bit of time catching up as well. They have always been so encouraging and supportive. It was nice that they had an opportunity to come over, wish mom well, and give her great big hugs.
I’m still in the process of getting appointments scheduled for her. Since she’s moved out this way she needs to get set up with new doctors. Thankfully we have the new van that makes transport so easy. I thought we’d have time to visit Maple Grove this past week but we’ve actually been very busy! Maybe sometime within the next week or so we’ll get by there. Mom said that she will go back when she can walk but I don’t want her to wait that long. I am sure the ladies that she became friends with miss her. I actually think that it would be therapeutic for them as well as mom to get together and visit. It’s her call though – I am not going to force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do.
Here’s a pic of mom from her first day home. Her very first ride on the chair lift followed by some relaxation time in an actual recliner. I know if felt nice for her to not be in that wheelchair!
Mom’s speech therapist from Maple Grove made her a great little book with tips for eating/swallowing. Because she always reminded her to “tuck her chin”, she didn’t want mom to forget just because she was home. I set this up for her when she ate. It’s like K was still with her!
We have definitely had our difficult moments here, but as I said, we are all learning as we go. Some days are easier than others. Thankfully we have had more easy days than hard this past week. I’m looking forward to next week when her therapies pick back up. Hopefully that will make her feel like she’s accomplishing something. She really is doing so great. I told her that I think that her being here will actually force her to improve more quickly out of necessity. Because we don’t have 24 hour care here (sorry, but I just can’t do it), ADA approved housing, handicapped-accessible everything, etc, she really has to learn how to adapt while she’s here. Not only is she making due, but she’s doing it without complaining and I can see that she is really trying to be sensitive to us as well. She doesn’t yell at anyone if we can’t get to her right away, or if we botch the transfer (did I post last time that did have a little sit-down on the floor? Only once, so it’s all good). So with the first week behind us, I’d say that we all did extremely well. I do believe that things will get easier as we go. I’ll post next week after she’s had a few therapies behind her to let you know how that’s going.