Mom’s Status: 2010-09-11
Summary
Mom had the day off from her physical therapy today. Her voice now sounds as animated and energetic as it ever did when she was healthy. In fact, one couldn’t tell that she’s still sick just by the sound of her speaking. She still has anxiety, but we took her some birthday cards and gifts this afternoon. We did not take her outside but did wheel her down the hall to the social area where they have a big-screen plasma television that was showing the History Channel. A psychologist stops by to see her regularly now and she seems to suffer from fewer anxious moments as a result. She seemed happier today than at any time prior during this incident.
Pending Objectives
- Order podiatrist for regular checkups on Mom’s feet. IN PROGRESS. I’m going to call her regular podiatrist on Monday and ask him if he can stop in at the facility to treat Mom’s feet.
- Track Mom’s extreme weakness and loss of feeling in legs. IN PROGRESS. This has gotten notably better over the past week or so. We still feel that the nerve damage is reversible. She’ll continue full PT workouts (including standing exercises on Monday).
- Monitor Mom’s overall pain status. IN PROGRESS. Her pain continues to lessen so that now, she has little 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
12:10 PM: Sisters Christine and Diane, [Emmy], and myself arrived. Details of the visit follow:
- 12:20 PM: Mom was in great spirits, and she talked to us with the same energy level as I remember her having when hearing her talk to friends in the kitchen some forty years ago.
- Sister Mary Ann is visiting later and bringing the Keri hand lotion Mom wants.
- We brought Mom some emery boards, her favorite spoon that she likes to scratch her back with, and some cards that arrived in the mail over the past few days.
- She’s not tired for once, and her voice sounds just like it does when she’s completely healthy.
- However, she’s developed a callous on both sides of her left big toe. Must be due to all the exercising.
- That long-time sore on the sole of her right foot needs attention; as it appears more calloused than usual. I’ll call her long-time podiatrist on Monday and see if he can stop here and check it out sometime next week.
- She gleefully opened her presents, which consisted mainly of clothes; she’s gained some weight since this ordeal began, which is a good sign over all. But unfortunately, her older clothes no longer fit. So, the twins bought her some bigger shirts and pants. She was thrilled.
- 01:10 PM: Mom is getting dressed so we can take her out for a walk around the halls. We kept busy while we waited, weighing ourselves on this big platform scale we found near the social area. Then, we watched some of the 9/11 footage on the History Channel.
- They raised Mom’s coumadin daily doses to 7.5 MG for the weekend. I asked about this, as it may have been excessively thin blood that caused her internal bleeding last month. But the nurse assured me that her PCP had reviewed her blood values and believes this to be an appropriate action based on what he read.
- We updated Mom’s emergency contact information, unofficially, with the floor nurse. She advised us that to assure that this becomes permanent, we should call the main office on Monday and talk to the facility’s official record keeper. I’ll do that next week.
- 01:30 PM: We’re leaving now, and Mom is staying in the hall for a while to socialize and just to get out of her room for a little while.