The MET team doctors are monitoring Mom's blood levels carefully every four hours, much to her chagrin. Mom truly disliked having her blood drawn before the surgery, and she definitely hasn't changed her mind in the past four weeks! She could now qualify as a human pin cushion, but at least things are holding stable from last night. We'll take that too. Another tender mercy.
As of this morning, Mom now has matching toe nails. Nancy and Derek came to visit, and Nan persuaded Grammie to let her finish the pedicure she started last week. Since last Sunday, Mom has had orange nails on the left foot and light blue nails on the right one, because it's hard to hold those cute feet still for too long! Last night when the MET team converged on Mom's room, in the midst of all the excitement one of the doctors commented on her nail polish! The new light blue polish matches Mom's hospital gown and the blanket on the bed. She's such a fashionable patient!
This morning Mom was quite talkative, almost like last Sunday. At times she just jabbered nonsense, but at other times her comments were quite lucid. Some of them were downright funny. One time Jim said something silly back to her. Mom looked at him and said in all seriousnes, "Listen to him jabber." Then we all laughed together.
Later, Dad asked Mom if she were coming to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication with him tomorrow morning. She replied earnestly, "I probably ought to go or they'll call me a slacker." No chance of that, dear Mother!
We told Mom that the family reunion was today and talked about who would be there. When we mentioned Uncle Charles, we asked Mom if she remembered when he fell off the horse last Thanksgiving. She looked at us like we were crazy and said, "How could I forget that?"
Despite eating breakfast, Mom refused three requests from the nurse to have some lunch. However, when I arrived back after the family reunion I offered her some food and she ate it. We've decided that the key is to just give it to her, not ask if she wants any.
Every few hours the nurses do a neurological check, asking Mom questions to see if she is cognizant of her surroundings. Around noon, Mom was able to tell the nurse that she was at the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah. That's the first time she's been able to remember! We've been helping her cram for the test on Monday, and were so excited she pulled it off. However, when they asked again at 4 p.m. Mom couldn't answer the same questions, but hey, she'd had a long day!
She is still convinced the therapists are trying to kill her when they move her legs, no matter how we try to explain things. She calls loudly for her siblings to help, going through all their names: Lorraine! Louise! Johnny! Helen! And if you're the unlucky person who happens to be visiting during therapy, she is very upset with you. Poor John Kasteler got yelled at for several days!
We also think Mom occasionally pretends to be asleep when she doesn't want to do something. A couple times we have said, half jokingly, "Mom are you faking it?" and she starts to laugh. Hard to tell, because other times she falls into a deep sleep mid-sentence.
It's quite a roller coaster as sometimes we definitely have our Mother back, and other times she is quite unpredictable. One minute she thinks everyone is annoying, and at other times she thanks them for their help. How confusing it must be to have gone into the hospital for new knees and when you finally wake up, you can't move your limbs or do anything for yourself. Sometimes, when asked to move various parts of her body, Mom comments that nothing works. She has also mentioned a couple times that she has a new reality. We're all praying that it's only temporary.
But just when things get discouraging, Mom says some really sweet things. Among today's favorites are, "I just seem thankful for my dear family," and "I don't know how to do this, but my dear husband does." We love you, our dear Mother, and pray for you constantly.
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