Lots of Rest and Visits

Boy were we all tired. Jeff, Gunnar and I slept until 11:30am. We all had experienced a tiring week. We then headed out to find a couple of things for my mom. We bought two pair of cute pajamas, 2 pair of workout pants and 1 workout shirt. Having a couple more makes it easy on doing laundry. She loved them and Gunnar was just as excited to show her. Unfortunately for my mom she was stuck to a schedule and had to be up by 7am for breakfast and the rest of the day. She had a couple of evaluations from therapists but other than that a pretty light day. My mom was saying something to Gunnar in the form of ba, ba, ba. Gunnar took a couple of seconds, looked at her thoughtfully and said, seriously "uh-huh" like he completely understand. I wished that I could hav gotten that on video because it was hilarious. We stayed a little to visit and then left for the day. Sunday, we went over in the late evening. Gunnar brought grandma two cookies which they shared and loved. Gunnar loves to sit with her on her bed. He also loves to push her in the wheelchair and everybody else. He can really do it all by himself too no matter how big or small you are. He will also help stretch her fingers out on her right hand. He has been such a gentle helper. Gunnar and I had this conversation the other day:

Me: Gunnar where is grandma?

Gunnar: in the hospital (doesn't say it quite that perfect).

Me: Why is she in there?

Gunnar: Her head is hurt and she says ba ba ba

He is aware of what is going on. As my mom was heading to dinner (which we can't be with her while she eats. It is part of rehabilitation and respecting other patients progress) a patient was headed to the dining room with a golden retriever. Gunnar got excited and got to pet Burn the therapy dog. Personally I thought that it was a little rambunctious and didn't make me think of a therapy dog at all. Anyway, the dog lived with the lady in her room.

Saturday we had also talked about how we wanted to handle visitors. We were able to get a lot of great suggestions from therapists here and in Sacramento. At this time we have decided that it would be best to have no visitors other than immediate family and those individually invited. That would include some close extended family and the Bishop of her ward for example. I am so glad that we made this decision. Sunday evening some close extended family stopped by. My mom really enjoyed seeing them however afterwards she was so incredibly exhausted. They were only there for about 15 minutes and it was only 7:30pm. That brief visit just wore her out. A couple of other visitors showed up after that and I could tell that she was tired. Just seeing this, confirmed to me that we made the right decision. My mom's brain is very much still in the recovery phase where she needs quiet and lots of rest. High stimulation the better. Gunnar even falls within that category hence our decision to only visit with him on Sundays. She just needs relaxing days. If you forgot what is best for a stroke survivor please read these again.

My mom's days consist of therapy between 8am-5pm Monday through Friday with Saturdays being a little bit relaxed. Sundays are complete rest days. She has at least 3 hours of therapy scattered throughout the day but they do have recreational therapy so it could easily be 4 hours each day. The best time for those invited to visit is between 6-8pm on the weekdays and weekends are a little more lax. Therapy will not be stopped for visitors and rest periods are built in between them so weekdays are not a good time to visit unless you are immediate family. Immediate family is actually highly encouraged to be around her therapy routine as we are the ones that will be required to continue it at home. As it is right now, my dad and I can go during the day and my sisters more at night. It is nice to be able to share the responsibility amongst all of us.

This is my mom's room. She was first put into a bigger room with really cool floor to ceiling windows but then we quickly realized that the bathroom rails were on the wrong side and she was moved. The room are pretty spacious and clean. The bathroom has another sink, toilet and shower in it. At Mercy General, she had to be wheeled down the hall for a shower.