I know, I know\u2026 it\u2019s been awhile since the last update (someone actually scolded me today, but I\u2019m not mentioning any names).<\/p>\n
The day after tomorrow will mark 8 weeks since mom\u2019s stroke. Depending on what you\u2019re doing, 8 weeks can seem like an eternity. Other times, it\u2019s as fast as the blink of an eye. There are times when it feels like both.<\/p>\n
Mom has come so far in these last couple of months. There are times when she doesn\u2019t think so, but every now and then she has some realization that hits her and she starts to see it. It\u2019s really hard to see progress when all you think about are the things you USED to be able to do. Taking those baby steps to regain that function is so very frustrating and at times seems impossible. I want to take a moment to think about what she has relearned since the stroke.<\/p>\n
I realize that some readers are joining in late and may not have felt compelled to read this from the beginning. I\u2019ll try to summarize so everyone is caught up. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
When mom arrived to Inova Fairfax, she was in a coma. She had a procedure done to remove the clot. The first challenge she had was waking up. We were told that there was a chance that she wouldn\u2019t survive the procedure. To our great relief, she did. However, she was on a ventilator. During this time, not only was she not breathing completely on her own but she also had a hard time keeping her eyes open. Here were her initial challenges:<\/p>\n
\u2013 not breathing completely on her own
\n\u2013 no speech
\n\u2013 left side paralysis
\n\u2013 impaired vision<\/p>\n
After a few days, she was extubated and she was able to breathe on her own with just a nasal cannula for assistance. We were told that she may end up with a trach (thank goodness she dodged that one) and a feeding tube. Because of the type of stroke that she had, the muscles that control swallowing were also affected. That means no eating or drinking by mouth, therefore the g-tube (or PEG tube) was inserted. She still has that today but the hope is that it\u2019s not permanent.<\/p>\n
Over time, this is what she\u2019s been able to accomplish (not in any particular order \u2013 I\u2019m really just brainstorming)\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2013 She can see! Not only that \u2013 but she\u2019s reading!
\n\u2013 Improved speech \u2013 you can actually have a conversation with her! Until she gets really tired, that is. Then she begins to get a little breathless and her words become harder to understand.
\n\u2013 She can sit up in a wheelchair for extended periods at a time. There was a time when she had no control over her neck muscles and couldn\u2019t hold her head up.
\n\u2013 She can sit unassisted at the edge of her bed.
\n\u2013 She is helping herself to get dressed, shower, etc. \u2013 Granted, she still needs lots of help but she is figuring out how to use her good hand to get it all done.
\n\u2013 She\u2019s starting to sip water from a cup. \u2013 She coughs every time, but she\u2019s allowed to try.
\n\u2013 She ate 4 oz. of applesauce without coughing even one time! This is HUGE!! Sure beats that \u201cwater sponge lollipop!\u201d
\n\u2013 She is able to transition from sitting to standing with one person helping. There was a time it took THREE people to help.
\n\u2013 She stood for a few seconds by herself while her therapist helped get her dressed.
\n\u2013 She is moving her left arm inward.
\n\u2013 She can move the fingers on her left hand slightly.
\n\u2013 She moved the big toe of her left foot.
\n\u2013 When laying down, she can raise her left knee slightly.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s my favorite thing that she\u2019s able to do now. She can LAUGH. I think we have gotten her to laugh about something every single day over the last week. You have no idea what this means to me. It means she\u2019s feeling better. She may be sad, but she\u2019s not miserable. She has hope. It may not be every minute of every day, but for a little while, that laughter means she\u2019s HAPPY. I think she\u2019s realizing that she IS still alive. And that she has a lot of life left to live. There are times when she is tired and doesn\u2019t want to push herself (come on, we ALL have those days). On more than one occasion she has looked at me and said \u201cI may not want to do it, but I know I have to do it\u201d.<\/p>\n
My mom is a fighter. She\u2019s also pretty selfless. Several people who came to see her told\u00a0me how much she has done for them (and\/or their family). Even with her recovery, she didn\u2019t initially start working to get better for herself. She\u2019s doing this for us. Her kids and her granddaughter. We need her as much as she needs us.<\/p>\n
So \u2013 I know that she will keep on working hard. I look forward to the progress that she will continue to make and the laughs we will continue to have along the way. We are just coming back from the first set of commercials of her very own \u201cLifetime\u201d movie. Still a long way to go, but I like where this is headed\u2026 Stay tuned! \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I know, I know\u2026 it\u2019s been awhile since the last update (someone actually scolded me today, but I\u2019m not mentioning…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drb.kfu.temporary.site\/website_2c648198\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drb.kfu.temporary.site\/website_2c648198\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drb.kfu.temporary.site\/website_2c648198\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drb.kfu.temporary.site\/website_2c648198\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drb.kfu.temporary.site\/website_2c648198\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/drb.kfu.temporary.site\/website_2c648198\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":571,"href":"https:\/\/drb.kfu.temporary.site\/website_2c648198\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions\/571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drb.kfu.temporary.site\/website_2c648198\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drb.kfu.temporary.site\/website_2c648198\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drb.kfu.temporary.site\/website_2c648198\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}