July 30 & 31
by Karen and Daniel
We have encountered a very tired Doreen for the last two days. It seems that she has her days and nights switched right now - she is awake at night and then needs to sleep most of the day. This makes it difficult to meet the goals she is trying to reach of eating and regaining strength and skills through therapy. We are concerned about the use of medications to try to address this problem. We have asked that they consider taking her off of the stimulant and sleep aids to see if she can straighten this out on her own. We will see if our request is heeded by the physician.
On Wednesday, she was able to wake up enough to participate in physical, occupational and speech therapy sessions, but at reduced levels from the previous two days. On Thursday, however, she could barely stay awake enough to sit on the side of the bed, to move to a chair and to "ride" the bike pedals during physical therapy late morning. The speech therapist arrived around 2:00 for his session, but we couldn't get Mom/G'ma to wake up at all. We could tell that she was trying to rouse herself, but that she couldn't break through the fog of sleep. Luckily, the occupational therapist was not scheduled for today, because we feel confident that he would not have been successful in his efforts either.
The good news is that she ate better, especially on Thursday. The hospital's CEO has taken a personal interest in helping Mom/G'ma eat. She wants to do everything she can to help Mom/G'ma avoid the feeding tube - that decision will be made next Tuesday. Therefore, she came to Mom/G'ma's room for both lunch and supper on Wednesday to feed her herself. She got Mom/G'ma to eat about 8 bites at lunch and then 10-12 bites at supper. This also gave her the opportunity to talk to Mom/G'ma about what foods sound good to her and to try to learn what will help her eat more. Mom/G'ma told her that the food served at meals is too heavy. She would like something lighter to help her begin to eat again. By suppertime on Thursday, the CEO had arranged for Mom/G'ma to have a fruit plate with sliced apples, bananas, mandarin oranges, pineapple, plums and cottage cheese. When Mom/G'ma saw this, she smiled and she ate about 20-25% of her meal! We feel very lucky to have so much care and concern shown by the staff of Progressive - from the cusodial and secretarial staff, to the nurses and therapists, and even the top administrators.
Visitors always seem to help Mom/G'ma perk up. She opened her eyes and smiled to greet Katy McFadden on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, she became more interactive and alert when her grandson Parker showed up at the hospital unexpectedly. She also perks up for the "visits" she has through the continued flow of cards and greetings sent by all of you. These contacts continue to be the best way to help Mom/G'ma remember why she needs to work hard throughout this recovery period -- there are so many people who love her and need her in their lives. Thanks for keeping those encouraging thoughts coming our way! (It is also EXTREMELY helpful for Dad! He feels very blessed and humbled to have the support and prayers of so many loving friends and family members.)
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