Sunday, June 30, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
Lots of News
Monday started out pretty good. When I got here at a little after 9:00 am this morning, Mom had already begun her physical therapy. She had used the "roll-ator", the little blue walker, to walk all over the bottom floor. It was probably close to 300 feet. No sweat.
Then Dawn had her do a balance walk like she did the other day, but this time, instead of using uneven parallel bars, she was using a rail going up and down a ramp. It went very well, and she traversed the 10-15 foot ramp several times, both ascending and descending.
She went to do some steps again, which were difficult today, mostly because she had already had quite a workout. After the steps, Mom was "graduated" to using a cane! It felt good to her to actually be "walking" and she did very well for her first effort.
Also, some big time news here! She has been officially cleared to get up out of bed and use the bathroom on her own. She's been able to do this for a while, but now PT has signed off on it. Also, they are going to encourage her to walk to the dining room for meals. She has to use the walker and needs to be aided by a staff member, but she - in the opinion of her PT - is strong enough to do this on her own.
We went to OT next, after a stop in the room to finish some scratch-offs, and Mom got to do some new things. First, she did the arm bicycle for 15 minutes, which is no big deal by now. Then, she got to make some oatmeal! She had to measure stuff out, get up and get the water, take it to the microwave, get it out, stir it up, and bring it back to her wheelchair. It's obviously a small activity and no huge deal, but for her, it was another step and something new. She did it without any problem.
After we got back from OT, Ray, the physician assistant, came by. Things seem to be just fine. Mom has had some swelling in her ankles, and he said it was no big deal. Another good milestone too - she's officially back off the oxygen. The term at this point is "as needed". She doesn't need to wear it in the room, and we're even going to take the tank off the back of the wheelchair again.
And all this before lunch! She has an appointment with Dr. Fonseca tomorrow as a follow-up to the surgery. We'll let you know how it goes.
Then Dawn had her do a balance walk like she did the other day, but this time, instead of using uneven parallel bars, she was using a rail going up and down a ramp. It went very well, and she traversed the 10-15 foot ramp several times, both ascending and descending.
She went to do some steps again, which were difficult today, mostly because she had already had quite a workout. After the steps, Mom was "graduated" to using a cane! It felt good to her to actually be "walking" and she did very well for her first effort.
Also, some big time news here! She has been officially cleared to get up out of bed and use the bathroom on her own. She's been able to do this for a while, but now PT has signed off on it. Also, they are going to encourage her to walk to the dining room for meals. She has to use the walker and needs to be aided by a staff member, but she - in the opinion of her PT - is strong enough to do this on her own.
We went to OT next, after a stop in the room to finish some scratch-offs, and Mom got to do some new things. First, she did the arm bicycle for 15 minutes, which is no big deal by now. Then, she got to make some oatmeal! She had to measure stuff out, get up and get the water, take it to the microwave, get it out, stir it up, and bring it back to her wheelchair. It's obviously a small activity and no huge deal, but for her, it was another step and something new. She did it without any problem.
After we got back from OT, Ray, the physician assistant, came by. Things seem to be just fine. Mom has had some swelling in her ankles, and he said it was no big deal. Another good milestone too - she's officially back off the oxygen. The term at this point is "as needed". She doesn't need to wear it in the room, and we're even going to take the tank off the back of the wheelchair again.
And all this before lunch! She has an appointment with Dr. Fonseca tomorrow as a follow-up to the surgery. We'll let you know how it goes.
Friday, June 21, 2013
A Few Pics From Today's PT
Another good day today with some more breakthroughs. The first task was to get Mom cleared to get in and out of her own car. She has a follow-up appointment with her surgeon next Tuesday, and we need a way to get her to DePaul. There are multiple services we can hire, but they are quite a bit of money, so we want to be able to do this ourselves. I have no pictures or video of this because I was involved in the transfer. It went very smoothly with absolutely no problems. She is officially cleared to get in her car!
