Exhausting
Hi Friends,
Well, today was a little better than yesterday, which I guess is all I could have asked for. Not to say it was a great day, but it was a LITTLE better than yesterday. They said she slept for about 7 hours last night all at once, which is awesome and much better than she has been doing. She was napping a bit when I first got there, but then she woke up, and we got her up for her speech therapy. She was at least not mad as soon asMichelle walked in today, and we went into the dining room for the session. Mom's favorite part is the swallowing practice with the orange juice, so she picked that to do first. She wanted more and more as usual, but we stopped after a few spoonfuls and ended up doing a little bit more after doing some other activity, so it was kind of like a reward...which kinda sucks, but it worked a little better. She wrote some things legibly today...we asked her what year it was while looking at a calendar, and she wrote "2777." Not quite right, but she was writing and it was legible. Then Michelle wrote "Bev" on one line and "Longo" on the next. She gave her the pen and told her to write her name. Instead of rewriting it, she added "erly" to the end of "Bev." Not quite what we expected her to do, but it made sense and it was correct and clear! She couldn't quite write "Longo" (not sure if it was inattention or inability), but she did write most of the letters in my name (she copied it off the paper). She looked at a magazine a little bit, but needed lots of encouraging, but then toward the end of the session, she started getting really frustrated and mad again, and wouldn't do a whole lot.
I talked with her doctor, who came to find me right at the end of her speech therapy. It was not a fun conversation...he told me he wanted to be honest with me and tell me that he wasn't that happy about how she's doing, and that he wasn't really sure what was going on with her either...the CT scan came back unchanged from previous ones, so nothing going on there, which is good I suppose. He said that perhaps why she was acting the way she is acting is because of depression, but that she's on meds for this so he doesn't know what else to do. I asked about possibly increasing the frequency of visits from the neuropsychologist, and he said that's a thought except that her speech and communication still isn't at a level where she'd really be able to talk stuff out very well. I asked about how some people just need to keep trying different antidepressants because they have to find the right one that works for them. He said that's also a thought, but that the one she's on (Lexapro) has the least side effects...the other one they usually go with in brain injury patients (Zoloft) has more GI side effects, and she already has GI issues. I asked if it was possible that she was suffering side effects from some other medication she's on, and he told me she's really not on that much. They discontinued the amantadine already (that was the neurostimulant they had initially started her on while she was still at the other hospital, and the one they thought was maybe overtimulating her so had decreased the dosage of), and the only other thing besides the sleep aids and the antidepressant she's on was a small dose of Requip (for restless leg), and he didn't think that would affect her this way. But he did tell me later in the day when I saw him that he discontinued that to see if it helped at all. He said she does have a urinary tract infection, and that he supposed that could be the thing that's pushing her over the edge right now, that in someone as "frail" as she is (he actually used that word...ugh), it was possible. And of course, she has her GI issues, but that they're already addressing those. All in all, he told me he's running out of ideas, and he's going to talk to his partners about it to see if they have any other ideas. Great, huh?
In better news, after her speech therapy session, we kept her up in the chair because she had occupational therapy in about a half hour after. We wheeled around a bit in the hall, and then just sat in the hall to hang out while waiting. One of the techs, Warren, came by and asked mom if she wanted to get up and do some walking, and she actually said yes! So we got her up, and she walked around the hall with her walker all the way around once! This was in addition to her PT she'd had earlier in the day, and she actually was amenable to the idea! Her OT session didn't go as well...today was shower day, and Laura, the therapist, wanted to see how much she could do herself...but as soon as we got her onto the shower chair (which is the same chair we get her on to get her to the bathroom), she started freaking out and having pain and her GI issues flaired up, and almost the entire time she was completely in pain and distracted by that. We got her in bed after her shower, and as soon as we were done getting her dressed, she fell asleep and napped all afternoon. The tech came in and had to wake her up to do a bladder scan and then catheterize her, which was of course traumatizing. Then she fell back asleep, but then we had to get her up again for her tube feeding, and she was okay for a little bit of time, looking out the window in the dining room at the lake and chatting with patients and visitors in the hall, but then she started getting really tired, and wanted desperately to get back in bed. We held her off until the feed was finished, and then got her back in bed and she promptly fell asleep. My friends Meghan and Natalie had come by and we were going to give mom a pedicure, but she was in no shape for that because she was so exhausted, so we ended up just leaving to go have dinner. I ended up going home after dinner, and Jillian said she stopped by to visit briefly after work and when she poked her head in, mom was still fast asleep.
Back to work tomorrow...I heard it was a crazy day at work today, so hopefully it won't be too bad tomorrow. Natalie said she'd stop by and see mom during the day, so I'm glad about that because I always feel so bad when I can't come during the day. Sunday is really gonna suck because I have to work and she doesn't have any therapies that day, so she won't even be busy doing anything. :( But I can't think about that right now...I must go to sleep, and I'll worry about that when it comes. Please, keep praying and keep loving her...she really really needs all the support and encouragement she can get right now. Desperately.
