Sticks, Stones, and Paper Stew Blog

Shower, Bicycling & Walking

It has been a few days since reporting Evelyn’s updates. Dave & I were not down on days 17 &18. On day 19, all available hands traveled to Eugene for the progress conference at South Hills Rehab.

Highlights on day 17 must have been the shower. Evelyn finally felt well enough to go for it, with help from a night assistant. She called Kim to have her bring over a bar of special soap from home. The evening assistant, not as well versed in how to give showers to patients, ended up with shoes full of water. Poor guy! I think it was fairly early on his shift too.

She has been experiencing difficulty with regulating her pain medication. I’m still unclear about what went on, but it seems like she was asking for smaller doses of Tylenol that were unable to alleviate the discomfort. Sounded like the Oxycodon (codeine)was back in use on Tuesday. She did note that there was an increased circulation to her hands (warming effect) when she took the Tylenol. Now if she lived in China, they could be feeding her dog meat to increase her circulation….wait, she can’t eat yet and she doesn’t like meat!

The physical therapist started her on a cycling machine. None of us took a peek at the machine but we all guessed it to be a recumbent. She did 10 min of continuous cycling on Tuesday morning. Evelyn couldn’t believe she could do the workout and be talking at the same time. The sessions will continue until she is up to 30 min. Maybe she needs one for the coast? Might be better for her overall health than walking. (She is unable to walk distances due to unsolvable feet problems.)

Another big step Tuesday was her ability to get to the bathroom on her own! No more calling for assistance! She was a bit repulsed at the state of the toilet, then she realized it could have only been her.  She referred to it as the “poopy toilet”.  If housekeeping leaves behind any cleaning supplies, she would probably jump in to clean the mess.  I was surprised the cleaning crew didn’t perform a more through job daily, who knows, maybe they do! Evelyn also wanted to qualify that she never used to use the word “poopy” until the grandchildren came on the scene over 25 yrs ago.

On day 19 we had an 11 am progress conference with staff, father, siblings & patient.  This is the information from the meeting: The facility was going to contact Evelyn’s PCP via fax and request a PEG tube be inserted and the nasogastric tube removed. Evelyn was surprised this request had not gone through sooner. The family wants her to be able to eat before getting released. Evelyn has not participated in any activities at the facility. Is that a surprise? Our mother wouldn’t be caught dead singing karaoke or making cute projects. She is observing and recording mentally the events outside her window (squirrels, bird sightings, weather). The staff was quite surprised at how intelligent and well educated she is.  Guess they don’t always see that in their patients. She is one sharp cookie!  One bad thing Evelyn brought up was that an infection started on one of the leg incisions. The nursing staff was unaware. Evelyn is dreading taking a round of antibiotics. They don’t play nicely with her gut. All I can think of last year’s incident in March/April.

After the meeting and spending more time with her, it was off for lunch at the Glenwood on Willamette with Mike, Kim, Lee, Dave & I.

Lee’s Escape!

On Friday Lee was talking about heading coastal. He gave me a call Saturday morning letting me know he had made it. Like a good soldier, he made his stop by Evelyn’s room to receive  marching instructions before heading out-of-town. The weather couldn’t have been better for his journey. Another beautiful fall day. We’re all glad he got an overnight break from Eugene!

Evelyn was looking well on Saturday. We stopped by in late afternoon and stayed for at least an hour. She showed us more of her chest/incision site and the vein harvest location on her left leg. It’s certainly healing well and the dark bruising has mostly changed to yellow.  On Monday she might hear from her primary care physician regarding the feeding tube. She is feeling “out of the loop” in this area.

One thing I find disturbing is the lack of physical therapy over the weekend. We experienced this at RiverBend and now at the South Hill center. In a rehabilitation center wouldn’t you employ a PT for the  7 day week? Rehab doesn’t stop on the weekend folks! Why can’t they split the week between two employees, or hire a weekend staff. Must be due to money… Evelyn was lucky to have the dedicated nurses in ICU step-down continue the PT needs over the weekend.  Right now, she is gaining more mobility but still requires a nurse to be there so she doesn’t fall.

