by Clay
You may remember the first time you got to mow the yard, at least I do. It was a highly anticipated and memorable moment when grandpa trusted me enough to let me MOW! And he allowed me to help years before my dad did.
Here's a video of Cameron's first experience mowing this past weekend. He's quite excited about it.
(That high pitched whine is me using the leaf blower in the garage.)
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Planning for the Future
by Judy
Judy picked up Carl in North Manchester, and the two of them visited with Doreen today. After getting help with a kind family driving who helped Judy change a flat tire, she stopped at Timbercrest and helped to set up some new telephone and clock equipment for Carl. Then they surprised Doreen, who didn’t know they were coming.
The reports had been that Doreen was making great progress at the Rehab Hospital, and Judy felt that was accurate. Therapy sessions were done for the day, but Doreen was choosing TV channels and resting. The things that Judy noticed were that she smiled spontaneously more often than before, that she seemed more aware of what was happening and when, and she seemed to have a broader picture. Judy and Doreen worked on filling out a survey form related to Covington Manor (the place she was in for two months, lasting until two weeks ago), and Doreen seemed to be able to separate the experience there from the current experience and reflected very realistically on her reactions.
An exciting advancement is that the stomach tube has finally been removed! Doreen said that the doctor just “pulled it out.” She said there was some pain for about one minute, but then it was fine. So now she has two belly buttons, but the tube is gone!
One clarification involved the broken bone from the fall a couple of weeks ago. Apparently the broken bone was the bottom knuckle on the index finger of the right hand. The knuckle is still somewhat swollen and sore, but everyone hopes that the splint will be removed on Dec. 1 when she sees the orthopedist again. Doreen said that, if the splint is not taken away, she will ask if it can be taken off at least when she eats. That planning and suggestion is a great indication of Doreen taking charge of some of her care.
Crosswords are very important to Doreen at this point. She wants to do them as often as possible, and she continues to improve her abilities. She has been able to give answers to the puzzles at times throughout the last six months, but she is now able to remember recent clues and anticipate how the words may cross each other. And she still does it almost entirely in her head, because it is hard to her to see the grid and the clues. Her eyes are improving, though. She read most of a card that Judy brought, but after reading a couple of paragraphs, she seemed to lose her place or find it difficult to focus.
Doreen also continues to talk about going home and wanting to do things related to her old life, but that reflection is no longer as unrealistic and impractical as before. She no longer thinks she slept in people’s homes, that she will be going to the National Older Adults Conference when she has not yet slept anywhere besides a hospital or treatments center, or asking where she should get gas tomorrow so she can drive home. Now when she talks about going home, she says she would like to be in her home again for a little while, but she realizes it wouldn’t be like before. She wants to talk about Christmas plans, but she is planning for events at Timbercrest rather than Elgin or Camp Emmaus.
There was quite a bit of discussion about the progress she is making. There was clearly a smile when she heard about what others thought she had achieved, but she also talked about how she wished it were faster. She has come a long way, but she adds that she has a long way to go.
Judy picked up Carl in North Manchester, and the two of them visited with Doreen today. After getting help with a kind family driving who helped Judy change a flat tire, she stopped at Timbercrest and helped to set up some new telephone and clock equipment for Carl. Then they surprised Doreen, who didn’t know they were coming.
The reports had been that Doreen was making great progress at the Rehab Hospital, and Judy felt that was accurate. Therapy sessions were done for the day, but Doreen was choosing TV channels and resting. The things that Judy noticed were that she smiled spontaneously more often than before, that she seemed more aware of what was happening and when, and she seemed to have a broader picture. Judy and Doreen worked on filling out a survey form related to Covington Manor (the place she was in for two months, lasting until two weeks ago), and Doreen seemed to be able to separate the experience there from the current experience and reflected very realistically on her reactions.
An exciting advancement is that the stomach tube has finally been removed! Doreen said that the doctor just “pulled it out.” She said there was some pain for about one minute, but then it was fine. So now she has two belly buttons, but the tube is gone!