The only other thing she really did today was a few walks on a new type of walker. It's new to her, not some state-of-the-art technology or anything.
She also had a shower today, and beforehand was required to get out her own clothes and stuff from her suitcase in the closet. She did that very well too. I have a feeling it's just a short matter of time before we realize that she is capable of doing many things. One of these weeks, we will have a huge series of breakthroughs as it becomes apparent that she is almost home.
Here are a few pics. Sorry for the blurriness. Many of these were action shots. More later.
The only other thing she really did today was a few walks on a new type of walker. It's new to her, not some state-of-the-art technology or anything.
She also had a shower today, and beforehand was required to get out her own clothes and stuff from her suitcase in the closet. She did that very well too. I have a feeling it's just a short matter of time before we realize that she is capable of doing many things. One of these weeks, we will have a huge series of breakthroughs as it becomes apparent that she is almost home.
Here are a few pics. Sorry for the blurriness. Many of these were action shots. More later.
Today's Progress
I got to the rehab place about 1:00pm on Thursday and Mom was sitting in her bed just hanging out. She checked her oxygen level - 98% - and told me that she had a fairly uneventful and just a little boring time in occupational therapy. There was a lot of taking things off of bulletin boards and putting them back on. It seems like almost every activity in there involves doing something and then undoing it. There may be some larger subtext in there preparing some of the older folks for their eventual unraveling, but for people like Mom, it's just kinda stupid and boring. The silver lining in these dumb little tasks is that Mom has to do most of them standing up, so she gets practice at that.
Soon, she was fetched to come down to physical therapy with Dawn. Dawn is the one she works with the most, but there are several PTs there that help out. Dawn decided to push her a bit more today and Mom made some real breakthroughs.
The first thing she did involved walking up two steps, turning around and walking back down. The last time she tried this, she got a little weak in the knees and had to sit down on the steps before she completed the exercise. Today was very different. She went up and down the two stairs a grand total of four times, meaning she went up and down eight steps. Not consecutively - there was a little breather break in between each pair - but Dawn said that it was the equivalent of eight steps. She is trying to prepare her for the five steps that lead to our front door.
The next series of exercises involved the use of some uneven parallel bars. Mom had done one of these exercise before (the first one below walking back and forth with one arm on the bar) but the other two were very new.
This next one was the first of the new exercises and it involves a little side-step along the bar and back. See for yourself:
Finally, this is the exercise that gave Mom the most confidence and the biggest boost to her spirits. These knee bends are no small feat for her. Just a week or two ago, her knees would have buckled the first time she tried something like this. Needless to say when she got done with this, she felt pretty good about herself.
Soon, she was fetched to come down to physical therapy with Dawn. Dawn is the one she works with the most, but there are several PTs there that help out. Dawn decided to push her a bit more today and Mom made some real breakthroughs.
The first thing she did involved walking up two steps, turning around and walking back down. The last time she tried this, she got a little weak in the knees and had to sit down on the steps before she completed the exercise. Today was very different. She went up and down the two stairs a grand total of four times, meaning she went up and down eight steps. Not consecutively - there was a little breather break in between each pair - but Dawn said that it was the equivalent of eight steps. She is trying to prepare her for the five steps that lead to our front door.
The next series of exercises involved the use of some uneven parallel bars. Mom had done one of these exercise before (the first one below walking back and forth with one arm on the bar) but the other two were very new.
This next one was the first of the new exercises and it involves a little side-step along the bar and back. See for yourself:
Finally, this is the exercise that gave Mom the most confidence and the biggest boost to her spirits. These knee bends are no small feat for her. Just a week or two ago, her knees would have buckled the first time she tried something like this. Needless to say when she got done with this, she felt pretty good about herself.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
well, it was a setback
Well, pneumonia is a setback, but I'm dealing. Hate it that I have to be back on oxygen for now, but we'll be trying to wean me off of that soon. As for the finger Oxygen level reader, I did obsess over it for awhile, but I also recall Dad AND Mike telling me all they did for weeks while I was in the hospital was stare at and obsess over the monitor showing many of the same readings.
