Day 11

Today is Day 11 in the rehab facility. Mom has been pretty tired all weekend. She started it off with a fall in her room on Friday afternoon.

Mom slide off the toilet seat in her room last Friday because she refused to call for an aid to help her. When I got there she was sitting in a chair by the nurse's station. She was totally wiped out. I sat with her and rubbed her back. They were preparing to take x-rays and blood tests sometime during the evening. They found that she had not injured or broken anything. They did find that she had some kind of spot on her lung..so they are treating her for pneumonia.

When Mom fell, she was trying to prove she could go to the bathroom on her own so she can go home by next Thursday. I don't see that happening but I try to keep encouraging her to work with her physical therapist. The main problem is she had so little strength. Her hands have arthritis, her feet give her trouble with neurapathy, and she has trouble maneuvering.

I was at the facility a lot over the weekend. I try to encourage Mom to eat, but nothing really seems to taste good to her. She ate the most at lunch today when she ate her chicken fried steak, half her mashed potatoes, and a few bits of broccoli. Tonight she just picked at her chicken caesar salad and banana cake.

She says that her stomach hurts all the time. That is probably from the antiobiotics that she is taking. She complains that she is taking too many pills. I asked for a listing of everything she is taking, but my request will have to go through medical records department at the facility.

I also pitched a mini fit there yesterday trying to get her a toilet seat riser that elevates the seat. She is used to using one at home. It helps her get to the toilet without having to bend down too far. I got a bit of a bureaucratic run around being shuffled from person to person yesterday. One woman said she knew that Mom had fallen because she did not have the riser, but that the physical therapist would have to get an ok for one. I just got very firm and said that I knew the facility would not want my Mom to fall again and that I thought this simple item would help her a lot. Voila....there is was this afternoon when I got to Mom's room.

I am going in early tomorrow morning so I can catch her doctor. I want to understand more of what we are dealing with and get a realistic evaluation of her ability to be on her own or not...then I can move ahead and start to plan for one of these scenarios.

I am physically and emotionally exhausted. Mom is pretty down and not feeling well. It is hard to see her in this situation because she does not do well when she is not in control. I am just putting one foot in front of the other while trying to be her advocate.