First week at Home

Sorry for the lack of posting. This first week at home has been a week of learning.

Learning for the family- how to care for mom's need with no help. Meeting new therapist that will now be coming to the house and learning what they want her to do. Figuring out schedules, Doctor appointments, and getting back into life for everyone involved.



We already posted that she went to church on Sunday, but on Saturday she also got out for a few minutes and went to Emma's soccer game. It was a but overwhelming, but good practice.



Mom has 3 different therapist who come to the house to work with her. A physical therapist, a speech therapist and a occupational therapist.



The physical therapist comes 3 times a week for about 45 minutes each time. They are working on gaining strength and walking. She told me the other day she had her standing at the end of her bed. She keeps saying she thinks this lady is trying to kill her. She has been really sore this week. They seem to be doing the same type of exercises she was doing in Vallejo, but more repetitions so it is making her a bit sore. When she told the therapist this in hopes she would ease up on her she was told NO PAIN NO GAIN!!!

Her speech therapist comes 2 times a week. The occupational therapist also comes 2 times a week.

She also had a check up with her new primary care doctor and was given the all clear for month.


Mom has also been trying to now feel her free time. She is use to being at the rehab center and having every minute of every day filled. Now she has down town and I think is getting a little bored. She still has trouble reading so can't enjoy her favorite past time, so this week she figured out how to dial the phone again(with her vision it takes some serious concentration) and now calls me daily with updates herself. It is nice to be able to chat again after 2 months of not talking.

This week she is going to be having a few friends come over to visit to also help with the down time.

Going to Church

Sherrie snapped this picture this morning on the way out the door to church. Mom was all dressed up for the first time, and she was ready to go. It was their ward conference today and she was NOT going to miss it.

The End of the Rehab Center

This post if just full of odds and ends about the Rehab Center. Sherrie finally had time to get everything off her camera and since we hope to put this into a book for Mom someday we had to go back and add all of these pictures.

This is Mom doing Wii bowling one day for Occupational therapy. Not only is this fun, it works on both her range of motion and also visual feedback. She has to follow through and see where her ball went and keep track of her score.

Here is mom making cookies with the Recreational Therapist. She found out that mom is a baker and enlisted her help to make cookies for the patient Valentines party. One day they made the dough, the next they cut out the cookies and then after they were baked she even helped frost them.

Here is Mom(red) playing Connect Four with Sherrie(black). Sherrie won the first few games until mom figured out that Sherrie was purposely putting her pieces on Moms bad side(left). Once she figured that out and remembered to look left it was game on!!

One day she got the treat of an ice rub down. They use the ice to help stimulate the muscles. They smaller muscles like the ankle that they are working with take the longest to come back so they like to keep them stimulated. Notice how nice her toes look? She got them done here in Arizona, before she went home. She has gotten so many comments on how nice her feet look we just had to include one picture of her feet.

 

Here is mom working with Gail and Elyse (another PT)  doing  facial exercises. 

With Gail they are in front of a mirror working on left recognition. She had her start at the top of her head and run her right hand all the way down her left side to her toes watching herself in the mirror. this is to help her make the mind body connection with the left side of her body.

With Elyse she is doing what is called Bulbar exercises. The Bulbar muscles are the one that are responsible for speech and swallowing. So they are working on strengthening these muscles.

 

Last but not least, this is the outdoor patio where Mom spent her break in between morning classes many times enjoying a few minutes of fresh air and sunshine.

Home Sweet Home

In anticipation of Mom coming home we had to make a few changes at the house to accommodate a wheelchair.

The biggest being a room downstairs for Mom. It still needs a few finishing touches, but we wanted Mom to have a say in that, so the finishing touches will be happening over the next week or so when she is home.

This room use to be Dad’s office.

Now his office is what use to be the dining room.

There is also now a wheelchair ramp in the garage.

Green Means GO!

Today Mom got her GREEN SHIRT. A green shirt means you are going home!!!



Today is mom's last full day at the Rehabilitation Center in Vallejo. Tomorrow she will be released. We still haven't heard what her outpatient therapy will entail yet, but we should know by the time they release her tomorrow.

Goals

The next set of goals, progress continues!!

Our Heros

As Mom's time at the Rehab Center draw to a close, we had to spend a minute and give a shout out to the therapists there. These people are real heroes to us. They are the incredible and we are always raving about them. They work so hard and are so good at what they do. Here is Mom's team:

This is Aaron her walking guy

Gail is her Occupational Therapist.

Her focus is the everyday tasks

Denise is the Speech Therapist

She helps with reasoning, spacial relations, and finding left

This is Kaitlyn
She is one of the Physical Therapist

This is Jami another Physical Therapist

The physical therapist work on balance, strength, tone, coordination, walking and transfers.

She also works with Jeff another physical therapist who will still need a picture of!

Last but not least this is Liz one of the incredible nurse's aides that took care of Mom.

Trial Run

Saturday mom got to come home for one night for a trial run. It was to see what still needed to be done at the house, how she felt about coming home, and what they needed to focus on the last week there.

