Walking back from lunch with the girls today I received a text photo from Courtney of Mom ZONKED OUT in her chair! :o) We haven’t mentioned the chair yet. For those of you who know Mom, you know she has ‘her chair’ in our living room at the house. She LOVES her chair! While at Forsyth Medical Center
***Here's the beauty herself!!
Mom just makes me laugh and I love her SO MUCH! Tonight when I walked in the door I was SO EXCITED to jump on skype and see the family and hear all about their day!
Here’s the report from Minnesota
Mom started out with OT again to shower and get ready and I’m happy to say that it went EVEN better then yesterday! Courtney is also proud to let us all know that curling Mom’s hair went much better today as well (she’s trying her best for Mom and I just LOVE THAT!)
Speech Therapy was next and Debbie had her working on a lot of consonant-vowel words: bee, bay, bye, bow, and boo. This is a technique they use to get her to work on saying her vowels. Debbie also has Mom really concentrate on watching and copying the shape of her mouth because the apraxia makes it very difficult for Mom’s mouth to form the right shapes to get the sound out. GREAT WORK MOMMA!
Next was the Brain Recovery Session where Mom, Dad and Courtney along with three other patients and their families met together. They explained the different parts of the brain and with a lack of oxygen, what can be damaged. Again, they reiterated that Mom’s temporal and lower frontal lobe (where speech/understanding are) were most damaged. Dad and Court mentioned how much it helped them to realize how far Mom has already come. She has regained emotions and personality along with improvements in movement and balance AND she is starting to speak again – so PRACTICE, PRACTICE PRACTICE is in order!
INSERT: text picture Courtney sent me. Mom took a really hard one hour NAP. The entire care team continues to remind us how important it is for her to work hard, but also REALLY REST in-between as this mental work is truly EXHAUSTING!
The next meeting of the day was with the Care Navigator and the Social Worker. They reported that the comprehensive team met (doctors, nurses, therapists and care team) and decided Mom will be released on Friday. YAY MOM! I was excited for her on our skype call and reminded her how good it will feel to sleep in her own bed Friday night! Starting next week the care team wants an intense outpatient program including four hours of speech and two hours occupational therapy each week. We look forward as the hard work yields more and more pieces of Mom. We want her ALL THE WAY BACK!
Mom then had a little fun this afternoon with OT and PT. She baked chocolate chip and walnut cookies of which I really wanted to reach through the computer screen and eat one…with no such luck :o( Mom took a long walk outside today with some rest in-between in the beautiful and sunny 60 degree Minneapolis weather. PT also worked on her vowel words while she walked (nothing like a little combo therapy to get the most out of the hour). We are so blessed with all of the care Mom has been provided at Sister Kenny.
*** As you can tell, the cookies were a HIT!!
Mom and Courtney tuned into Oprah after a full day of hard work only to be greeted by Dr. Clown, Humorologist who had a few card tricks up his sleeve to make Mom laugh! LOVE IT!
I made some of my barbecue chicken pizza while talking to the fam on skype (wishing I could share with them, too!) As we were hanging up, Mom and Dad’s golf buddy’s Mike and Janice were on their way down with coffee and dinner :o) Not only are we blessed with a fabulous care team, but we continue to be SO THANKFUL for all of the support from FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
Continue to pray for Mom's FULL RECOVERY!
Love,
Gordy, Courtney and Jessica
Where have you seen God's grace in your life today?