Friday, July 3, 2009

Bad Girl: Sleeping Through Therapy

Another day of work at the Acute Rehab center in the Auburn Regional Medical Center complex. I arrived during breakfast and found her dining with two fellow patients. Since her cognitive skills are still impaired, she is not her usual friendly self, and meals are kinda quiet.

Though her right hand is moving a little more each day, it is not yet ready to pick up a fork. Eating is all left-handed. But I seriously doubt if I could feed myself any better left-handed than she does.

I received training in moving Bettie from wheelchair to bed and back. I'm now "qualified" in a skill I never thought I'd need. I'm hoping, as time goes on, that that skill becomes lost due to under-use.

Today she had some physical therapy and speech therapy, roughly an hour of each. My second visit of the day was just after noon and I found her in bed, trying to sleep through a speech therapy session. The therapist thought she might be more comfortable that way. She was. After this, speech will be in a chair where falling asleep will have more serious consequences. (These folks don't mess around.)

She had the afternoon off, so we (our granddaughter Jordan and I) were able to be alone with her. A short time later our niece Linda arrived for a visit and Bettie eventually awakened from her sleepiness to interact with her.

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