"Weird-looking."
Hi Friends,
Today was a good day...there's no other way to describe it. I got some chores accomplished this morning before I left the house, which I was proud of...I had made a list last night, and though there are still quite a few things left to do, I did get some of them done, which is good. When I arrived at mom's, she was asleep (seems like a common theme...glad she's sleeping, but hope she's not doing it too much now...I doubt it, it's totally normal for her to be very tired, especially since she's kind of catching up for the last month or so) so I sat down and read my book for awhile, and then she woke up. She was so happy to see me, and shortly after I arrived, Lilly came too! We were chatting for a little while, and then Pam came too! When Pam arrived, she asked mom how she was doing, and mom promptly replied "Weird-looking." Lilly and I started cracking up, and then so did she. It was really funny.
Her only therapy scheduled today was speech, and it was 2-2:30pm...it was a different therapist today than usual, because I think they rotate weekends...mom did awesome today...she participated fully the whole time, and would have kept going if it'd been longer...in fact, we did keep going with her after the therapist left, but I'll tell you about that in a minute. She didn't even need to take any breaks during the whole time, which she usually does...she didn't really get frustrated even once. She once again LOVED the orange juice and kept asking for more, but was apologetic about it each time, and thought she was being silly but she just loved it. We kept assuring her it was totally fine, and that she was doing GREAT with swallowing. She played all the word games, and really was trying to concentrate on the questions and answers, and was taking her time thinking about the answers. She even would look at us when she would answer a question and was unsure of her answer, and would ask us sarcastically (but in a good-natured way) "Did you guys know that?"
After the actual session was over, Lilly and Pam and I continued with her, and had her do some writing...she did awesome. One of us would write a name or something on the paper, and then each of us would pass around the paper and take turns writing it...she seems to feel better about doing stuff if someone else is doing it with her...with some of the stuff, her handwriting even looked like her handwriting...it was great. I asked her if she could write her mom's name, Zoe, and she said "Oh, you mean Z-O-E?" and spelled it out loud. Then she wrote it! She spelled "apple" out loud correctly too, without looking at it. Then we were chatting, and she actually started asking about Moey, her cat, and was acting sort of concerned about who was taking care of her, and also (though she didn't necessarily use the right words) was asking about how the bills were being taken care of! She is really starting to become aware of more of the outside world! Amazing.
We left for lunch shortly after that, and when Lilly and I got back, she was again napping. I sat and read my book some more, and then she awoke and we hung out for the afternoon/early evening. She got up to the bathroom once, but was expressing extreme embarrassment, so I felt REALLY bad. She's still having a hard time, but I think it might be a LITTLE better today in terms of the pain. We got up in the wheelchair and had a good time looking out the window at the lake, saying hi to the staff and other patients in the hallway (mom was VERY social tonight, chatting with the patients in the dining room and even waving hello to patients in their rooms as we passed by...we passed another visitor in the hall who said hi and introduced herself as "Kathy," and mom said "Hi, I'm Bev Longo!"). We had a phone conversation on speaker with Betty again, and she did okay...I think she was getting a bit tired because she wasn't making a ton of sense most of the time, but she held the phone and and did talk for awhile.
Shortly after that, I got her back into bed and she stayed awake for awhile but then expressed desire to close her eyes and rest, so she did and I stayed and read for a little while longer in case she wasn't going to stay asleep, but then I left and had dinner with Natalie, Meghan and Jillian, and then headed home. Back to work tomorrow...I heard it was really busy today, so hopefully tomorrow won't be too bad. Aunt Linda is coming tomorrow! Yay!!! Thanks everyone for your continued love and support...hope everyone is having a good weekend.
Today was a good day...there's no other way to describe it. I got some chores accomplished this morning before I left the house, which I was proud of...I had made a list last night, and though there are still quite a few things left to do, I did get some of them done, which is good. When I arrived at mom's, she was asleep (seems like a common theme...glad she's sleeping, but hope she's not doing it too much now...I doubt it, it's totally normal for her to be very tired, especially since she's kind of catching up for the last month or so) so I sat down and read my book for awhile, and then she woke up. She was so happy to see me, and shortly after I arrived, Lilly came too! We were chatting for a little while, and then Pam came too! When Pam arrived, she asked mom how she was doing, and mom promptly replied "Weird-looking." Lilly and I started cracking up, and then so did she. It was really funny.
Her only therapy scheduled today was speech, and it was 2-2:30pm...it was a different therapist today than usual, because I think they rotate weekends...mom did awesome today...she participated fully the whole time, and would have kept going if it'd been longer...in fact, we did keep going with her after the therapist left, but I'll tell you about that in a minute. She didn't even need to take any breaks during the whole time, which she usually does...she didn't really get frustrated even once. She once again LOVED the orange juice and kept asking for more, but was apologetic about it each time, and thought she was being silly but she just loved it. We kept assuring her it was totally fine, and that she was doing GREAT with swallowing. She played all the word games, and really was trying to concentrate on the questions and answers, and was taking her time thinking about the answers. She even would look at us when she would answer a question and was unsure of her answer, and would ask us sarcastically (but in a good-natured way) "Did you guys know that?"
After the actual session was over, Lilly and Pam and I continued with her, and had her do some writing...she did awesome. One of us would write a name or something on the paper, and then each of us would pass around the paper and take turns writing it...she seems to feel better about doing stuff if someone else is doing it with her...with some of the stuff, her handwriting even looked like her handwriting...it was great. I asked her if she could write her mom's name, Zoe, and she said "Oh, you mean Z-O-E?" and spelled it out loud. Then she wrote it! She spelled "apple" out loud correctly too, without looking at it. Then we were chatting, and she actually started asking about Moey, her cat, and was acting sort of concerned about who was taking care of her, and also (though she didn't necessarily use the right words) was asking about how the bills were being taken care of! She is really starting to become aware of more of the outside world! Amazing.
We left for lunch shortly after that, and when Lilly and I got back, she was again napping. I sat and read my book some more, and then she awoke and we hung out for the afternoon/early evening. She got up to the bathroom once, but was expressing extreme embarrassment, so I felt REALLY bad. She's still having a hard time, but I think it might be a LITTLE better today in terms of the pain. We got up in the wheelchair and had a good time looking out the window at the lake, saying hi to the staff and other patients in the hallway (mom was VERY social tonight, chatting with the patients in the dining room and even waving hello to patients in their rooms as we passed by...we passed another visitor in the hall who said hi and introduced herself as "Kathy," and mom said "Hi, I'm Bev Longo!"). We had a phone conversation on speaker with Betty again, and she did okay...I think she was getting a bit tired because she wasn't making a ton of sense most of the time, but she held the phone and and did talk for awhile.
Shortly after that, I got her back into bed and she stayed awake for awhile but then expressed desire to close her eyes and rest, so she did and I stayed and read for a little while longer in case she wasn't going to stay asleep, but then I left and had dinner with Natalie, Meghan and Jillian, and then headed home. Back to work tomorrow...I heard it was really busy today, so hopefully tomorrow won't be too bad. Aunt Linda is coming tomorrow! Yay!!! Thanks everyone for your continued love and support...hope everyone is having a good weekend.
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