Mom seems to be over the lethargy and back to improving and getting stronger. Unfortunately, she has regressed quite a bit in terms of being weaned from the ventilator. She's almost starting over at step one again. The vent is now set at 8 but she's at about 21 - which means she's still able to do a lot of the work herself again. By contrast, last week she was doing all the breathing on her own (machine at 0 and her rate at about 20-21) and was kept on the vent just to help her with the volume of air going into her lungs.
She is watching a little bit of TV now and then. She's finally interested in some audio books and music. She's recovered enough to be more alert, but that means she gets bored easily and it's hard to find things to occupy her time. I may bring in some knitting and see if she has enough dexterity.
I had a great visit with her last night. She's getting better at handwriting which is making communication a lot smoother.
That is good news about your mother. I hope her breathing gets stonger soon. I think the idea of her knitting is a good one - I suggest you get large needles and bulky yarn. She could knit a scarf out of it. Another idea, is a childrens crossword puzzle book - the squares are larger. How is Bob doing?
ReplyDeleteGive your mom our best.
Judie
Mom gave me the thumbs down on knitting. I'll bring it up again later though.
ReplyDeleteThe main problem is that she can't look down to see what she's doing. I don't think the crosswords would work for her yet either. I'm going to see if I can hook up a DVD player to the mounted TV in her room. We also have a small portable DVD player that she may be able to use when she's sitting up in her chair.
Sounds good. Ask your mother is she can do the basic knitting without having to look at her stitches all the time. How about a hand held solitare game? Maybe she could hold it up where she can see it. Say "Hello" to her for us.
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