DAY 128: Sunshine & Showers
Mom is a new woman! The move to Boulder has done her a world of good. She's becoming a classic rehabilitation success story, something that was hard to imagine in the dark days of December.
I'm back in Japan now, typing from my office in Sano for the first time since October, before the accident. I explained to Mom that I'd been in Colorado for four months and that I needed to get back to Japan for a while. She understood. Here we are together on my last day with her:
That was two weeks ago. Shortly after that, she finally got outside into the sunshine, where she'd been longing to go for several days:
Her next big accomplishment was taking a shower, not a sponge bath in bed, but a real shower! After her shower, she put on a new shirt from Emily and then walked for the first time since her accident, making it 66 feet:
She was so happy:
Notice that the tracheostomy is gone, and there isn't even a bandage on her throat anymore. She's eating on her own, can answer the phone, and is re-learning how to read and write by filling in blanks in a narrative:
Notice that she's using her right hand. The damage to her left arm was so bad, that she still can't use it well. Mom's left-handed, so re-learning to write using the wrong hand is doubly challenging for her. Poor thing.
Emily met with Mom's excellent care team last Friday:
They are, from left to right, nurse Lisa, Dr. Stapleton, case manager Lee, and speech therapist Clara. Not a Y chromosome among them! You can see why they kicked me out and kept Emily. Here are some highlights from their report:
She visited everybody a while longer that evening:
Notice the small blanket on Mom's lap. It says "LIZ" in the middle, and was hand-made by Takako and her mother. They sent it at Christmas, but only recently has Mom been well enough to use it.
She can't use her left arm yet, and she might be permanently blind in her left eye. That was the main point of contact in the injury. If something had to go, we're thankful that it was her eye, not her brain.
Yes, Mom's out in the sunshine and taking showers.
I'm back in Japan, where spring is making its approach known. The trees are still naked, but I can feel them preparing to burst into acres of pink cherry blossoms within the next couple of weeks. It's time for hanami, picnics under the cherry blossoms, where appreciation for flowers quickly becomes appreciation for alcoholic beverages.
In spring, what once looked dead returns to life. Can you think of a better time for Mom to be in rehab? As I do every year, I will gaze at the sakura and celebrate the return of warm weather. This year, though, there will be a deeper meaning in my smile. The woman who gave me life is returning to life, and her journey back has put vivid colors of perspective into my life.
I'm back in Japan now, typing from my office in Sano for the first time since October, before the accident. I explained to Mom that I'd been in Colorado for four months and that I needed to get back to Japan for a while. She understood. Here we are together on my last day with her:
That was two weeks ago. Shortly after that, she finally got outside into the sunshine, where she'd been longing to go for several days:
Her next big accomplishment was taking a shower, not a sponge bath in bed, but a real shower! After her shower, she put on a new shirt from Emily and then walked for the first time since her accident, making it 66 feet:
She was so happy:
Notice that the tracheostomy is gone, and there isn't even a bandage on her throat anymore. She's eating on her own, can answer the phone, and is re-learning how to read and write by filling in blanks in a narrative:
Notice that she's using her right hand. The damage to her left arm was so bad, that she still can't use it well. Mom's left-handed, so re-learning to write using the wrong hand is doubly challenging for her. Poor thing.
Emily met with Mom's excellent care team last Friday:
They are, from left to right, nurse Lisa, Dr. Stapleton, case manager Lee, and speech therapist Clara. Not a Y chromosome among them! You can see why they kicked me out and kept Emily. Here are some highlights from their report:
- Medically, she's doing very well.
- She still has a urinary tract infection, which they're treating with another round of antibiotics.
- They removed her peripherally inserted central catheter (PIC) line, which is another sign of excellent progress.
- Her rheumatoid arthritis is making her sore, but they don't want to resume her medication for it yet because it will suppress her immune system.
- She can walk with no assistance now, although there is always a person on either side of her for safety. Her record so far is 100 feet!
- She has little endurance and her heart rate rises rapidly after just a little exercise, but that's to be expected after being so long in bed.
- Her cognition is where they would expect for someone in her situation. She gets stuck on certain thoughts, which is called perseveration. For instance, she thinks that our family still lives in our old house in Longmont, where we haven't lived since 1979, and continually makes reference to it and asks how various parts of the property are doing. Despite Emily showing her photos of our current home in the mountains, she still thinks we live in Longmont and that Daniel and Charlie can walk to school. Perseveration is normal at this stage of Mom's recovery.
- She has trouble coordinating the steps of a task in order to complete it. That, too, is normal.
- Finally, some phenomenal news. Brace yourself. If she continues improving at this rate, they expect her to return home around April 15!
She visited everybody a while longer that evening:
Notice the small blanket on Mom's lap. It says "LIZ" in the middle, and was hand-made by Takako and her mother. They sent it at Christmas, but only recently has Mom been well enough to use it.
She can't use her left arm yet, and she might be permanently blind in her left eye. That was the main point of contact in the injury. If something had to go, we're thankful that it was her eye, not her brain.
Yes, Mom's out in the sunshine and taking showers.
I'm back in Japan, where spring is making its approach known. The trees are still naked, but I can feel them preparing to burst into acres of pink cherry blossoms within the next couple of weeks. It's time for hanami, picnics under the cherry blossoms, where appreciation for flowers quickly becomes appreciation for alcoholic beverages.
In spring, what once looked dead returns to life. Can you think of a better time for Mom to be in rehab? As I do every year, I will gaze at the sakura and celebrate the return of warm weather. This year, though, there will be a deeper meaning in my smile. The woman who gave me life is returning to life, and her journey back has put vivid colors of perspective into my life.
Posted by Jason Kelly | 6:00 PM
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