Life after Death Sentencing

Movement for 7/18/08:

• Walked under own steam to bathroom after awakening for bath. Walked under own steam into dinette for breakfast. Walked under own steam from dinette down dinette steps to enter living room. Used walker to get from dinette steps to rocker.
• Was very tired just before nap; chose to be wheeled to banister, although took foyer steps. Decided to walk under own steam into bathroom; had a bit of difficulty but kept going. Decided to be wheeled into bedroom for nap.
• Walked under own steam from bedroom to bathroom after nap. Decided to use walker from bathroom to foyer banister but, just outside the bathroom, decided to be wheeled. Too foyer steps on own. When I assumed she'd want to be wheeled from the steps to the rocker, she eschewed the chair and walkered to the rocker.
• At bedtime she walkered from the rocker to the banister, took the foyer steps and walkered to the bathroom. She also insisted on standing at the sink to brush her teeth and did the best job she's ever done. The last four nights she's been brushing her teeth with the spit bowl while on the toilet. Previously, when standing at the sink, she hasn't been completely able to lean over the sink when she spits, so I've been putting a towel over the counter in front of the sink to catch her spit. Tonight, though, she leaned well over the sink and, once, almost spit on the faucet! After brushing her teeth standing at the sink, she walked into her bedroom under her own steam.

Movement for 7/17/08:

• Walked under own steam to bathroom. Rode to the table. Walked under own steam to dinette banister. Took the steps. Walkered to her rocker. Rode to the foyer steps before her nap. Took the steps. Rode to the bathroom before nap and to bed for nap. Performed all transfers with varying facility.
• After nap, walked into the bathroom under her own steam. Walkered to the foyer banister. Took the steps. Attempted to walker to the rocker but foundered about half way through the living room and sat in the chair, to be wheeled the rest of the way. Still and all, she had moved so much more than I expected of her today I congratulated her and told her that I admired her courage. I do.
• To finish off the day, Mom chose to be wheeled into the bathroom to ready for bed and into the bedroom. She was very tired. She wanted me to wheel her up the ramp onto the main landing but I was so tired from living two sets of hours and so achy from all the extra muscular work demanded of the visiting week that I asked her to "please try" to take the steps. She not only tried, she took them without difficulty.

Movement for 7/16/08:

• I was right. Today was mostly a wheelie day. She made it into the bathroom on her own when she awoke. From there on out, though, all movement was transferring...nothing else. Once again, I didn't hold it against her. She wasn't tiring of company, but she was tiring of trying to keep up with company. As well, she ran a low grade fever for awhile that required a long nap to relieve. She rallied after her nap and was up until 0230 Thursday morning leading the way through a 1940's movie. She wore the rest of us into the ground. Still, though, it wasn't a good day for movement. In the evening I didn't insist on her taking steps into and out of the living room and she was grateful, so I managed some ramp practice.

Movement for 7/15/08:

• The entire day consisted of very little independent movement and lots of wheeling. Yes, company is still here. I thought company would be a spur to independent movement but today confirmed what yesterday suggested: Company provides just enough distraction so that she can't trust herself to move with ease because she has to concentrate to move smoothly on her own two feet. As well, again, each period of being up stretched the limits of her physical endurance...and yet, just as she tells me she was as a child, she didn't want to nap, even though she could barely hold herself up in her chair, and she was only vaguely sure she wanted to go to bed, even though she was crumpled over one arm of her rocker in order to keep herself propped up. She is the original party girl! I didn't fight her proclivity to be wheeled today (nor did I yesterday...I just gave her choices, yesterday...today I realized it wasn't necessary to give her choices). Company will be here until Thursday. We'll see how she does, tomorrow, but I suspect it will be Party Girl Central here, again, and The Queen will mobilize on her throne. Which is fine with me.

Movement for 7/14/08:

• This was the first day of MPS' and MPNC's visit. Frankly, I don't remember much about how much Mom moved or didn't move. I remember she was highly distracted and especially thrilled with the presence of visiting family. I, unfortunately, was equally distracted. I think that Mom didn't move all that much because she spent much more time at the table than usual, was up for longer preiods and I have a vague recollection that when she needed to move she was, typically, waaaay to tired to do much of it herself. I remember wheeling her down the ramp into the living room for the second part of her day, which included "Dinner and a Movie". I remember wheeling her from her rocker to the foyer banister, having her take the stairs on foot, then wheeling her the rest of the way to the bathroom and to bed. I also remember that she didn't want to stand at the sink to brush her teeth, last night, so we did the spit bowl routine.

