Wednesday, August 13, 2008
RN Visiting Day
Movement for 8/12/08:
- Mom's excitement pre, during and post visit kept her up and walking or walkering all day; no wheel chair use. However, it was clear that she was very stiff and not interested in doing small things to make walking easier on herself. She became, in fact, dismissive of my attempts to have her stop and "stretch" or "straighten up", or "straighten your knees". The result was that it was very difficult for her to move around and the more I suggested using the chair here and there, the more ornery she became. Thus, she spent a lot of time bent almost in half and attempting to pick up her feet and move them forward in this position. Try it. It's very difficult for a normally spry person, let alone someone like my mother. As well, she leaned heavily on me, sometimes to the point where my shoulders and arms began to ache. Finally, in the wee hours of this morning, after she was sitting on her bed, readying herself for sleep, aching and tired, I let her have it. I explained to her that if she didn't pay attention to the walking tweaks I suggest along the way, no matter how much she wants to walk, she's going to screw herself into a position where she won't be able to walk.
"It's okay with me, Mom, if you don't walk and, chances are, at some point, you won't be able to. At that point you'll be bed and wheelchair ridden. But, at that point you'll also want that. You'll be too physically tired to want anything else. Now, listen to me. Look at me when I'm talking. You want to walk, now. That's fine. But if you do it badly, if you continue to pay absolutely no attention to what you are doing and careen about assuming that I'm going to catch you with every step, let me tell you, you're going to injure both yourself and me, I will be none to happy about these injuries, and you won't be able to walk, no matter how much you want to! Do you understand????"
"Yes," she said, not exactly meekly, she doesn't do "meek", but I could tell she understood.
"Okay. I'll remind you of this tomorrow and we'll try again."
"Please. Do remind me."
I love it when she says this. It means that she's taking me seriously.
So. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.
# posted by Gail Rae @ 18:42 email...
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