Saturday, August 31, 2013

August 31, 2013

     Good morning. I am at home, but Mom is still in the hospital. My sister was able to find help watching her kids so she could come up and spent the night with Mom. I am very thankful to have help with her and very happy to get to sleep in my own bed. I miss her when I am away. On the drive home I got a very painful shooting pain in my left hip, crazy I know but I felt that Mom's hip was hurting her and I was feeling her pain. It made me cry that I wasn't there to help her and protect her. I know she is getting lots of love and attention from my sister and she would keep her safe no matter what. I just worry a lot.
     I was able to get some much needed information yesterday. Someone, an occupational therapist (OT), actually talked to me, truthfully. Which is what I needed most, to be talked to by a real person, told things in plain language and to be brutally honest with me. And she actually listened to me. New estimated day of discharge is Wednesday. This makes me so happy, to get her home sooner than we had originally thought.
     This is what I learned from the OT, due to Mom's Alzheimer's she is not able to learn new things like walking with a walker. So there is no need to concentrate on that aspect of rehab. She needs time to heal from the break and surgery. Then when properly healed and pain is under control she will be able to walk again, hopefully. As long as we work with her doing exercises, range of motion and building strength. All these things we can do at home. We will have a physical therapist come to the house and work with her and we will be taught the exercises we need to do with her to help her get better. Also my past as a nurse and working in the rehab department of a nursing home will help get her home sooner than later. I had already purchased a shower chair and my sister got Mom a potty chair months ago. We also have been using a hospital bed for a while now at home. All we will need is a ramp to get up to the porch, which is being installed by my brother-in-law with the help of my husband on Monday, and a wheelchair, which I think should be supplied through insurance, if not I will find one before we come home.
     We can do everything at home that they are doing at the hospital. Plus she would be in her own home, her own environment where she will be hopefully be more comfortable, less confused, and happier. She will get to be with her little dog that she loves so much and misses like crazy. Today my husband is bring Lucky, Mom's dog, to the hospital and I will get her up in a wheelchair and take her outside so they can spend some time together. Another rule of that area in the hospital that Mom is in that I will be breaking. They say I am not allowed to take her outside. I so hate that place. I can't wait to get her home.
     I need to go get started on getting this house and her room ready for her to come home. Have a good day.

                                                                         April Whitehair  

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