I arrived at the hospital at 8am this morning, anticipating getting mom ready for an ambulance ride to the rehab center in Elizabethtown. Last night we shopped for some clothing items for her and I knew she would be excited to get dressed for her 90 minute trip. When I arrived, she was in tears, she had a very rough night - virtually no sleep she said. Her leg pain was severe and she was having alot of pain across her abdomen again. The nurse had just administered a double dose of her pain meds before I arrived, in hopes that she would be able to get comfortable for her ambulance ride. Her ambulance was scheduled for 10am, so after her meds, we had a few hours to kill. She wanted to sit in a chair for a little while so we tried that. After a bit, the nurse told us the ambulance was delayed and wouldn't be there until about 11:30 or 12. We moved her back to the bed and the doctors came in. They talked to mom quite abit about her recovery, tested her reflexes (very little if any in her legs at this time), tested her push/pull ability with her legs and even though they were pleased with her progress, she was reminded that it was going to take a long time to recover - Dr. Hessler told her it would be at least a couple of months. Mom took that as well as could be expected, she was hoping for sooner but thanked the doctor for being honest with her.
I know we have reported here that mom is doing great, and she is. But some of us were talking tonight and felt that perhaps our statements were a bit misleading. Great for mom might be quite depressing for most people. Great for her is being able to sit in one position for more than 10 minutes without readjusting the 8 pillows she has surrounding her at any given time because the prickly, stabbing nerve ending pain is hard to handle for much longer than that. Great for her is to be able to get food to her mouth without spilling half of it on the front of her gown and actually eating 1/3 of her meal. Great for her is having someone pick her up with her lower torso dangling down and swinging her into a chair so she can sit upright for a little while and get her weight shifted to a different part of her body. Great for her is also laughing with uplifting conversations with people who care about her either in person or talking on the phone. She has had some pretty amazing days - maybe 1 of 3 is really good and then the others not so good. It is hard for her to see the progress because she is living each minute of it, but those of us who have seen it each day, or every other day can really see a difference.
Please don't get me wrong, she has made amazing progress, the doctors think so too. The nurses and staff on the floor grew to love her because of her kindness and vulnerability. She is going to need alot of support, attention and encouragement in the months to come in order to keep her spirits up and recover. It will take alot of strength and time. Jim will also need our support and encouragement.
That said, Mom arrived at rehab - it is a very nice facility and fairly small. It looks like there are maybe 30-40 patients there, the staff was great to us and mom. They have several different rehab rooms. One of the rooms has a library and a shopping area set up to help with occupational therapy, retraining the body to do normal every day things. There is a kitchen rehab area and a very nice physical therapy room. Mom was already on the schedule for several daily sessions of both occupational and physical therapy. They will start small, and increase the things she can do each day. She has a room that is larger than the one in the hospital and in fact, her 88 year old neighbor will be leaving tomorrow so she will move to the other bed in a larger area of the room. When we left her this evening, she was in a good mood and going to visit with Jim for awhile. It will be so nice for him to stop there after work for his visits - visiting hours will be somewhat limited, but she will be so busy that I don't think she will mind. Here is the link to her location
http://www.healthsouthlakeview.com/
I think that is enough for now! We are all thankful for your kind thoughts and comments and most of all for your prayers.
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