One clarification involved the broken bone from the fall a couple of weeks ago. Apparently the broken bone was the bottom knuckle on the index finger of the right hand. The knuckle is still somewhat swollen and sore, but everyone hopes that the splint will be removed on Dec. 1 when she sees the orthopedist again. Doreen said that, if the splint is not taken away, she will ask if it can be taken off at least when she eats. That planning and suggestion is a great indication of Doreen taking charge of some of her care.
Crosswords are very important to Doreen at this point. She wants to do them as often as possible, and she continues to improve her abilities. She has been able to give answers to the puzzles at times throughout the last six months, but she is now able to remember recent clues and anticipate how the words may cross each other. And she still does it almost entirely in her head, because it is hard to her to see the grid and the clues. Her eyes are improving, though. She read most of a card that Judy brought, but after reading a couple of paragraphs, she seemed to lose her place or find it difficult to focus.
Doreen also continues to talk about going home and wanting to do things related to her old life, but that reflection is no longer as unrealistic and impractical as before. She no longer thinks she slept in people’s homes, that she will be going to the National Older Adults Conference when she has not yet slept anywhere besides a hospital or treatments center, or asking where she should get gas tomorrow so she can drive home. Now when she talks about going home, she says she would like to be in her home again for a little while, but she realizes it wouldn’t be like before. She wants to talk about Christmas plans, but she is planning for events at Timbercrest rather than Elgin or Camp Emmaus.
There was quite a bit of discussion about the progress she is making. There was clearly a smile when she heard about what others thought she had achieved, but she also talked about how she wished it were faster. She has come a long way, but she adds that she has a long way to go.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Birthday with Daniel
by Daniel Myers-Bowman (freshman at Manchester College)On Sunday, I helped Grandpa Carl celebrate his birthday by taking him to visit Doreen in Ft. Wayne. A friend of mine was kind enough to lend us a car. We spent much of the day doing crosswords, which seem to be getting much easier for her. For Carl's birthday dinner, we brought in some Chinese food, which we all enjoyed very much. Doreen's condition gets better every time I see her. The Rehab hospital is able to meet all of her needs quite well, from what I could tell. The nurses responded very quickly whenever she needed help, and treat her with great care. I think she is in a good place for now, while we wait for her to be able to move to Timbercrest.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Birthday Greetings
(The photo at right was taken during Carl and Doreen's 60th anniversary celebration during the summer of 2007.)
Tomorrow, Sunday, November 16, is Carl's birthday. If you get the chance, you can post a message here for him to read. My guess is that he'll be in church in the morning then headed to Fort Wayne to visit Doreen. All of us want to express our appreciation for all the support and encouragement you've given dad over the past 5 1/2 months.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Progress and Patience
November 9 & 10, 2008
by Judy
(Doreen is pictured here with her roommate for the past several weeks.)
Another move! As of yesterday, Monday November 10, Doreen has moved to Lutheran Rehabilitation Hospital of Fort Wayne. We saw this as an exciting move ahead, but Doreen was not so sure. (This blog entry focuses on Judy’s experience with Doreen on Sunday and Monday morning.)
On Sunday Judy drove from Lafayette to see Doreen and help her pack. She arrived a little while before supper and found Doreen alert and visiting with fellow residents. Doreen was concerned about getting food for Judy and asked the staff to order a tray. Although the food was less than special, it was good to share the meal, and nice to see Doreen interested in taking care of other people’s needs. Doreen did well with feeding herself much of the time, although her movements were somewhat spastic and jerky. She was pleased that she didn’t spill anything! The splint on her right hand (from the fall and break from a couple of weeks ago) was largely responsible for the awkwardness.
Judy had not seen her mother for two weeks, and the change was remarkable! She moved around much more accurately and comfortably, she was talking well and sitting a bit more calmly, and she seemed to be much closer to the old Doreen. But she still has a long way to go!
