Saturday Update

Saturday, June 7
by Linda

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!! The question of the day is: Which is longer? 61 years of marriage or a week in the hospital with a loved one in critical care? Dad’s answer is that it is all part of the same commitment and the question is, therefore, irrelevant. Cards and flowers added to our celebration. It was wonderful to celebrate the date.

Weekends are not hotbeds of activity in the regular care unit. The physical therapist worked with Mom through her arm and leg exercises and the speech therapist stopped by for a few minutes. Mom’s big forward progression of the day was eating some pureed food bites. The dietary staff takes the blended glop and creates formed replicas of the food from whence it came. In other words, they squeeze peach puree into peach slice look-a-likes, green beans into a blob with green bean shapes molded into the mound, etc. After tasting a bit of her Turkey Manhattan, it is understandable that Mom ate only a little! The mashed potatoes were great. Actually, she gets stronger with each meal.

Her other muscles are gaining strength bit by bit, too. Each repetition of the arm and leg exercises involves more of Mom’s own movement. She is helping more and more with lifting, bending, and twisting the left arm while someone provides basic support.