As Dad stated, Mom enjoyed a lot of friendly faces (and friendly emails read aloud by me) over the last few days. Both Polly and Julie stayed with Mom through all her therapies on Monday, and saw her again this morning. Late yesterday afternoon, unfortunately, we found ourselves facing the challenge of breathing. Although not as severe as the beginning of October, they did have to "re-trache" her. Over the weekend it had been "buttoned" or a semi-permanent closure over it to see if she was ready again. We will have a consult come in to examine her upper airway in the next couple of days. After the trache was replaced, she seemed to breathe easier, and was more responsive.
She has lots of wonderful toys in her room, courtesy of speech therapy. There is a touch screen computer that she can select (using a button) the row, and then the letter and spell out her needs, thoughts, etc. It also has preprogrammed words and names that she uses frequently. Julie and Polly had the pleasure of seeing her select their names on Monday, and then she spelled out "I'm tired" this afternoon. A clear sign to us, to let her rest in peace. As I left this afternoon, I told her that I was proud of all the hard work, and this would be her only "day off" to rest up! All her therapies would be back from holiday tomorrow and ready to work! I know she will step up to the task.
The Dr.s do not view the trache as an obstacle in our path, it is something we will work with, and will find a solution that we are comfortable with. In the mean time we will continue to improve her range of motion in her ankles (the botox is working!), stretching her arms, maneuvering her power chair, and of course, speech! I wish I could say I have heard her voice loud and clear, recently, but it seems to have been a challenge for her. I hope to hear it again soon.
Yours,
Caitlin (and Dayton too!)
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3 comments:
Thanks Caitlin for your post. Just wanted to add that Julie and I really enjoyed spending the whole day w/ her on Monday. She had 2 PT sessions, 2 speech sessions and an OT session as well. I know how tired WE were at the end of the day just watching! We were impressed by the compassion and expertise of all the staff. It was great to see her stack cones, put pegs in a pegboard and write her name and Dave's. She needs a little help to take away the weight of gravity on her arms but she can manipulate her fingers quite well. The electronic alphabet board will be such a great tool for ME to let us in on what her needs & wants are. Can't wait to see all her progress at Thanksgiving!
Just a quick addition to my first comment,,, Julie and I got to meet Kathy Gillespie on Monday. She is ME's tennis friend and was her roommate in Sunriver at her last tournament. She's a very spunky gal and eager to learn how best to help ME when she gets back home. Thanks to Kathy for being so attentive in ME's therapy sessions on Monday.
Caitlin,
I got to spend a couple hours with your Mom this afternoon and what a treat, she looks great! I walked in to find ME sleeping but after about 10 minutes I just couldn't take it so I quietly whispered her name and much to my surprise she woke right up. I tried my best to fill your Mom in on Yakima news and then headed down to the gym for OT. I saw the pegboard exercise as well as the cone one but the highlight for me was when the nurse asked ME to write with marker the name of the friend who was visiting and yes, she wrote my name. We then had her make a list of things that she would need in her tennis bag - hat, balls racket and tennis shoes all were written on her numbered list (some things never do change). I'm glad I wore the waterproof mascara! I will continue to pray that she is able to come home soon, know she is getting the best therapy at the UW but it sure will be nice to see her more often. Hope tomorrow is another great day!
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