Judy packed things and helped Doreen with crossword puzzles. She did very well with medium-level puzzles and wanted to keep working on them. She also asked to look at greeting cards as they were taken off the wall.
When Judy first called to say that she was coming, Doreen asked some questions about the move to the Rehab Hospital. She had talked with some former residents who said that they had been at the rehab hospital and that the staff make the residents work really hard. So Doreen asked if they would make her go to the bathroom alone and get herself in and out of bed alone. She was worried that she would be expected to do things she didn’t feel she was capable of doing. That nervousness was also an issue when she asked if she would get any help with eating. It seems that she doesn’t remember much of anything from her earlier stay at the Rehab Hospital, except maybe that she wasn’t ready to be there and felt pushed beyond her limits.
On Monday morning, Judy and Carl arrived at Covington Manor to get ready for the move. After packing up last-minute items, having an exit interview with someone from social services, getting discharge papers from the nurses, and taking one more trip to the “lost clothing room” (where we found none of her missing items), Doreen and Carl were picked up by the Rehab Hospital van, and Judy drove behind. We arrived at the hospital at the same time as Linda, who was coming from Illinois. Items were stored in drawers and the admissions and nursing staff asked questions. Then it was time for lunch and a very different dining room. Then the baton was passed to Linda.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
November 1 update
November 1
by Judy, Karen, & Linda
DOREEN’S RECENT “ADVENTURE”
On Monday, October 27, Judy got a call from Covington Manor that Mom had fallen out of her wheelchair. The report was that she hit her head and had a bump on her arm. They were taking her to the ER at Lutheran Hospital to be checked out, since a bump on the head was not something to ignore following 4 brain surgeries.
Judy headed to Ft. Wayne, picked up Dad in North Manchester, and the two of them traveled on to Covington Manor. When they arrived, they noticed that she had a splint on her arm. There was a bruise on her left temple, but the more significant outcome of the fall was that she caught herself with her right hand and broke a bone—the thumb bone closest to the wrist. The splint goes all the way up to her elbow, so it is rather awkward. But neither the head nor the arm was causing her a significant amount of pain.
The story of the fall is that Mom wanted to watch TV, but she dropped the list of channels. She bent over in her wheelchair to pick it up off the floor, and she fell out, hitting her head against the open bathroom door and catching herself with her hand. Like the last time she fell, she said, “I did a dumb thing.” Her roommate was gone when she fell, and there were no staff members in the room, so she scooted on the floor on her back up to the door to let someone know she needed help. Her chair alarm was going off, too, so she did get help. The fact that she could respond that quickly to ask for help is a very good sign!
Mom saw an orthopedic doctor on Wednesday and was told she will have to wear the splint for several weeks while the bone heals. We are pleased that it is a splint rather than a cast. It is removable for showering, etc. It makes it difficult to feed herself, but they have made special utensils available to her and she is able to feed herself.
During the rest of that day (Monday), much time was spent with crossword puzzles. We had hoped that therapists and activity staff would do puzzles with Mom regularly since we brought up that activity at the last Care Plan conference, but that has happened only twice. On Monday, Judy and Mom (with some contributions from Dad) completed 3—one easy, one medium, and one hard. Mom is still having difficulties with double vision, so all of her contributions to the puzzle completion were done verbally, but she is still capable of “seeing” the puzzles in her mind!
Monday evening Judy and Dad stayed until Mom got in bed. She was given two Tylenol PM, so she should have slept well that night, and we hope that the awkward splint was not too annoying. She would like to always have someone there when she goes to sleep. The family wishes we could fulfill that request.
NEXT STEP: TIMBERCREST?
On Tuesday morning, Judy joined 5 members of the Timbercrest staff/administration to discuss their current thinking regarding admitting Mom and to talk about Dad’s living situation. Karen and Linda joined the meeting by telephone conference call. Although we were hoping for a final decision, Timbercrest was not ready for that yet, but they did say are willing to admit Mom—just not quite yet. They generally do not admit residents directly to health care, but their census there is down right now. However, they have a few long-term residents who may need the open beds because they are facing health care issues. They said that they will be in touch with us in two weeks, if not before. And they still did not guarantee that we would know for sure in two weeks.
