Successes in Rehab

With several days of world-class rehab under her belt, Mom is showing real signs of progress this week. She's got 3 hours each day of rehab: physical, occupational, and speech. Today there was an extra treat, "recreational" therapy which involved a dog! She really enjoyed spending time with a silver-grey schnauzer. Mom said she was a "lazy kind of dog" and smiled when she talked about her.

Physical therapy, as of last Tuesday, was really draining, and Wednesday morning Mom said particularly that she was so tired, she didn't know if she was going to be able to do it. But Thursday night, she raved about how much fun it was, and (with some garbled words) seemed to be confirming that the therapist said she could do just what she could do, and the comfort level would come later. Reminds me of Dory in Nemo, just keep swimming, just keep swimming. No matter how hard it's been, Mom absolutely just keeps swimming. Sometimes against the current, this week it's with. :)

Dad told us tonight how Mom was able to use a very fancy walker, with a tabletop that her arms could rest on, and walked from the therapy room all the way to the elevators. That's about the distance from the door of any Starbucks to the "order here" area. But it's further than Mom's walked in a very long time. YEAH!

The nursing staff that I've seen work with Mom are wonderful. They occasionally aren't exactly prompt at coming to the room when buzzed, but they are always gentle and strong and helpful. The wound nurse that's caring for mom's mediport wound, still a deep sore on her chest, is a kind soul. She has introduced us to Medihoney, which seems to be working quite well. Mom's skin is thin and easily broken, but a drop of that honey with a small cover on it will heal it practically overnight. It's going to take a lot longer on the deep wound, but it's doing its job, and the honey/bandage treatment is not nearly as painful as the wound vac Mom had been wearing for the month prior to her arrival at Zale.

Mom's got 2 nice pictures hanging in her room, one of a ballerina that she and Mary Claire colored together over the weekend. The other is a letter transcribed by Sara, dictated by Macklin. He wanted to write it himself, and he did a great job! Mom loves reading it and enjoying all the stickers it's decorated with.

Grandma and Macklin, Christmas 2011

One thing we're all enjoying is the bevy of different restaurants in the Oak Lawn area of Dallas. One of our favorites, Eatzi's, is close enough to pick up a hot meal and eat it with mom in her room. Earlier this week, after listening to much good humored complaining about how they were hogging the whole thing, Mom and Dad shared a little of their perfectly delicate tiramisu with Jennifer and me. Tonight Catherine brought in some spaghetti with pink sauce, which tasted as if the tomatoes had been hand crushed just minutes before. We had also picked up a small creme brulee (Mom's favorite), a chocolate-chocolate cupcake, and big bag of red grapes (let's be a little healthy, at least). It was so fun to share the creme brulee, muting the TV showing Olympic swim trials, and being silent, concentrating on the lack of sound in the room, and taking the little plastic fork and just slightly crushing the crispy sugared top of the dessert. That sound is the sound of deliciousness. The creaminess underneath and the crunch of the sugar was a perfect 2-bite ending of a nice visit.

"Mmm, mm mm mm, Mmm!" Mom murmured with her eyes closed, enjoying everything about that bite of dessert. Yep, that about sums it up. About the creme brulee and about her progress. Wonderful.

Eatzi's - Sara loves it there so much, she took a photo.