My mother has certainly become more particular with room/bed arrangements. One of the nurses was helping her get back into bed (might have been Liz). Anyway, my mom wanted “pillows placed under her legs but to make sure they didn’t go under her heals. The heals must be free from touching anything. And to make sure that the blankets don’t touch her toes either.” Smiling,  Liz responded was a flat “NO”! My mom was shocked, then realized Liz was just joking. Liz arranged the pillows to her specifications and all went well. What a surprise to Evelyn! She laughed about the incident when she described it to us.  I’m glad the staff has a sense of humor when working with their patients.

Her roomie Phyllis was watching the Duck game when we arrived. Evelyn seemed actually interested and was telling us about it. She seemed quite impressed at the team strength and running ability (the Ducks won). Did aliens abduct my mother? For the past 30 years she has made nasty comments about any football game! The drugs must still be affecting her!

Sunday, Mike & Shannon will make an appearance on her threshold yet again. Kim is off from work and will visit earlier in the day.  Lee will come back from Yachats and probably put in his two daily visits.  Tom? I think he might be coming over before heading back to PDX for training, but I’m not sure. I will be taking the day off from maternal visits. Clay Fest is still in swing at the Fairgrounds… hummm might have to go bug some friends!

Well, day 13 certainly was interesting.

I just got off the phone with Lee (and that would be his new cell phone) finding how yesterday went. Apparently he had an altercation with an 18 wheeler on I-5. It was coming onto I-5 and merged over to the far lane, which was occupied by my dad’s small truck. Fortunately Lee was able to slam on the breaks, not get hit by cars behind and all he lost was the passenger mirror (and a few years off his life from the scare!). The truck driver did stop and they exchanged insurance information. He said he was a tad leery heading off on the road this morning. He felt lucky not to have been munched beneath the undercarriage.

Mike & Shannon’s report from day 13 was good and bad. Evelyn certainly was much more herself on their visit. The doctor had stopped the feeding tube (but it’s not removed) in an effort to speed things along. Evelyn’s mouth is worse and she still isn’t consuming hardly anything. Fruit juice and that’s about it folks! How is a body supposed to heal if you can’t consume anything? And speeding things along with Evelyn? Not something one can do!!! She just doesn’t do that! Mike had mentioned the speech therapist was going to bat for her, trying to get the hospital to keep her for another day or two so her mouth problem could be addressed. Lee’s report this morning looks like she will be shifted to the rehabilitation facility at 1pm today. Dr Mean wants her out!

Maybe it will all be a good thing….

Think I’ll sit tight and wait for the outcome!

The big word today was WALKING!

Evelyn experienced a more restful night. With all that rest and new found energy, the physical therapist put her to work. She had two walking sessions in the morning, learning the finer points of getting one’s body up to standing position without the use of upper body strength! Then, with walker in hand, the PT had her take 75 steps total down and back in the hallway. Later on they had her go for round two, 40 steps total. By the time I arrived around 3pm, she was exhausted. Lee was just leaving her room and Kim arriving. I helped swab on some Vaseline for her crusty upset lips. Mike the PT came back for a little more torture before getting her back in bed. She had also gone through a workout with the speech therapist earlier in the day. Evelyn commented that she didn’t push herself to the maximum because she knew it would wear her out.  Her dissolved oxygen is still in a great level of 98%. They are concerned she might aspirate liquids into her lungs so all juice must include pectin. Day 12 cuisine wasn’t discussed. Once she returned to bed, she sent Kim & I out the door. She was tired and it was too much to even listen to talking.

She is finally grasping the sobering realization of what’s in store for her recovery. Many, many (many!) long days of physical therapy and pain. Her dreams of returning home quickly have shattered. She even mentioned to Lee or Kim that it would be a while before she COULD return to the coast home. Fortunately the nurses and PT’s are so full of wonderful encouragement and hope for her recovery.

Mike and Shannon will be on her entertainment roster for day 13. She is very much looking forward to his humor. She needs funny & uplifting energy, something Mike can handle! Bryant is interested in going down, possibly on Thursday. Kim is back at work on day 13. I will not be visiting her today. Lee, the trooper, in it for the long haul (his words) has one small project in wood that I’ve sent his way. Kim and I have been trying to figure out other things to engage his brain and pump up his energy. The project will get him out to visit the wood folks at the Campbell Senior Center.