Stranger than fiction
Yesterday was Mom's first day in Outpatient day therapy at Stallworth. Although quite successful in a number of ways, it was certainly an arduous and harrowing beginning.
Mom and I arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about 8:20am so we could turn in all her paperwork early. We then sat around a bit before the first therapist came to meet us. Mom started with occupational therapy testing (fine motor control, current state of independence etc). This lasted about an hour, at which point we were left to wait for Mom's next activity. About this time the power went out in the building and it switched over to emergency lighting. Mom decided she needed to go to the bathroom which necessitated a little rigging as there was no lighting in the bathroom.
After we returned to the therapy area, we were met by another occupational therapist who oriented us on the 'check-in' procedure and stationed Mom to copy down her schedule at a high-ish counter. This was a bit unnerving for Mom as she was to copy her schedule while standing and remembering not to put weight on her bad leg. In addition, as the cast was new, she didn't have a very good feel for balance with the differnet weight on her leg. Mom persevered as usual but then the man directly to her left collapsed onto the floor and started having clonic tremors. Yikes!!! This was terrifying, as you can imagine. Once the nurses stabilized the man and the paramedics came, a process that took probably 45 minutes, Mom resumed writing her schedule out. How fun.
The rest of the day was less eventful but still very stressful as Mom received further testing from each of the therapy arms. Drawing on a well of pluck and strength that continues to astound me, Mom soldiered through and finished out the day. Afterwards, Kelly met us to chat with Mom and we had a cup of coffee at Provence before returning home.
Completely worn but good-natured about it all-
jax
Mom and I arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about 8:20am so we could turn in all her paperwork early. We then sat around a bit before the first therapist came to meet us. Mom started with occupational therapy testing (fine motor control, current state of independence etc). This lasted about an hour, at which point we were left to wait for Mom's next activity. About this time the power went out in the building and it switched over to emergency lighting. Mom decided she needed to go to the bathroom which necessitated a little rigging as there was no lighting in the bathroom.
After we returned to the therapy area, we were met by another occupational therapist who oriented us on the 'check-in' procedure and stationed Mom to copy down her schedule at a high-ish counter. This was a bit unnerving for Mom as she was to copy her schedule while standing and remembering not to put weight on her bad leg. In addition, as the cast was new, she didn't have a very good feel for balance with the differnet weight on her leg. Mom persevered as usual but then the man directly to her left collapsed onto the floor and started having clonic tremors. Yikes!!! This was terrifying, as you can imagine. Once the nurses stabilized the man and the paramedics came, a process that took probably 45 minutes, Mom resumed writing her schedule out. How fun.
The rest of the day was less eventful but still very stressful as Mom received further testing from each of the therapy arms. Drawing on a well of pluck and strength that continues to astound me, Mom soldiered through and finished out the day. Afterwards, Kelly met us to chat with Mom and we had a cup of coffee at Provence before returning home.
Completely worn but good-natured about it all-
jax
posted by Jacqui at 12:34 PM
1 Comments:
PT is so tough- hard in a different way, for which the hospital stay doesn't prepare you.
Still thinking of you, Pam, and Jacqui and Rol and wishing you all continued strength and spirit. Every day and every picture looks like another victory. Jacqui- thanks so much for sharing them, they are an uplifting part of my day.
Pam- it totally figures that even in the midst of your difficult recovery, you are still shining your positive light on the people who know you.
When you conduct again, whatever and whenever, I hope I can be in the choir. Hell, I would sing Queen of the Night if you asked me to.
Much love to you all-
Shawn Mc
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