Leap Day

Fall down seven times. Stand up eight. - Japanese proverb

It's not a fancy salon, but warm shampoo still feels good.

Seems appropriate that on Leap Day, Mom should leap ahead with progress. I'm thrilled to share some of our breakfast conversation from this morning. When we commented that she was doing well using her fork to poke her french toast, she said, "Am I?" She said "thank you" to Dad when he cleaned her eyeglasses. She said "eyes" and gestured to them when she wanted her glasses on, and she said "suitcases?" when she saw Peter's bags this morning, prior to his flight home.

One funny...she said "Peter" and gestured as if she was brushing her teeth. I asked her if she wanted Peter to brush her teeth - she made a silly face and said, "No!" and then gestured again. After a few interpretative guesses, we figured out she was telling him that he looked nice. :)

It's so exciting to hear these words come out in addition to a lot of word salad, as her neurosurgeon says. The words that come out are perfectly clear and are little joys to our ears.

A little step back

With any kind of brain trauma, you're bound to experience some physical side effects, and Mom is no exception. The right side of her body is not cooperating, so her right arm, hand and leg aren't working yet. She's starting to experience swelling of the right hand, which is common for people on chemo, and she's on a high dosage. Fortunately we can help by light massages and keeping her hand propped up on a towel.

Late Monday she started displaying signs of confusion during multi-step processes, like teeth brushing or using utensils to eat. The nurse said it's not uncommon for patients with brain injuries to have trouble with multiple steps, so we're trying to give simple instructions and not overwhelm her with lots of voices or faces at once.

We're hoping this improves with time as more radiation and chemo zaps the bad cells in her brain.

One big step forward

Mom's wall of art in the ICU

All teachers need their white boards.

Mom has moved from the ICU to a normal hospital room, and she has all of the mandatory ICU monitoring tethers removed. Her heart rate, blood pressure, blood counts, respiratory, etc are all looking great. The only thing that is wrong is this glioblastoma! One of the doctors who stopped by this morning said everything is working like it should, and we're using the right medicine to address the issues in the brain, so that plus a positive attitude will do a lot to help Mom feel better.

To help achieve that, Mom is enjoying watching the weather report, a sunny week in Texas for the foreseeable future, says "Wow" when watching the TV chef season a large roast, and we're sharing all the jokes and notes that you're sending us. It's all good news this morning, and I feel like she is having a personal "Leap Day" today.

Visitors

While Mom is on chemo, her immune system is not at its best, and lots of sleep is very important. We'll let her decide when she's ready to see visitors.

Please feel free to call or email us anytime if you want to stop by, and we can check with her on how she's feeling. Thanks to everyone for your understanding and support!