Weekend Update

July 12 & 13
By Karen

Saturday included a full therapy day for Doreen. She began with speech therapy for an hour in the morning. For the first time she was taken out of her room for this form of therapy. She also had a different therapist than she had been seeing. They held a long discussion about Mom’s activities and interests. Mom talked all about the crafts she makes for the Global Holiday Bazaar at the church, the Wednesday evening meals she makes at the church. And her love of word games and puzzles. Mom really seemed to enjoy this session. The therapist did a great job of drawing her out of her sleepiness by asking questions about topics that piqued Mom’s enthusiasm. (She had to take a little rest in the middle of the hour session, but she perked right up again after about 3 minutes.) The therapist also encouraged Mom to keep her head upright, rather than allowing it to loll to the left and back. This is an important exercise, because her sense of balance has been so severely impacted.

A physical therapist new to us visited with Mom for 2 half-hour sessions on Saturday. We discovered that she grew up in N. Manchester and has Brethren background. This created a nice connection between her and Mom. Mom was either in the bed or the wheelchair as they worked on her legs. The physical therapy work today consisted mainly of strength and flexibility exercises.

The occupational therapist saw Mom for only half an hour today. She took Mom into the gym and worked on balance while sitting and mobility with her left arm. We saw more movement in that arm today than we’ve seen so far! (Not great gains, but small and significant.) Mom had a hard time staying awake during this session, but she did the best she could.

Doreen still did not eat on Saturday, but the IV nutrition has calmed our worry about this for the time being. Saturday was the last day for antibiotics, so we hope that she will begin to regain her appetite and ability to taste in the next few days.

There is VERY LITTLE to report about Sunday. The Valium that they began giving to Mom on Wednesday, to ameliorate the balance and nausea problems, has apparently built up in her system and has completely knocked her out. She slept absolutely all day on Sunday. She was unable to respond with anything more than a slight nod the entire time Dad and I were with her (from noon until about 6:30). Luckily, no therapy had been scheduled for Sunday, because she would not have been able to participate. The only significant response we received was when we sang to her before we left. She sang with us for about one chorus and verse of “All Night, All Day.” That was great to see and it helped alleviate some of our disappointment with the day before we headed back to N. Manchester.

Dad is beginning to worry about what will happen next (in the big picture of things) and all of the work there is to do at the house in Elgin. It is difficult for him to travel to Ft. Wayne day after day and ride the roller coaster of Mom’s recovery without making what he sees as a real contribution to her progress. He knows that his presence is important to her, but would like to feel more involved as an active participant. We are considering what is best for him, as well as Mom, in the next few weeks. He is feeling as though he needs to return to Elgin for a little bit to “take care of business,” but he does not want to leave Mom. It provides quite an internal struggle for him.