First off, we must apologize for no update yesterday. My sister had it all typed up and ready to go, but when she got home to Florida and turned on her computer this morning to post, her computer had crashed... Being that today was her first day back in Florida
Well, what a busy day we are having today! Dad and I got down here right around 8 this morning. We found Mom sitting up in her chair, already eating breakfast. She greeted us with a big smile and hugs! The nurse had her start eating early because she was suppose to have speech therapy starting at 9, at about 8:30 we found out that the first 30 minutes of speech was cancelled because the therapist was sick. Since we had a little more time to ourselves this morning my dad and I wanted to try and download Skype. And with my sister back in Florida
My dad spent a little more time last night trying to figure it out on his computer and got it working, so naturally we wanted to try it out with her. Jess had a busy first day at work, but we were able to test it out with my husband, Chris :-). My mom walked over and smiled and said "Hi", she waved and laughed as we chatted. It was so wonderful for all of us to see his face! We were then off to speech therapy.
Mom had a great session with the speech therapist. She counted and sang songs! It is so great to hear her voice! Right now the therapists say singing and automatic words (like counting or days of the week) will trigger her voice best. She also worked on reading and listening. After speech the OT, Michelle, met us at our room and she went through my Mom's shower routine with her. Michelle is great, not only does she work with Mom on her daily routines and skills but she also really encourages her to use her voice. After Mom was ready, the OT did some activity with her: shooting a basket ball and hitting a ball back and forth with rackets. Dad and I took note of a few things we need to find around the house to continue to work with her when we are home (balls, badminton, etc.).
Right after OT we met our PT, Rachel, and Mom kept right on working! She had Mom walking and dribbling, then playing catch while walking backwards or shuffling side ways and at the same time singing! Rachel also had Mom on a treadmill working on different styles of walking (marching, heel kicks, long steps, baby steps, etc). Mom did a total of a half mile on the treadmill today! I was serious about the BUSY day!
We got back of the room for lunch, and she ate half of her tuna sandwich again ( it really is a BIG sandwich, so eating half is doing great). After she was done I bet you can guess what came next, yep...a N.A.P! She slept for the next 2 hours! She was supposed to have a therapeutic recreation session at 1:00 pm but it was cancelled because the therapist wasn't feeling well, which worked out well because she got a good nap in. To complete the afternoon she had one more OT session with Michelle. We spent that half hour playing wii bowling, I got to play against Mom. It was fun, and must report that Mom beat me... After that my Dad had to run a few errands so Mom and I relaxed on the deck, I read to her a little, then we came o to watch a little TV.
The nurse dropped off Mom's dinner, and Mom did not look interested... So we will have to see how that goes, but we do have a great night ahead. My friend Tera (who works at Abbott, the hospital where Sister Kenny is located) offered to bring my dad and I dinner and eat with us before she starts her night shift at 7pm. Also, my Aunt Ericka and Uncle Tim are going to stop by. My mom has really enjoyed having visitors!
And that wraps up a successful start to a week of brain bootcamp! We continued to be floored by Mom’s positive attitude and work-ethic! She is doing phenomenal and we continue to be so thankful for all of the prayers and support.
Onto day #15…
Gordy, Jessica and Courtney