Mom’s Status: 2010-09-08
Summary
Mom continued her two-times-per-day physical therapy today in the gym but without standing exercises until she gets her fitted shoes. Wt took those to her tonight. Her voice sounds more energetic today and there’s more focus in her eyes while we talk to her. She’s listening better. She still has moderate anxiety, but more get-well and birthday cards arrived today along with friendly phone calls, and all this made her happier. Because the weather was chillier tonight, we decided not to take her outside this visit. But we enjoyed reminiscing just the same, in her room. She continues her stead climb back to health.
Pending Objectives
- Order podiatrist for regular checkups on Mom’s feet.
- Track Mom’s extreme weakness and loss of feeling in legs. IN PROGRESS. This has improved markedly over the past several days. So we believe that the nerve damage is reversible, and she seems to be doing a great job in PT doing just that. She’ll resume full workouts tomorrow, now that she has her fitted shoes.
- Monitor Mom’s overall pain status. We’re looking to get her pain stopped. IN PROGRESS. Her pain continues to decrease so that now, she doesn’t seem to have much in her legs when she’s laying still. So the static pain seems all but gone.
- Track the dissipation of Mom’s pelvic hematoma. IN PROGRESS. Can’t measure further progress on this one until Mom has another EMG test next week.
- Locate Mom’s living will. IN PROGRESS. Her attorneys called a couple days ago, and want me to visit their office. I’ll try them again next week, and hopefully, they can come to the hospital for Mom’s signature on these papers if needed. Or at least, they’ll be able to FAX me the living will.
Completed Objectives
Log
05:45 PM: Sister Jojo and I are heading out shopping but will stop on the way home to visit Mom for an hour or so. The details of thsi visit follow.
- 07:00 PM: We arrived, and brought Mom’s specially-fitted shoes to her. With all the exercising she’s been performing lately, the PT folks are worried that Mom will worsen the sore on the bottom of her foot. She shoes should lessen the pressure on the sore itself, ad they’re custom-made to account for the different shape of Mom’s foot from the charcot problem she got over last fall. In fact, they suspended all standing-style exercises for the past couple days until she could wear her shoes. Well, now that she has them, full physical therapy can resume.
- Her foot ulcer does not hurt however and does not appear to be getting bigger. However, it’s not healing either. So we’re attempting to get Mom’s podiatrist to visit her to treat the wound.
- They gave Mom anti-itch meds.
- Mom’s primary care physician visited today. He didn’t say much except that she is improving and that we must wait and see just how quickly and how far she’ll further improve.
- Apparently, Mom is gaining weight. So she’s probably eating enough now. In fact, she wants to restrict her food intake to avoid gaining any more pounds. However, we advised her not to diet in her weakened state. We want her to eat as much as she desires, in order to best enable her body to heal itself.
- Though Mom can’t have a room to herself officially, her roommate was hospitalized five or six days ago, and they’ve moved no one else into her bed. So unofficially, Mom got to have her own room for a time anyhow.
- Mom informed us that the nursing staff would like to have a meeting with her family representatives to discuss her progress. I’ll call the lady tomorrow to set that up.
- They clean Mom up twice per day. Nice.
- Mom would like a medium-sized bottle of Keri hand lotion, as well as her favorite spoon to scratch her back with. She’s also requesting the orange manicure sticks (emery boards I think?).
- Mom’s notably happier tonight than last night, and is experiencing less itching today; perhaps due to the meds she’s now receiving. But she still itches some.
- Her PCP is arranging counseling for Mom to help her cope with the elevated uncertainties of her future given her current situation.
- 08:20 PM: The nurse came to help clean Mom up. So we’re leaving now.