Guest Post: 18 Days In

We're enjoying our time in Maui, so I asked my Mom if she would do an update for me on my Grandma. Thanks, Mom to my first guest post ever and for updating everyone! Sorry if it's not as "pretty" as usual, doing this all on my iPad and I'm still a bit Apple-illiterate!
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Well it's day 18 after Mom's stroke. If I look back to where we've come from, she's made a lot of progress! If I look ahead to how much she has to accomplish to get back to where she was, it's overwhelming, sad and depressing. So, our theory is one day at a time. Focus on the tiny accomplishments each day, not the whole big picture, or I think it would be way too easy for her to just give up. So far, thankfully I've seen no signs of her doing that. I know she must have so many questions and worries as to what her future holds in store. Knowing her she's just leaving it in God's hands, as there is no other way.

Her speech is improving, in that her volume is much better. The voice that comes out, is not that of my Mom, but someone else I'm sure! She still starts to say things, and then loses her train of thought and has to give up, but she is able to give me more and more accurate information. However I'm not sure what kind of detailed memories she has from before. She can't remember how to play solitaire (which she used to play all the time), she doesn't seem to be able to read, rather I think she can read the words, but the comprehension is gone at this point. She has not been able to tell me any of her passwords or things like that. I think perhaps her mind remembers these things, but she can't "get it out".

She is able to sit up on the side of the bed (with help getting up) quite stably, so that has improved a lot. She has been sitting in the wheel chair for several hours at a time 2 times/day (a requirement for going to the Glenrose), and yesterday they took her to "the bar" (the parallel bars). They got her upright, with three people helping her and one moving her right leg, she was able to walk to the end of the bars.

Mom is still on a thickened food diet. YUCK! Thickened water, milk, juice, and then bad smelling baby foodish diet. GROSS! I'm sure she can handle swallowing more now, so next week my mission is to have the OT assess her swallow again, and see if that can be changed!

Steve bought Mom an Ipad, so I've been trying to teach her how to use it. So far it's not going that well, but we'll keep plugging along with it. Last night she really enjoyed it, because we Skyped with Sarah, Jay and Braden from Maui!

She's enjoying watching TV again, which is good, because it helps pass the time. She is busy watching curling this weekend, and last weekend she enjoyed watching the World Junior Hockey Championships. She is very possessive of that remote let me tell you!!

She also enjoyed a visit from my two Shih Tzus (and hubby) last weekend. They hopped up on the bed and laid there with her. Animals always cheer you up!

I have been crocheting baby hats like a possessed woman. I really enjoy it, and it helps pass the time all the hours I'm sitting there with such a "quiet" companion! The only bad thing, is now I'm having to sit in an ugly, hard waiting room chair for hours at a time, instead of being curled up in a nice comfy recliner like I was for the first 2 weeks. That's my mission for this weekend, to round up another comfortable chair.

I talked to the head of the Heart and Stroke Clinic yesterday, and the waiting list at the Glenrose is very long right now due to a large amount of strokes over Christmas. Mom is #9 on the list and they guesstimate that she will get transferred up there near the end of the month. I can also tell you that Mom does NOT WANT TO GO! She needs to though. No matter what the outcome, she will achieve the highest quality of life going forward by going there.

A huge thank you to all the friends and family who have visited, phoned or sent emails and prayers for Mom. I read her every one.

So for now, we wait, and while we wait, we do a lot of laughing. It sure beats weeping!
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Thanks, Mom, for this wonderful post! She and my Grandma are both so strong. Thanks to you all who are reading this and who have cared so much to ask for updates on Grandma. Again, I know the pics are all in the wrong places, but I don't know how to fix them...you get the point!