Mom Update 6/3

I've been letting my sister Lori post most of the mom updates lately.  You can find them on her blog, Life is Golden.

I went up to see mom over lunch.  She’s looking a ton more alert and awake.  She was dozing when I got there but when she heard me talking to dad her eyes got real wide (“Oh! I have a visitor!”).  I gave her a Pound Puppy I bought at Dillons and she held onto if for a bit and then asked me to put it on the shelf for her.  (She remembered giving us girls pound puppies and purries when we were little.)

Her chest is hurting today – more so because of all the work her lungs have been doing.  The doctor asked if she wanted morphine for the pain.  Dad asked if that would interfere with her flow-by test (which the doctor said they wouldn’t be able to do the test) and mom said she didn’t want the morphine.  

Mom did 20 minutes on flow-by.  They disconnected the breathing machine and connected mom to oxygen.  The oxygen tube provides air passing by mom’s trache, but it doesn’t force any air in.  This is more comparable to actual breathing.  They’ll do this test again tonight and with each test will increase the time mom is on.  After she’s able to breathe with flow-by for a longer period of time the doctor will consider capping her trache and do swallow tests to see if she can breathe and eat on her own.

Physical Therapy came by the room this morning.  They are having mom wear blue boots for two hours at a time.  They are hard plastic and (blue) padding that strap onto her feet and hold them in a position similar to what they are would be in when she stands.  They’ll help stretch mom’s calf muscles out so she doesn’t lose muscle tone while she’s confined to the bed.

Mom still can’t find a comfortable resting position.  She’s been shuffling around in her bed quite a bit and can even sit up for a bit unassisted.  More baby steps for mom!