Also, Mike forgot to mention that I not only rode back in the front seat of my car, but I got in and out with very little help too. That in itself was a huge hurdle overcome. We know now that we don't have to hire a wheelchair van or use the Carmel van to go to Dr. appointments. Anyway I'm doing very well again and Mike keeps us both from becoming despondent and down.
It's been a month today since I got here and I couldn't even turn myself over in bed then. Definite PROGRESS.
BTW....enlarge the panoramic shot Mike posted and notice the picture in the window sill.
Also, Mike forgot to mention that I not only rode back in the front seat of my car, but I got in and out with very little help too. That in itself was a huge hurdle overcome. We know now that we don't have to hire a wheelchair van or use the Carmel van to go to Dr. appointments. Anyway I'm doing very well again and Mike keeps us both from becoming despondent and down.
It's been a month today since I got here and I couldn't even turn myself over in bed then. Definite PROGRESS.
BTW....enlarge the panoramic shot Mike posted and notice the picture in the window sill.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Setback Schmetback
On Wednesday, mom woke in a panic. She has this annoying little toy that sits
next to her bed and taunts her constantly.
It’s a little blue piece of rubber in which you insert your finger. Then through a combination of space-age
technology and generally just making stuff up, it displays your heart rate and
your blood oxygen level. When she woke
on Wednesday that oxygen level showed 77%.
This is low – the closer to 100% the better – and it scared her. She called dad, got put back onto oxygen, and
got chest x-rayed. For all this trouble,
she was informed that she had pneumonia.
First, they were convinced that the pneumonia was in the part of her
lung that was removed, but we’ll resolve that later.
When I got there Wednesday night, everyone was in sulking in
Downersville. For whatever reason, a
one-day setback amidst several weeks of progress seemed like the
apocalypse. We all agreed that we would
go back to our mantra from a few weeks ago and take this one day at a time.
On Thursday, during her occupational therapy, her day nurse
Cindy came down to inform her that the physician’s assistant who had seen her
recommended she go to the ER to get “an evaluation”. We agreed, dad left work, a van picked her
up, and we headed literally about a quarter mile down the road to St. Joseph’s
something something Christian-y Hospital, which, by the way, is an outstanding
facility.
In that three hour jaunt, we learned that mom has some
diffuse pneumonia, does not have a blood clot anywhere the CT machine was
pointed, and that the ER we saw was awesome.
She explained in very clear language that the pneumonia was something
that needed to be dealt with, and that the antibiotics mom is now wolfing down
should do the trick. She even floated
the possibility that the physician’s assistant was reading the x-ray
incorrectly and didn’t realize the cloudy area in her top lung was the nebulous
remnant of a lung that was no longer there. There is pneumonia, but “diffuse”
just means that there is a little pneumonia in a lot of places, and not a big
thick clump of germ-ridden gunk stuck somewhere.
The key to recovery is to breathe well, and once the
pneumonia and attendant pain is gone, things should be back to normal. Oh, and we made a PT breakthrough that day by
learning that mom has no trouble riding in the passenger seat of her own car,
except of course for needing to constantly badger the driver.
In the meantime, mom has resumed her usual routine. The occupation and physical therapies are a
little less strenuous, but are still happening.
They are monitoring her oxygen regularly, especially during therapy. She has strict instructions to NOT monitor
her oxygen constantly because she was absolutely obsessing over it for a while
there. She gets to check it when she is
done with an activity or something.
In retrospect, Wednesday was less of a tsunami, and more
like high tide. Since then, everything
wrong about the situation has improved.
The oxygen level is consistently higher, the pain is less, her sleep has
been better, and her energy level is normal.
And to top that all off, the occupational therapist discovered this
morning that the tube that feeds oxygen from the machine to the nose buds had a
hole in it. We have not ruled out
sabotage by the cranky bitch across the hall.
