Up and down

This morning Mom was awesome! First off, she walked all the way around the 12th floor using her walker. After she got back to her room, Ariane used the laptop to hook Mom up on video chat with the Kastelers in Indiana. Mom spent a wonderful 45 minutes talking back and forth with each one of them and could even read online messages they typed to her during the chat! It was so fun to watch her expressions and reactions, and she even crossed her legs as she talked! She was Grammie again, and it was phenomenal!

Unfortunately things took a downward turn from there. The chat took place during the scheduled time for speech therapy, but for some reason the therapist was delayed. We were anxious for the therapist to observe Mom talking and interacting so normally, and were disappointed that she didn't get to see any of it! It would have looked great on the reports!

In addition, the first walk left Mom pretty tired, so when the physical therapist came to help her walk again shortly thereafter, Mom could only make it half way around the floor, and she complained loudly all the way! The therapist was pretty hard on her and told Mom that if she would put the same amount of effort into walking that she did into resisting that she could be walking on her own. It was pretty frustrating to watch, because at that point Mom completely shut down. It was a lousy way to end an exciting morning.

It was the first time I had seen her walk in person, since I am always at school during Mom's therapy. I can see the therapist's frustrations, but on the other hand I could also understand Mom's exhaustion. She definitely does not have her old grit and determination back yet, but from what we understand about strokes, the exhaustion is very real. It is a fine line to know how much to push. She at least deserves some major credit for all she did before the second walk, but unfortunately, her efforts for the day will largely be labeled uncooperative.

This is very disappointing because our precious week actually started last Tuesday, so we are almost right back where we started with the insurance authorization a couple days ago. This continuous pressure to perform is becoming extremely tiresome, as it takes the focus off all the good that is happening. We need to remind ourselves that despite all the ups and downs, Mom's overall progress is really quite amazing. After all, it has only been ONE WEEK since she started walking!

As mentioned in yesterday's post, the doctor did start Mom on two medications. The first is synthroid which is prescribed for an underactive thyroid. Mom's TSH levels had skyrocketed to 31 and normal is somewhere between 4-6. This means that her pituitary gland is repeatedly sending messages to the thyroid to produce more thyroid hormone, but for some reason her thyroid is not functioning properly. An underactive thyroid can cause extreme fatigue, so this could potentially be good news as it is really quite an easy fix, but it will take a couple weeks to stabilize. The second medication they started is ritalin, which is prescribed to increase processing speeds in the brain. We are hopeful that these two medications will help Mom become more alert and cooperative.

On the brighter side, the speech therapist cleared Mom to have a regular diet. This is wonderful news because she was getting SICK AND TIRED of the same old foods every couple days. (She may never want to eat mac and cheese, green jello or lasagna again in her entire life!) To celebrate, we got a big order of french fries from downstairs and Mom ate every single one! Beginning Monday Mom will get to choose what she wants to eat from a menu, so hopefully mealtime will not be such a struggle.

Despite the frustrations of the day, we are choosing to focus on the wonderful things that happened and celebrate the excitement of Mom's progress. Hang in there, sweet Mom. Tomorrow's another day!