New Digs

So today I was headed to my mom's room like normal and they failed to inform me that she was moved! That is right, folks, she was moved two rooms down to a private room. She will never have a room mate as long as she is able to stay there. It has an extra bed in there as well as a couch and coffee table. It just feels so different. She will be able to stay here as long as they do not get a medically necessary patient. Heidi here at Elks said that it can range anywhere from a child to a brain injury where they have to have complete darkness/no visitors etc. Let's just hope that does not happen.

I was right on time to helping my mom get into her swimsuit for rec therapy. It was pool day. She loves the pool. Right before heading down, Mindy showed up. What a great surprise. It has been a few days since I saw her last and she just brightens any day. So we all headed to the pool. I forgot my camera and Mindy forgot to take pictures so there are not any. Sorry. She did so great today. She walked all by herself in the pool today! How awesome is that. Mindy left and pool time was over so we headed back to her room for a shower and rest time.

Towards the end of lunch, my mom Aunt Ruth showed up for a visit. It was great and she understands what we are going through since she has a son that is recovering from a terrible stroke. She have my mom a pair of fancy gloves that belonged to her mother. That would make it my mom's grandma. It was very nice of her and she had a story/reason that went along with doing that.

My mom is just so tired today. Her first speech therapy was a little rough because of her lack of energy and focus. Some days are just like that. She had a quick rest and then headed to physical

therapy. Kristi the PT was able to get the Bioness system today. She told us how the TODAY show had a clip about it a couple of weeks ago. Elks is the only one in the state of Idaho that actually owns one so tons of people have been coming in to try it out. To find out if it is something that would work for them. Kind of some sort of screening process. Patients can rent the apparatus for $500/month or purchase it outright for $6,000. Insurance does not cover something like this. Kristi knows of a couple of people that have actually bought it. It really is quite interesting the way that it works.

It gets very tiring so they just practiced transfers with a quad cane in my mom's room.My mom then had another session of speech therapy right after. She had about 15 minutes before that and Auntie Chris, a friend, showed up to visit. My mom headed out, Auntie Chris stayed, and my dad finally arrived. We all talked well after my mom returned. It was great to see a visitor there. My sister's usually get to see the visitors at night. The day overall was great. My mom was a little tired and unmotivated but sometimes that will happen. This weekend, she gets to leave Elks for a few hours. The plan is to have a BBQ at their house for immediate family. It should be fun to see her outside of Elks. Yesterday she was getting a little worried that she wouldn't beable to recognize things at home. Auntie Chris and I assured her that if nothing else, things will be familiar. This will give us the opportunity to see where things need to be changed around. It will be good for her to get out.