Mom’s Status: 2010-10-20
Summary
Mom has been participating daily in her physical and occupational therapies. Our visit today revealed our Mom we’ve come to know and love so much. She has completed her course of antibiotics. Now’ we’re playing the wait-and-see game for a couple weeks with the hope that the MRSA will not return. They performed an echo cardiogram today on Mom, although we have no results yet. Again, Mom welcomes visitors. She’s getting much better at moving herself from bed to a wheelchair and from wheelchair to bath facilities. Skin color: normal. Fever: none. She has not mentioned being cold very much lately. Her therapists are pleased with her progress, which we did not think would come during the first week of this month, as she had reached a plateau in her progress. But apparently her body just needed a little break from progress. 
But now, she seems to be very much back on track. Her legs are still week and wobbly. However, she’s building her upper body strength to compensate and to better enable her to transfer from surface to surface. The possibility of her returning home here looks now very much higher than it did two weeks ago, and we’re all quite tickled at this.
Ongoing Objectives
These objectives are on hold until Mom returns to the nursing facility.
- Call Mom’s insurance company and find out what sorts of in-home rehab visits they cover — how many of them over how long of a period. Sister Mary Ann recommends that we spread these out over the entire coverage period, and not use them all immediately.
- Track Mom’s extreme weakness and loss of feeling in legs. IN PROGRESS. The nerve damage she experienced during August appears now to have reversed somewhat given Mom’s accomplishments in therapy throughout October. She’ll continue full OT and PT workouts.
- Monitor Mom’s overall pain status. IN PROGRESS. Her pain is all but gone, and she no longer takes any pain meds regularly.
- Track the dissipation of Mom’s pelvic hematoma. IN PROGRESS. We have to follow up on this one.
- Locate Mom’s living will. IN PROGRESS. Given that Mom has expressed her wishes to both us and the nursing staff and doctors, I’ve deferred this item. With us nearby to instruct them should a crisis arise, there’s less need for a hard copy of the living will.
Completed Objectives
Log
04:10 PM: Sister Mary Ann and myself arrived at the nursing facility. Details of the visit follow:
- Mom led us up to the seventh floor lounge. It’s very nice there with a huge plasma screen flat panel television. The view from that vantage point was also quite spectacular; especially with the sun shining so brightly and the skies so blue. A classic crisp fall day this was, for sure.
- We consulted with Mom’s physical therapist, who said that Mom is stronger now than ever, and that they’ve been working successfully on using a board to assist in Mom’s transfers from bed to chair and from chair to bath tub. She says Mom’s doing quite well.
- Before Mom would come home, the therapist has agreed to visit our house, inspect the bath and bedroom facilities, and make appropriate recommendations for any additional equipment needed as well as railings and other aids that would be helpful to Mom given her current physical abilities.
- They’re also building her upper body strength so that she can lift herself with her arms should the worst case scenario come to be; that being that her legs cannot be used to lift her up.
- We’re also curious about whether she can transfer to her favorite recliner. We may have to purchase a lift-style reclining chair if not.
- She’ll likely require a hospital bed if she does return home.
- 05:30 PM: We walked to the nearby Texas hot dog place and had dinner together.
- 06:40 PM: We finished at the restaurant and took Mom back to her room. She gave me some clothes to wash. I’ll do that and take them back up to her on Friday.
- 06:45 PM: We’re leaving now. Great visit!