Here are some pics from today. Enjoy!
Dad picked out the flowers, and I did the arranging. We're taking this act on the road.
Nice "Off-The-Shoulder Smolder"!
And finally here is me experimenting with the panoramic function on my camera.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Grandma Doing What Grandma Does
Apparently there is a big birthday coming up, and Grandma has spent more time fretting about that than almost anything else that is going on in the outside world. Much of the stuff we ordered has arrived and she wanted a crack at wrapping presents. Turns out she hasn't lost a step and wrapped the first four in under 30 minutes, all while sitting on a bed. She can wrap just about anywhere.
She does occupational therapy almost every day, except on Sundays. In order to keep her going, we thought this would make a good substitute. Also, this is more challenging and practical than anything she has done in OT yet any way.
Presents will be on the way soon! Hope the boys are having a good summer so far. We'll see you guys up here in a month or so (fingers crossed!).
She does occupational therapy almost every day, except on Sundays. In order to keep her going, we thought this would make a good substitute. Also, this is more challenging and practical than anything she has done in OT yet any way.
Presents will be on the way soon! Hope the boys are having a good summer so far. We'll see you guys up here in a month or so (fingers crossed!).
Friday, June 7, 2013
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Nate feels better...
Went to say our last goodbye and they let Nate raid the kitchen. He's in a much better mood because, as he said, 'FREE FOOD!'
Nathan's heart is broken...
Nathan's best friend, classmate and neighbor Fabian is moving to Texas today. Nathan is so very sad. :(
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Rehab Chronicles - Day 20
I spent some time at the rehab with mom this morning. When I got there, she was back in the cramped little occupational therapy room with about four other people, all working on various tasks that seem tedious and meaningless to us, but were obviously tailored to suit individual needs.
Mom was working on a goofy little horsey puzzle, but it was meant as a coordination challenge. She completed it with absolutely no problem - all while standing with the walker. In total, she stood for 21 minutes before needing a break. That was way past her goal for the day and completely shattered the record of 15 minutes she accomplished just the day before. And, for the first time really, she was able to get up out of the chair and stand with the walker on her own. The occupational therapist was her spotter, but didn't even need to lay a hand on her as mom reached forward and pulled herself up to a standing position then sat back down. She did this exercise somewhere around 6 or 7 times in about 3 minutes. All involved were very excited about this big step.
She wrapped up there and we had some time to go back upstairs to her room where we just hung out for a few minutes. She got out her shoes - put on socks and tied them with no problem - and we went back down from some physical therapy. I was carting her around all this time in the wheelchair, which I suppose was giving some hapless orderly a bit of a break.
Down at PT, she did some walks. The first was through the PT area, up the ramp to the hallway, and around the corner and then back to where we started. It was no sweat at all for her.
Before she got on to the second walk, in which she went another 10 or 15 feet farther than the first one, she did some leg exercises with 3 pound weights strapped to her ankles. She did 10 slow lifts with each leg, and then repeated for a grand total of 20 reps per leg. I took the time to interview her and ask her some questions about her therapy. Unfortunately, the file is too big for blogger, so I will find some other way to post it later.
In the meantime, here is a another brief video of her walking therapy.
Oh, and about the t-shirt: Her shingles, while nearly gone to the naked eye, are as tender and sore as ever. She had to cut the shoulder of her shirt so it wouldn't rub against her skin.
After that, we did some online shopping, and she had an outstanding lunch - chef's salad, fruit plate, and some sort of custard pie with caramel drizzle. It was an eventful morning! The big meeting is on Friday, but her physical therapist said her "team" would be having its own meeting tomorrow and they would begin talking about what happens AFTER she is released. Let's hope it's soon!
