Tuesday 4-8 Update from Rosemary

Today's update comes from my mom/Rosemary:

• Mom went straight to the hospital since she figured they would still be in this meeting with the neurologist and ran into Grandma and Grandpa in the hallway! Ha!
• Grandpa said the doctor was nice, but they did not have any brain scan, and that they just came to visit the doctor and talk about her progress?  Hm, we thought there would have been a CT scan.  (Grandpa later said in an email that when he asked the doc said they could do one, but he didn't see the need.)
• The doctor had showed Grandpa the previous brain scans and told him that Grandma had a small bleed and she was going to recover from this, quite possibly fully recover.  What FANTASTIC news!
• He also prescribed one baby aspirin a day, since Grandma is not to go back on Coumadin after all of this.  He wrote a prescription so that it could be administered at the rehab center.
• Because Grandpa wasn't sure what he understood/remembered from the meeting, Mom had the receptionist in the neuro office agree to send Grandpa a copy of the doctor's visit notes to Grandpa, so hopefully he'll get that in about a week.
• Grandma was tired upon returning to HHRC, so Rosemary and Grandpa left for lunch so Grandpa could nap awhile.
• When they got back, Grandma was already under attack of the physical therapists. Two of them working with Grandma.  Her right leg was hooked up to the stimulator leads and every time they started firing on her muscles she had to extend her knee.  She did okay. She did not really enjoy that exercise...
• Then they put hand weights on both sides: 2 lbs on her left, 1 lb on her right.  Bending and flexing with every last ounce of energy she had.  Those therapists are great and do not take any excuses. Grandma told them she never uses her right arm, or she uses it for different purposes and she did not understand why she needed to lift weights. haha
• Then the therapists flattened out the legs portion of Grandma's bed and sat her up. She then had to pull herself forward, up, keep her chest and head up, THEN with her left leg and foot, she had to push her right leg and knee out off of the bed, so she could turn and sit on the side of the bed. That was a lot of work. The therapists supported her but they made her do it.  She did well. She worked at keeping herself balanced, both feet on the floor.
• Then she got hot and clammy (her room is boiling hot and dry but she claims she is cold) and the therapists put her back in bed.  They both commented that mom did really great.
• Rosemary noticed that Grandma did not eat much of her lunch.  She did eat more than half of her chocolate pudding.  (No surprise; she's a "chocoholic"! -Christina)

WHAT A GREAT DAY!  :D

My mom plans to return to HHRC on Friday.  I think Joyce will be there Saturday, and I hope to make it out on Sunday. :)