It went pretty good. She was a little nervous coming home, but everyone(except me - I was there in spirit) were there to welcome her home and the kids had fun pushing her around and showing her, the new bedroom and other things around the house.

They also decorated it for her!

 

It was such a busy weekend the camera kind of got forgotten once she got there, but here are a few pictures of her arriving.

Uplifting Cards

This was just one of the many cards that mom has recieved, but this was too funny, we figured that someone else out there could use a little laugh too.

This is Doug, He’s here to give you your medicine……………….

Thanks Sylvia! This gave her a pretty good laugh…………they say laughter's the best medicine, right!

Practice Reading

We have been telling Mom all the wonderful comments you have been leaving her on the blog. So Leslie(Randy's girlfriend) took them all and printed them out with a binding in large print to that mom could read them herself.

She still has a little trouble with reading, because she forgets to go all the way to the left sometimes and then things do't make since. So to help with that Leslie put a green line down the left so she could know she made it all the way to the left.

So when she has some free time we try to pull this out and let her read a little bit more herself. this is great practice for her and also so nice to read for herself all the wonderful things you are saying.

As more comments come in we will add more pages to her book.

Walking Video

Okay, so I'm not very tech savvy-- this is the second time I have tried to get a video to post,and I took the video the wrong way again so you have to turn your head sideways!! Sorry!!

It's hard to watch, but so neat to see the progress she is making. I will try to get a video the right direction when I go again on Friday!

Walking Progress

Mom wears a brace on her left foot when walking. The brace is used to help support her ankle, and to keep the foot in the right position for walking. She is being fitted for her very own this week, and soon won't have to wear the lovely one the center provides. So she can then wear her own shoe too. The shoe she wears on her left foot when walking now is the centers and is a little to big. (Plus is doesn't match her shoe which she likes to point out.)

Here she is with Jami one of her awesome therapists taking a few steps. She is doing a great job!

If you look at the picture below you will see on the left of the picture on the floor is the tray form her chair. That is where she started walking. This was at the end when she is getting the brace off and heer own shoe back on. These sessions really tired her out, but look how nice and tall she is sitting up in her chair.

Goals

Another set of goals. You have come a long way Mom, keep it up.

Yesterday we received a new discharge date of February 17th. She is doing such a good job and making such nice progress that they have extended her stay a week. Our hope is that this will help her be that much stronger and more independent when she comes home. At first mom wasn't too sure about it,she is starting to get anxious to get home. After thinking about it she agreed that she still has so much to learn that staying another week is best. She has such a great attitude about it all. It amazes me every day.

This week has also been busy for the family. Everyone in Sacramento(Dad, Sherrie, Randy, Karon-moms sister) along with a few close friends have been down in Vallejo doing Family Training. This involves learning how to give her shots, how to help her dress, and most importantly how to safely do a transfer. I am amazed at how awesome my family is. Everyone is stepping up and doing a great job. Plus we have incredible friends that are willing to learn so they can help out too.

We are still busy trying to gather all the needed equipment for the house so that in about a week or so she can get a "pass" to go home for a day to try things out. This will help us as a family know what we still need to get, after "trying" real life at home for a day. It will also help the therapist to know where they need to focus the last week at the center to be ready to go home for real.

Here is another picture from last week while I was there visiting. We took mom's lunch and all went down to the cafeteria to eat.

Just wanted to again say a HUGE THANK YOU, for all the love, support, prayers, meals, help and thoughts we have received. Not a day goes by that we don't have a comment here on the blog or a card in the mail to read to mom. It not only buoys her up , but us too. So Thanks!!

A Typical Day

8:00am- Breakfast

9:00am- Dressing training with Occupational therapist- Learning to dress herself

10:30am- Speech Therapy- with Denise, as we said before, she doesn't have a problem with speech. They are working on recognizing left, reasoning skills, spacial relations and other skills. They do things like playing dominoes, cards, and sorting.

11:00am- Break- this is usually spent out on the terrace getting a few minutes of fresh air, the sun has been shining there everyday!!

11:30am- Occupational Therapy- with Gail- This is where they work on Activities of Daily Living. On Saturday she made a sandwich. They do a lot of problem solving here.

12:00- 1:30pm- LUNCH

1:30pm - Physical therapy with Kaitlyn- here they work on balance and strengthening muscles

2:00pm- G.A.I.T with Aaron I don't remember what is stands for, but this is her walking class. Aaron has her up every day and helps her to take a few steps at a time.

2:30pm- Speech Therapy again with Denise

3:00pm Physical therapy with Jami- more strength and balance training

3:30-4:40pm- BREAK- this is much needed as all her classes since lunch but one are very physical and tiring.

4:30pm- Transfer/Self Care Class- this class is spent working on learning to Transfer. This would be from her wheelchair to a bed, a chair, etc. with the goal being to do it independently eventually.

5:00pm- DINNER

Just realized that we never posted the new goals that mom got last Wednesday!!