Mom was working on a goofy little horsey puzzle, but it was meant as a coordination challenge. She completed it with absolutely no problem - all while standing with the walker. In total, she stood for 21 minutes before needing a break. That was way past her goal for the day and completely shattered the record of 15 minutes she accomplished just the day before. And, for the first time really, she was able to get up out of the chair and stand with the walker on her own. The occupational therapist was her spotter, but didn't even need to lay a hand on her as mom reached forward and pulled herself up to a standing position then sat back down. She did this exercise somewhere around 6 or 7 times in about 3 minutes. All involved were very excited about this big step.
She wrapped up there and we had some time to go back upstairs to her room where we just hung out for a few minutes. She got out her shoes - put on socks and tied them with no problem - and we went back down from some physical therapy. I was carting her around all this time in the wheelchair, which I suppose was giving some hapless orderly a bit of a break.
Down at PT, she did some walks. The first was through the PT area, up the ramp to the hallway, and around the corner and then back to where we started. It was no sweat at all for her.
Before she got on to the second walk, in which she went another 10 or 15 feet farther than the first one, she did some leg exercises with 3 pound weights strapped to her ankles. She did 10 slow lifts with each leg, and then repeated for a grand total of 20 reps per leg. I took the time to interview her and ask her some questions about her therapy. Unfortunately, the file is too big for blogger, so I will find some other way to post it later.
In the meantime, here is a another brief video of her walking therapy.
After that, we did some online shopping, and she had an outstanding lunch - chef's salad, fruit plate, and some sort of custard pie with caramel drizzle. It was an eventful morning! The big meeting is on Friday, but her physical therapist said her "team" would be having its own meeting tomorrow and they would begin talking about what happens AFTER she is released. Let's hope it's soon!
Monday, June 3, 2013
A New Fenn
This is Parker. Parker was a rescue I found online from the Hope Rescues organization based out of Godfrey, Illinois. He was described on their website as "a sad little man without a home." My kind of pup, right?
I went to get him yesterday (Sunday) and brought him back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, by way of Mount Carmel, where he got to meet the folks.
He has some issues, but I knew that when I got him. He was found in a park (hence the name they gave him - Parker) and was injured. Turns out he had pins in both of his back legs meaning they were both broken at some point. One of the pins was coming out of place and giving him a great deal of pain. They removed that pin but left the other one in, as it is presumably functioning normally. He is on three medications (he also got neutered this week) and I am taking him to my vet when I get back to the lake on Wednesday.
So far, he seems like a very sweet little guy. He limps very badly and puts almost no weight on his bad leg. He has trouble getting up and down steps but does it when needed. He seems to be housebroken, so that's a definite plus.
Technically, this is not a done deal. I have him now on a trial basis and if I decide I don't want to keep him I can return him to the rescue with no questions asked. I can't imagine changing my mind, unless my vet tells me he is going to turn into a gremlin or something.
So this is Parker Bandito Schroeder Owen Fenn:
Sorry for the crappy photos but he seems a little camera shy.
I went to get him yesterday (Sunday) and brought him back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, by way of Mount Carmel, where he got to meet the folks.
He has some issues, but I knew that when I got him. He was found in a park (hence the name they gave him - Parker) and was injured. Turns out he had pins in both of his back legs meaning they were both broken at some point. One of the pins was coming out of place and giving him a great deal of pain. They removed that pin but left the other one in, as it is presumably functioning normally. He is on three medications (he also got neutered this week) and I am taking him to my vet when I get back to the lake on Wednesday.
So far, he seems like a very sweet little guy. He limps very badly and puts almost no weight on his bad leg. He has trouble getting up and down steps but does it when needed. He seems to be housebroken, so that's a definite plus.
Technically, this is not a done deal. I have him now on a trial basis and if I decide I don't want to keep him I can return him to the rescue with no questions asked. I can't imagine changing my mind, unless my vet tells me he is going to turn into a gremlin or something.
So this is Parker Bandito Schroeder Owen Fenn:
Sorry for the crappy photos but he seems a little camera shy.
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