Movement for 7/13/08:

• Today was the first day since she's arrived home that Mom refused the option of being wheeled in the chair all day, even when she was a little unsure of whether she'd be okay on her feet. She was adamant to try. I followed her with the chair only once, from the bathroom to the dinette in the morning. She walked under her own steam, her choice, during her morning from the bedroom to the bathroom, from the bathroom to the dinette, and from the table in the dinette to the dinette banister and down the steps. She walkered from the dinette banister to her rocker and from the rocker to the foyer banister when it was nap time, but, again, from the top of the foyer banister to the bathroom and then to the bedroom she insisted on walking, using her environment for support, under her own steam.
• The evening was more or less a repeat of her morning, minus the walk to the dinette. In the open space of the living room she used the walker; in the hall, bedroom and bathroom she used environmental support with my occasional arm through the wide-area spots.
• I was confident enough, throughout the day, in her ability to move (and, of course, stayed close enough with a helping arm at the ready) so that only once did I follow her with the wheel chair: From the bathroom to the dinette for breakfast. Otherwise, I followed her pushing the oxygen caddy and keeping a steady arm out in case she needed it; occasionally she did.
• She seems to be more confident, herself, of her ability to mobilize, thus I transferred the fan I've been keeping just outside her bedroom in the hall in order to direct cool air into her bedroom onto the top of the bureau, just in case she should become so confident that she arises in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I'm also thinking it might be a good idea if I have our electrician in for a visit to fix a few of the baseboard heater thermostats and install a plug in the hall for a night light. Might be a good idea, now.

    Today probably would have been a good day to try exercises again...but I forgot. We got busy talking and watching some shows on the History Channel about the "Biography" of the Earth and the idea slipped away. Four the next four days we'll be hosting company, so I don't imagine we'll get much formal exercise in but I'm sure she'll be up more than usual in order not to miss anything and it would be a safe bet that she'll probably move even more than usual, so I think we'll be set as far as supportive movement is concerned.

Movement for 7/12/08:

• She awoke pretty much on her own a little before 1300. I'd heard her reconnaissance cough at 1230 and checked on her. She's asked for "another half hour", which I gave her. By 1300 she was up on the edge of her bed, bright eyed and busy tailed. After she received her breathing treatment and I'd used the usual "devices of torture" on her and administered her before breakfast pills, she decided she didn't want to "get up". First I coaxed, gently. Then I cajoled, telling her that she had no choice, I was not going to allow her to return to sleeping in wet underwear and, besides, she had taken a glipizide and, without food, her blood sugar would surely crash. This didn't seem to do the trick. So, I physically worked, gently, at first, on getting her on her feet. Although she remained sitting up, she tightened her muscles and refused to be moved. Finally, I said, without anger but firmly: "Mom, you haven't got a choice. When you wake up, you get up. If you don't want to get up, then don't wake up."
  The implication was clear. She gave me a shrewd look, laced with disgust. I gathered her torso in my arms, bent my knees and pulled her onto her feet. Even though she was resisting, I was surprised at how easy this was to accomplish.
  She walked, haltingly, under her own steam to the bathroom. At this point I decided maybe we should have a wheel chair day. She just didn't seem much into movement. This was fine with her, which is fairly unusual. If she has it in her to walker or walk, she prefers to do this.
• She transferred throughout the day from chair to chair, although she used what the PT's called "butt aim", rather than moving her feet, much, to turn her ass toward whichever chair applied. She took the steps three times. Once, after her nap, she was so clearly out of it that I ramped her down into the living room from the bathroom, although she transferred from wheel chair to rocker before I was able to move in and help her, which I usually do.
• I think her energy was at an extremely low level today, although her muscles worked just fine when they were forced to work. There were a few more times, throughout the day, when I used the promising phrase, "If you don't want to get up, don't wake up." Each time it worked. As the day continued, I considered all the implications of that phrase. Obviously, in the future, there are going to be days when it won't apply: Days when she is in full decline and unable to get out of bed but still willing to continue with her life. I will, of course, not use it on these days. But, for the time being, the boot camp air of the phrase seems to do the trick.