There was also discussion about Dad. The family reported that they think he is doing very well there and that his functioning has improved along with his sense of well-being since he has been a resident. Timbercrest is ready to admit him as a permanent resident, but we will not take that step until it is sure that Mom can join him at Timbercrest.
We are all hopeful that we are getting closer to finding a permanent, shared home for Mom and Dad. The support and positive thoughts sent that direction are very much appreciated!
by Judy, Karen, & Linda
DOREEN’S RECENT “ADVENTURE”
On Monday, October 27, Judy got a call from Covington Manor that Mom had fallen out of her wheelchair. The report was that she hit her head and had a bump on her arm. They were taking her to the ER at Lutheran Hospital to be checked out, since a bump on the head was not something to ignore following 4 brain surgeries.
Judy headed to Ft. Wayne, picked up Dad in North Manchester, and the two of them traveled on to Covington Manor. When they arrived, they noticed that she had a splint on her arm. There was a bruise on her left temple, but the more significant outcome of the fall was that she caught herself with her right hand and broke a bone—the thumb bone closest to the wrist. The splint goes all the way up to her elbow, so it is rather awkward. But neither the head nor the arm was causing her a significant amount of pain.
The story of the fall is that Mom wanted to watch TV, but she dropped the list of channels. She bent over in her wheelchair to pick it up off the floor, and she fell out, hitting her head against the open bathroom door and catching herself with her hand. Like the last time she fell, she said, “I did a dumb thing.” Her roommate was gone when she fell, and there were no staff members in the room, so she scooted on the floor on her back up to the door to let someone know she needed help. Her chair alarm was going off, too, so she did get help. The fact that she could respond that quickly to ask for help is a very good sign!
Mom saw an orthopedic doctor on Wednesday and was told she will have to wear the splint for several weeks while the bone heals. We are pleased that it is a splint rather than a cast. It is removable for showering, etc. It makes it difficult to feed herself, but they have made special utensils available to her and she is able to feed herself.
During the rest of that day (Monday), much time was spent with crossword puzzles. We had hoped that therapists and activity staff would do puzzles with Mom regularly since we brought up that activity at the last Care Plan conference, but that has happened only twice. On Monday, Judy and Mom (with some contributions from Dad) completed 3—one easy, one medium, and one hard. Mom is still having difficulties with double vision, so all of her contributions to the puzzle completion were done verbally, but she is still capable of “seeing” the puzzles in her mind!
Monday evening Judy and Dad stayed until Mom got in bed. She was given two Tylenol PM, so she should have slept well that night, and we hope that the awkward splint was not too annoying. She would like to always have someone there when she goes to sleep. The family wishes we could fulfill that request.
NEXT STEP: TIMBERCREST?
On Tuesday morning, Judy joined 5 members of the Timbercrest staff/administration to discuss their current thinking regarding admitting Mom and to talk about Dad’s living situation. Karen and Linda joined the meeting by telephone conference call. Although we were hoping for a final decision, Timbercrest was not ready for that yet, but they did say are willing to admit Mom—just not quite yet. They generally do not admit residents directly to health care, but their census there is down right now. However, they have a few long-term residents who may need the open beds because they are facing health care issues. They said that they will be in touch with us in two weeks, if not before. And they still did not guarantee that we would know for sure in two weeks.
There was also discussion about Dad. The family reported that they think he is doing very well there and that his functioning has improved along with his sense of well-being since he has been a resident. Timbercrest is ready to admit him as a permanent resident, but we will not take that step until it is sure that Mom can join him at Timbercrest.
We are all hopeful that we are getting closer to finding a permanent, shared home for Mom and Dad. The support and positive thoughts sent that direction are very much appreciated!
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