My mom/Rosemary visited this day. She said Grandma was sleepy but not all out groggy like she is on some of her tired days.
Physical therapy came midday and put some electric muscle stimulator things on Grandma's legs to help her leg muscles work again. She did not like it and that it felt terrible, trying to tell the therapist to take them off...! After about 20 minutes (while mom and grandpa tried to distract her from the irritation of the treatment), the therapist took grandma to the physical therapy room, where they worked on a number of upper body exercises in front of the mirror..
Mom reports that while the nursing staff at the rehab center are passable, the physical therapy staff are excellent and very sweet with Grandma. This is great!
Grandma occasionally has a bit of trouble with remembering the year, her age, how long it's been since she had the stroke, etc. She apparently told one therapist that she has not used her right side (arm or leg) for 4 or 5 years... When you explain to her her error she usually understands but sometimes questions -- she asked Grandpa the other night her age and when he told her 90 she said there "was something not right" about that.
After physical therapy (about 30 or 40 minutes) they took her back to the room, she sat in the wheel chair awhile longer, and then asked to get back in to bed since she could not keep her head up for much longer. Grandma does not have the muscle strength to manage her right side very well, but it is improving... just after PT she was particularly worn out.
Again, mom moved the chairs to keep Grandma's attention on her right side to encourage her to use those muscles and develop that strength.
Speech and Swallowing therapist came with a tray of food! Pureed carrots, pureed beans and rice, apple sauce and honey milk [I'm not sure what this is... -Christina]. Grandma did great and probably ate about 1/4 of the food there including drinking a sip or two of the honey milk from the cup. Yay!
Grandma does continue to have some issues with short term memory. For instance, she will ask for something from the house (shoes, blanket), but when Grandpa brings it she asks, "What did you bring that for?" Also, while she may have a really good visit one day, she won't necessarily remember much the next day, which probably is a significant contributor to her feelings of loneliness. We'll have to keep an eye on this. Apparently this is pretty common with a stroke where Grandma's was, but we'll have to see how this develops; hopefully it improves.
Grandpa has also mentioned that in a lot of pictures, Grandma looks just like she was before the stroke, which I think is due to Grandma regaining control of her facial muscles; you'll notice she doesn't have as much of the right-side droop as she had right after the stroke. (Yay, good job Grandma!) But as Grandpa also cautioned, the pictures also could give a misleading idea of Grandma's condition. She does pretty well, but she is still has a long road to get back to "normal."
Grandpa has also mentioned that in a lot of pictures, Grandma looks just like she was before the stroke, which I think is due to Grandma regaining control of her facial muscles; you'll notice she doesn't have as much of the right-side droop as she had right after the stroke. (Yay, good job Grandma!) But as Grandpa also cautioned, the pictures also could give a misleading idea of Grandma's condition. She does pretty well, but she is still has a long road to get back to "normal."
Overall, a good day. Subdued, but good. Hooray!
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