Another Day, Another Room

 Amanda, Hugo and I visited Mum a couple of times today.  It was the first time I had seen her in a few weeks.  I was very impressed to see her so chatty and in good spirits.  She was sitting in her chair when we arrived and having lunch: Soup, eggs with gravy, ice cream and jelly. The soup looked good, mum thought the eggs and gravy was an interesting combination. She left the gravy. The nurse reported that the doctors want Mum to drink more water with threats of putting her back on an IV.  1 L a day.  When you have to go through a 6 step process for each swallow 1 L is pretty daunting.  We tried to encourage her, but Hugo found the best way was just to drink some for her.  Later he spilt some on the floor which Mum was very pleased about: "Anything to empty that Jug!"

She had a good sleep during the day which was well needed as she is still having some trouble sleeping at night. Hopefully tonight will be better.  We will be up in Wellington until Tuesday and will try and visit twice a day until then.  Dad is going over to see Brian tomorrow.

Mum has shifted rooms again.  It's the third night in Kenepuru and the third room.  She is now ward 6 room 6.

I think that visitors are great for mum.  I'm conscious of ensuring that we don't interupt her sleep and other therapy though.  We did interrupt her speech therapist today.  She wouldn't accept us coming back later and closed the session.  She said chatting with your son for an hour was going to be better than finishing the session. She slept at 1pm and when we came back at 3 she was still asleep so we waited for 40 mins until the nurses told us she was awake.  

It's clear that recovery is at the end of a long road.  Mum has told many stories of all the nice visits she has had and messages and cards she has received.  Thanks for this support it will be key to helping Mum get there.

-Mike


  

Comments

  1. SonjaFebruary 20, 2021 at 3:06 PM

    Thank you Mike for your update. Your Mum 's friends really appreciate the Rowes keeping us informed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RosemaryFebruary 20, 2021 at 3:17 PM

    Yes I too are grateful for the updates, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Eva EFebruary 20, 2021 at 3:30 PM

    I three am grateful for the encouraging reports. So good to hear that you, Amanda and Hugo made it up to Wellington.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ellie & KeithFebruary 20, 2021 at 6:08 PM

    Great for Sue to have Michael and family in Wellington for a few days and we loved your comments Michael. Just thought to tell family and friends we are unable to visit Sue until next Saturday as we are going on a bus trip to Moleworth Station and surrounding area. I have gathered Sue is loving the visitors and being able to chat. Love E & K

    ReplyDelete
  5. Doug MacintyreFebruary 21, 2021 at 7:25 AM

    Fantastic to know that you're able to visit Sue so often, thanks for the update Mike!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 4 Breaking the Fast

Mum had a session with Lara the speech therapist this morning, and has passed the swallow test for some foods. She had some yoghurt and mashed banana. The nasal tube is staying in for now to help with delivering medication and to top up foods, but this is great step forward.  We’ve been told we are not to finish Mum’s sentences for her and her homework is to over articulate her words and keep eating.  The doctors do their rounds a bit earlier on week days, so we missed them today, but mum seemed very pleased with the cocktail of drugs they have prescribed for her. The physio is due for another session today, and if the physio chair turns up she will be aiming to get sitting on the chair. The nursing staff are fantastic and taking great care of mum. - David  
Read more

Visiting time is over - time for focus

Image
I was up in Wellington for a long weekend last week and noticed how busy it has been. Between, nurses doing check ups and taking observations, Physio, speech therapists, occupational therapists, doctors, meals, trying to drink a litre of water and visitors, there is not a whole lot of time for Mum to spend by herself.   We have had discussions with Mum about this and feel that it will be better for her long term recovery to restrict visiting to her immediate family for the time being. On behalf of the family, thank you for all of your support and kind messages. With the shock of the stroke the massive amount of support Mum has received from friends and family has been a huge boost.  It has been a scary time and Mum has felt very loved and cared for whist she adjusted to the realities of where she has to start her rehabilitation from.   We are getting a better sense of the cadence of recovery.  Unfortunately, there won't be massive breakthroughs that make fo...
Read more

High spirits

 I popped in to see Mum on Tuesday evening and she was in pretty good spirits.  She seemed less tired than the last time I saw her, even though I arrived just before the end of visiting hours. She has had a wide range of visitors from family and friends to physio and occupational therapists, it's all go. The physio is getting Mum to do an exercise whereby she interlocks the fingers of both hands and uses her left arm to assist her raising her right arm.  In typical fashion Mum demonstrated this exercise a number of times during my visit, she is really focused on goals. Her goal for tomorrow morning is to make her own breakfast. Mum has really enjoyed all the visits she has had and we went through a number of her photos of Mike and Hugo, it was great to see her face light up as we looked at a number of Hugo's photos.  Mum was also showing off her fingers as her lifelong friend Jenny has been in giving her a manicure which she was really pleased with. Mum has also been...
Read more