Thursday, October 2, 2008
Falling. Up.
Movement for 10/2/08:
- Well, today's movement profile had a spectacular start. My mother managed to arise about a half hour before I planned to awaken her without me realizing it, despite the fact that I had the monitor on full blast right next to me in the living room, felt good enough to walk out of her bedroom, presumably using her dresser for purchase with her left hand, as she usually does, turned left heading into my bedroom, instead of right toward the bathroom and where the grab bars are (my guess is that she was headed toward the Arcadia door to have a look into our backyard, she always pauses at her bedroom door when exiting to look out back, enjoy the view and comment), made it as far as my bedroom door (about three feet from her bedroom door) and, in her words, "let myself down slowly to the floor". I'm guessing that she lost her balance, realized it, grabbed onto the door frame and sunk to the floor. By the time I heard her calling my name (which I couldn't hear through the monitor since she was out of range, so mistakenly thought was Mr. Man yelping at the Arcadia door at something outside, which he often does), probably a couple of minutes after she "let herself down", she had grabbed an errant pillow from the floor of my room that I'd missed when putting my bedding away for the day this morning and was settled on the floor in exactly the same position she usually takes in her bed.
After hearing her description of what happened, I mentioned to her, "This is the opposite way from the bathroom. What were you doing going this way?"
She pointed toward the Arcadia door. "I was going for...something..."
That's what makes me think she simply couldn't resist a closer look at our backyard.
Needless to say, I couldn't get her up on my own. She was in good humor, though, very alert, looking bright eyed and bushy tailed. I did a survey of her legs and arms and back, having her move everything. Everything worked as well as usual. She reported absolutely no pain.
When the paramedics arrived they easily lifted her into her wheelchair (although I cautioned them about her left arm and I assume they were easy with it, she had no problem with it when they lifted her from under her arms), did a body survey similar to mine, left, and off we went to the bathroom for bathing.
Bathing went well. Although she saw no reason why she couldn't walk into the dinette, I cautioned her that it might be best not to "push things" for a little while. I allowed her, though, to walk from the toilet to the door of the bathroom "as a test". She passed it, although she had a momentary wobbling of her right knee, but nothing that isn't common for her.
She stood well, transferred well. After breakfast she walked around the table and down the dinette steps into the living room, although I wheeled her to the rocker. I'm still leery of her using the walker.
She also walked from the bathroom into the bedroom for her nap without blinking twice, and into the bathroom after her nap. She intended to walk from the toilet to the foyer and down the steps into the living room but peered around the bathroom door, narrowed her eyes measuring the distance (which is maybe five feet from the bathroom door), looked at me, looked at the wheelchair I'd parked outside the bathroom door just in case, and opted for the chair.
She's still up. She's been alert and lively, today. She mentioned, once, this evening, that she feels "so much better than yesterday."
Although I don't remember that she felt other than good, yesterday, I responded, "Amazing what chocolate ice cream for dinner can do, isn't it?!?"
She rolled her eyes and grinned. "We should do that more often," she said.
She's still up. I'm not sure what kind of movement is in our immediate future, tonight, but I'll report back later, spectacular or not. - Mom was very tired, tonight, by the time she went to bed, which was a little early, for her. We decided to go with the wheelchair all the way, including spit bowl tooth brushing. She didn't complain, as she usually does, when we do this. I take that as a measure of her exhaustion. She continues to be pain-free from the fall, though, and moving as usual. Tomorrow will tell, of course, but my assumption is that she folded, rather than fell, and, typically, she doesn't suffer any ill effects from folding to the floor.
# posted by Gail Rae @ 23:12 email...
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