An Epic Day

Today:

1. I learned how to transfer her from bed to wheelchair, wheelchair to car, basically anywhere to anywhere.
2. My mom can propel herself down the hallway in her wheelchair.
3. My mom moved her right foot during physical therapy.
4. My mom said more than a few words. She said phrases, lots of them.
5. My mom asked to go to the bathroom, and actually went to the bathroom, so far three times.
6. They switched her over to all pills instead of liquid, nasty tasting medicine.
7. The nurses took out the feeding tube!
8. I had my first conversation with my mom since this started.

How did this all happen in one day? I’m not really sure. But today was Family Training Day (Me, my sister and my dad, all being trained so we can take care of her when she gets home, even though we’ll also be hiring an in-home nurse). Maybe she was just trying to show off!  Maybe everything just clicked today. Whatever reason, I’ve been here since 8am this morning, walking with her through all her getting ready, her meals, her therapy sessions, and seeing improvements all day long.

So, how ‘bout I go through, and elaborate a bit, on all that happened?

1.) I learned how transfer her from one place to another. It entails her moving herself as much as she can, and me helping her as she pivots from one place to another. She does most of the work, I’m just there in case she loses her balance, and to guide her as she sits down. All transfers are basically the same, whether from the bed to the wheelchair, from the wheelchair to the car, or back to the bed. It’s even the same for getting on the shower bench she’ll be using.

2.) My mom can get along on her own in her wheelchair. I knew that she could, but I’d never seen it. She uses her left foot to steer herself, and her right hand to roll herself along. Sometimes she just likes to push herself along with her foot, but the physical therapist wants her to use her hand too. It’s not as fun as being pushed by my sister, who likes to make her swerve and goes really fast, but it works!

3.) My mom moved her right foot during physical therapy. Yes, that is the side she lost motion in. Apparently there’s some physical therapy technique where you work the strong side, and then the motion starts to spread to the weak side. And it worked! As they were working out her left leg, her right leg started moving. She was even able to press against a wall with her right foot, and move it up and down at the knee. She’s slowly getting back mobility.

4.) My mom spoke. A lot. “Thank you very much,” “I have to go to the bathroom,” and tons of other things. A lot of “yes,” “no,” and “okay,” too. The speech therapist asked her to use yes and no all the time, instead of just nodding or shaking her head. And she’s been doing it! Though sometimes it takes us asking her to speak so she remembers to vocalize. She rolls her eyes, but it’s worth it.

5.) My mom knew when she needed to go to the bathroom. She hasn’t been able to do that so far, which means she’s had to use diapers and short term catheters instead. Basically, she hasn’t had any control of her bowels up till now. But today, she said, in the middle of breakfast, “I have to go to the bathroom.” She has known that she had to go to the bathroom three times so far, and almost emptied her bladder each time. If she keeps this up, she won’t need any catheters, or suppositories, or anything, which will be great. It will keep her from the chance of infection each time the catheterize her, and will be so much easier when she comes home.

6.) They switched her over to pill forms of all her medication. Thank goodness! The last time she had to drink one of her meds, she almost threw up because of the taste. Since she’s able to swallow, she can do the pills. Thank you Nurse Francis. He was seriously the best nurse ever. He brought us extra juice, so me and my sister could have some. He was also a great teacher. And freaking hilarious.

7.) They took out the feeding tube! She’s been eating enough of her food, and drinking tons of water, so instead of having to put a new one in when hers got a little loose, they just took it out. She can now breathe out her nose, and my dad can kiss her more easily (ewwww, gross!).

8) I had my first conversation with my mom since this started! I mean we both talked to one another. She was able to articulate a question (with me asking a lot of clarifying questions until we got to the right thing) and we talked about stuff! It all started with her saying “men,” and then getting to the fact that she was talking about Francis, our awesome nurse, and finally figuring out that she was wondering about another training thing he had been talking about. It took awhile, and I made some ridiculous guesses about what she was saying, but it all worked out. 

And now, for a funny story: They have this “car” that they use to train people to get in and out of. It basically looks like the front seat of a dune buggy. After she got in and out of it a few times, she started motioning with her hand like she was driving, and making racing or rollercoaster-like noises. My sister, my dad, the physical therapist and I started throwing out guesses as to what she was talking about. We narrowed things down, tried to clarify, and basically settled on her question being “What do I do in the event of a zombie apocalypse?” (Okay, so we really just couldn’t figure it out. But the guessing process was super funny, and we were all laughing a lot.)

Later on, when we were back in her room, she started making the same motion again. So I went back through the possibilities. Yes, she was talking about being in a car. No, it wasn’t parked, but it wasn’t really driving either. And it was like a racecar, or a rollercoaster. A rollercoaster. A rollercoaster that looked like a dune buggy. Indiana Jones! She was talking about the car being like the Indiana Jones ride that we had just been gone on at the end of July in Disneyland! It was pretty hilarious when I finally realized what she was talking about, and it was great that she remembered our trip to Disneyland, and that we had gone on the Indiana Jones ride.

So yes, an epic day. Probably the best day here ever.