Date Night!

Tonight is date night for Mom and Dad...they'll be seeing a movie. Not sure what movie yet but it should be fun for both of them!

Mom had a blast this past weekend and loved seeing everyone! We'll have to do that again!

At the moment I'm trying to ask Mom what she would like for dinner. I got the answer "Salad." But we ALL know that won't be happening! When I told that to Mom she laughed, "maaahhaaaa" and nodded that she would not be eating veggies. We'll try out the hotdogs provided by Uncle Randy instead.

Mom is loving the warm weather! She no longer wears the long sleeved sweaters - instead she's been sitting out on the porch and back deck with Dad enjoying the birds. Currently she's inside sitting in her wheelchair watching CSI: Las Vegas..which has become a daily habit. Only thing different today is that she hasn't taken her morning nap. We have a hunch on why, but will see how the next few mornings go.

Till next time! :)

The Jewish Home

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of blogging, but things have settled in nicely here. We're no longer seeing groundbreaking changes but have continued to see improvement across the board.

Mom is going to the Jewish home every Tuesday and Thursday for three 45 minute sessions of therapy. Generally we start out in Speech therapy with Margaret. In our last session Margaret had a deck of cards with different foods on them. Mom was given a choice of two cards and had to choose which she would rather eat. She also had to say a phrase with it... for example she was shown the cards of fish and pizza. She chose pizza and was asked to say, "I like pizza."

After that she visits Liz for her occupational therapy. Liz can be grueling but has been working with Mom on transferring out of her wheelchair on her own. She also works extensively with Mom's hand and shoulder trying to get back some movement. She and the physical therapist would like to be able to open Mom's hand so that she can eventually put weight on it and perhaps use a walker - among other things.

Her physical therapist, Vicki, works with mom last and has been putting her in a harness attached to a treadmill. The harness allows mom to be fall-proof and try walking without holding onto anything. With Vicki helping to move Mom's foot she can get up to a speed of 1.3mph. Vicki has this remote controlled sensor thingy that she would like to try putting on Mom's right foot. Electronic pulses would help stimulate the muscles in Mom's foot and ankle and have it automatically start moving her foot up and down. We haven't tried it yet, and if it helps she can only use it while at the rehab center.. but ultimately it could help her brain learn how to move her foot up and down to allow for normal walking.

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When not at rehab Mom makes us watch all sorts of trashy TV. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration.. I just can't handle the marathons of America's Next Top Model or Housewives of NJ.

She's been talking to us a lot more and has been getting out small phrases. The other day when Dad came home Mom said, "Hooommmeee!" and then a few minutes later I heard, "Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!" Honestly - I don't have a clue where she gets that language from. I think something funny was said on TV and she was copying it.

We expect to have some visitors this Sunday, if you would like to drop by in the afternoon.. Feel free!

A Wonderful Saturday Visit

Drew and I decided to pop on over for a quick visit and I'm so glad we did. Martha was watching some John Travolta flick (don't remember her being a BIG JT fan), and was in great spirits on this wonderful Saturday afternoon. A lot of interaction between Andrew and his Auntie Martha as he once again started to take over the DeShong house - the Sunday Funday crew know exactly what I'm talking about! He just loves playing with Gary (the cat) and raiding Martha's cabinets. Martha enjoyed the madness as usual! Bronte and Chloe were sporting their new haircuts... very nice! It's always nice to see the DeShong gang. If you're in the neighborhood just stop on by, I know Martha would love to see YOU, too!

A movie and pizza

Last Wednesday, Linda, Bronte, Kate, and Kate's mom took Martha to the movies. They saw "The Blind Side." I met them for pizza after the movie. Martha seemed to enjoy herself. She even wheeled herself to the cash register to pay the bill when we finished. Hopefully trips like this will help motivate Martha to work hard at her rehabilitation, now that she's home. She's being a bit of a pain about it otherwise. It was also a break for Chloe and Dave. We'll try to do something on a regular basis, as schedules allow.

Martha At Home Update

Hello everyone. This is Micki (or Monique). I am Martha's older sister (well I quess I am ANOTHER one of Martha's older sisters because most of you probably know Mel). I'm the sister that lives away from home in Indiana.

Anyway, I came home to visit Martha this past weekend. I haven't seen her since she was in the hospital just a few days after her stroke. My son, Danny, and I came up during the blizzard. Martha has made remarkable strides since this all first began. Regretfully I wasn't able to see all that she is able to do. My visit was too short and she was in "one of her moods" the one day I got to spend with her. She didn't want to take her meds, she didn't want to eat, she didn't want to do much of anything. Knowing Martha as we all do, Dave, Bronte and especially Chloe, have their work cut out for them. Fortunately, Chloe has her mother's stubborness and determination. And Martha has never been one to shrug anything off because it meant hard work. Hopefully she won't get discouraged with herself. But if she does, she definitely has a very strong support system surrounding her. At times it's hard to know exactly what all she is grasping. Before I left her Sunday afternoon, I looked at her straight in the eyes and told her she had a lot of work to do, but I wanted my sister back. She seemed to understand that. And when I went to give her a hug goodbye and told her that I would be driving back to Indiana the next day, she just hung her head. So I knew she understood me then.

I would like to express a special thanks to her friend, Kate, who stopped by Sunday afternoon. With Kate's encouragement, Martha's mood brightened up and she got cleaned up and took her meds. And Kate planned a "girl's day out" for herself, Chloe and Martha. Today, after Martha's doctor's appt, they planned to go see a movie. (Chloe - please let us know how that went).

I know this is not necessary, but I would like to ask her friends to continue to stop by and give Martha as much encouragement as possible.

Friends and Family

Lets get some not so good news out of the way first. Pain or sensitivity in Martha's right arm has increased to the point that it is interfering with her therapies. Last Wednesday I took Martha to see a specialist at St Marys. The hope was he could add something to her meds that would help. The problem is that giving her a pain killer in the morning before her therapies would make her drowsy. This would not be good especially for speech. Hopefully there was some kind of procedure that they could do to block the pain only in her arm. These exist but the side effects of these may not be good for her to regain the control she needs to use the arm. The tone in her arm is so great that efforts to extend the arm and stretch the tendons and work the joints is very painful. The doctor opted to add a half dose of something in the morning. This would alleviate the pain and still allow her to function otherwise. The first days results were not too hopeful as she was indeed too sleepy to pay attention. I ended up putting her to bed. She did better in the afternoon. She may get used to the new med and do better later. The jury is still out.
Sunday was a good, good day for Martha. I brought her home for the now usual Sunday feast. During the course of the day 15 or 16 people visited . Some to eat and some just to say hello to Martha. Our old friends Gil and Noreen from the "Y" group showed up to see and wish Martha well. Gil sat down by Martha and immediately started briefing her on his latest cooking adventure. In no time at all he had her laughing. Gil has that affect on Martha (and others ). The St Cyrs were in town and dropped in to say hi and show her their new grandson, Jacob. Martha couldn't have been more delighted. Mike Spano and Julie arrived with a whole baking pan of Italian sausages and a mixed berry dessert. Kate brought another dessert. (there goes my diet again) Margaret, my friend from work and family filled out the day.
I include a lot of info in this blog about all the therapies Martha goes through at the hospital but when I see her here at home surrounded by friends and family, smiling and talking I think this may be the best therapy of all. To see her face light up when a friend, new or old, comes into the room makes my day. It's a long road back but with a support group like this she is gonna make it. Thank you all. Dave

Need your input

We're trying to figure out what Martha's favorite food was as a child. If you remember hearing her talk about a favorite food, please send me an email at mlr_00@yahoo.com. Thanks.