Final Days of Elks

The day before discharge (Feb 20th) I was there. A lot of final things were happening. In physical therapy she had to go through a series of things to pass off. One of them was going up and down the stairs 3 times. No problem. She also had to show that she could stand up on her own as well as get in and out of bed. Oh ya, and the shower/tub too. Heidi and I also went through lots of training as well. Dad also bought mom her new cane. It has tropical leaves all over it. I can attest for him that there were no normal looking canes at Rite Aid. They all had some sort of busy pattern on them. Mom was discharged with a wheelchair as well. She used it once when she got home. That was it. She has used her cane all of the other times. That includes the times that she has gone out to eat. She has yet to go to a store for shopping purposes because she really has no need. I get tired just going myself. I am getting tired just thinking of such a thing.

I also had to get a picture of her with Camber her speech therapist. We just loved her so much. She was great. Her approach was just perfect and mom got a long with her so well. She was so funny and she made learning fun. We were all laughing because when mom tries so hard to smile, the smile does not come out looking normal. When we get her to laugh it is more normal. Work still had to be done. The two of them filled in a daily schedule everyday in her planner. Mom had to read out the date, etc to Camber and she wrote it down.

The therapists downtown are sure missed. It is a lot different being home where your day is not planned out for you almost to the 't'. Mom and I have worked on getting used to outpatient therapy. Nampa North is only 15-20 minutes away. It is soooo nice. It has taken about 2 weeks for the schedule to get a little more normal. It was tough trying to figure all of that out and still remember to work on some things at home in the mean time. On Tuesday we were given the set schedule for the next 12 weeks! Boy were we excited to have the same thing for that long. It makes getting into a routine so much earlier. Mom will have therapy every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday morning. Heidi is planning on taking Gunnar with her to Wings every Tuesday and Thursday. He will still attend preschool Monday and Fridays until it is over at the end of May. We are planning on having someone visit with mom for a couple of hours those mornings until Gunnar is out of preschool. It will also allow others to serve us and give my mom the opportunity to visit with those from her prestroke life. She is completely fine going out to eat in public with strangers but when it comes to seeing those that knew her before she is really hesitant about it. She feels as if they will judge her. We all know that she would not be judged. She is so loved! It is hard.

Brent and Noelle and my dad all fly out tomorrow. That will be tough for all of us. I am so thankful for my family. I am so thankful for siblings. How could one handle this if they were an only child. Now that would be hard. All of us have worked so hard at getting things ready for the big change. We have all been briefed on as much as we can be briefed on. It really helps that we have all been so involved from the beginning. I am primarily responsible for day care obviously but also all therapy and doctors contacts. Heidi is night care and keeping all of my parents personal finances going. Mindy is Sunday/weekend help and definately moral support. Our husband will be helpers as well as our super cheerleaders. I am actually pretty excited about this opportunity. It will be challenging and tiring if I fail to take care of myself but also so rewarding. I will have the opportunity to serve my parents, especially my mom, in a huge way. I just love them so much!