Well, today was a little better than yesterday, which I guess is all I could have asked for. Not to say it was a great day, but it was a LITTLE better than yesterday. They said she slept for about 7 hours last night all at once, which is awesome and much better than she has been doing. She was napping a bit when I first got there, but then she woke up, and we got her up for her speech therapy. She was at least not mad as soon asMichelle walked in today, and we went into the dining room for the session. Mom's favorite part is the swallowing practice with the orange juice, so she picked that to do first. She wanted more and more as usual, but we stopped after a few spoonfuls and ended up doing a little bit more after doing some other activity, so it was kind of like a reward...which kinda sucks, but it worked a little better. She wrote some things legibly today...we asked her what year it was while looking at a calendar, and she wrote "2777." Not quite right, but she was writing and it was legible. Then Michelle wrote "Bev" on one line and "Longo" on the next. She gave her the pen and told her to write her name. Instead of rewriting it, she added "erly" to the end of "Bev." Not quite what we expected her to do, but it made sense and it was correct and clear! She couldn't quite write "Longo" (not sure if it was inattention or inability), but she did write most of the letters in my name (she copied it off the paper). She looked at a magazine a little bit, but needed lots of encouraging, but then toward the end of the session, she started getting really frustrated and mad again, and wouldn't do a whole lot.
I talked with her doctor, who came to find me right at the end of her speech therapy. It was not a fun conversation...he told me he wanted to be honest with me and tell me that he wasn't that happy about how she's doing, and that he wasn't really sure what was going on with her either...the CT scan came back unchanged from previous ones, so nothing going on there, which is good I suppose. He said that perhaps why she was acting the way she is acting is because of depression, but that she's on meds for this so he doesn't know what else to do. I asked about possibly increasing the frequency of visits from the neuropsychologist, and he said that's a thought except that her speech and communication still isn't at a level where she'd really be able to talk stuff out very well. I asked about how some people just need to keep trying different antidepressants because they have to find the right one that works for them. He said that's also a thought, but that the one she's on (Lexapro) has the least side effects...the other one they usually go with in brain injury patients (Zoloft) has more GI side effects, and she already has GI issues. I asked if it was possible that she was suffering side effects from some other medication she's on, and he told me she's really not on that much. They discontinued the amantadine already (that was the neurostimulant they had initially started her on while she was still at the other hospital, and the one they thought was maybe overtimulating her so had decreased the dosage of), and the only other thing besides the sleep aids and the antidepressant she's on was a small dose of Requip (for restless leg), and he didn't think that would affect her this way. But he did tell me later in the day when I saw him that he discontinued that to see if it helped at all. He said she does have a urinary tract infection, and that he supposed that could be the thing that's pushing her over the edge right now, that in someone as "frail" as she is (he actually used that word...ugh), it was possible. And of course, she has her GI issues, but that they're already addressing those. All in all, he told me he's running out of ideas, and he's going to talk to his partners about it to see if they have any other ideas. Great, huh?
In better news, after her speech therapy session, we kept her up in the chair because she had occupational therapy in about a half hour after. We wheeled around a bit in the hall, and then just sat in the hall to hang out while waiting. One of the techs, Warren, came by and asked mom if she wanted to get up and do some walking, and she actually said yes! So we got her up, and she walked around the hall with her walker all the way around once! This was in addition to her PT she'd had earlier in the day, and she actually was amenable to the idea! Her OT session didn't go as well...today was shower day, and Laura, the therapist, wanted to see how much she could do herself...but as soon as we got her onto the shower chair (which is the same chair we get her on to get her to the bathroom), she started freaking out and having pain and her GI issues flaired up, and almost the entire time she was completely in pain and distracted by that. We got her in bed after her shower, and as soon as we were done getting her dressed, she fell asleep and napped all afternoon. The tech came in and had to wake her up to do a bladder scan and then catheterize her, which was of course traumatizing. Then she fell back asleep, but then we had to get her up again for her tube feeding, and she was okay for a little bit of time, looking out the window in the dining room at the lake and chatting with patients and visitors in the hall, but then she started getting really tired, and wanted desperately to get back in bed. We held her off until the feed was finished, and then got her back in bed and she promptly fell asleep. My friends Meghan and Natalie had come by and we were going to give mom a pedicure, but she was in no shape for that because she was so exhausted, so we ended up just leaving to go have dinner. I ended up going home after dinner, and Jillian said she stopped by to visit briefly after work and when she poked her head in, mom was still fast asleep.
Back to work tomorrow...I heard it was a crazy day at work today, so hopefully it won't be too bad tomorrow. Natalie said she'd stop by and see mom during the day, so I'm glad about that because I always feel so bad when I can't come during the day. Sunday is really gonna suck because I have to work and she doesn't have any therapies that day, so she won't even be busy doing anything. :( But I can't think about that right now...I must go to sleep, and I'll worry about that when it comes. Please, keep praying and keep loving her...she really really needs all the support and encouragement she can get right now. Desperately.
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