care

Dad had a morning doctor's appointment today, as well as a pharmacy errand, so I did something very unusual and woke up early, prepping Mom's breakfast, giving her her 9AM meds, then administering her IV vancomycin at 10AM. The phone rang often, so I took over Dad's normal role as house secretary. Around 12:15, I prepped Mom's lunch, then checked and flushed her IV; while this was going on, Sean came over. Dad got back home around 1:30 or so; Sean left around the same time, then Pastor Kim arrived around 2:30. An InfuScience nurse, different from the one who visited us twice over the past few days, will also be visiting us a few times this week-- not merely to tend to the PICC line and Mom's incision site, but also to draw blood for testing.

Life has changed a lot since Mom's recent return home. She's been told, repeatedly, that her helmet is there for her safety, and that she has to wear it every single time she needs to move from place to place. Alas, the only way to make her follow this rule-- a sensible one, given her skull's delicate condition-- is for me to hover close by and to jump up at the first sign that Mom is planning to stand up. Mom has already beaten me to the punch several times, especially if I'm away from her for some reason, and I've had to run over to make sure she didn't keel over. Mom also tends to pick at her PICC line, and still tries to run her fingers over the depression at the top of her head, where some bone used to be. In each such case, one of us family members has to tell Mom to stop. Her normal response is a grumble, but she usually desists.

As far as walking goes, Mom seems to shuffle along fairly well, usually without a walker, though she still tends to list to the right when walking. I hold her shoulders while walking behind her, prompting her with gentle guidance. Sometimes Mom tries to shrug my hands off, but most of the time she accepts what I'm doing. When Dad walks with her, he tends to hold her right hand. Each of us is mindful of Mom's weaker right side, and we take pains to stand close by her to make sure she doesn't suddenly collapse.

It's 5:20PM now, and a visiting physical therapist just left. She checked Mom out and determined what areas Mom needs to work on, and will be back on Thursday.

Day by day. That's how it goes.


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