New Room

Hi All. Mom changed rooms today, to room 357. Apparently, her first room, was far too noisy, due to its close proximity to the nursing station. The nurses are loud and don't seem to quiet down overnight, so Mom wasn't able to sleep well last night. Her new room is further down the hall, and her roommate (the rehab has only 2 private rooms) has very nice family who comes to visit her. So, Mom will have a bit more socialization in her new room.

Mom started PT and OT today. She has a pretty busy schedule now that she's at rehab with PT, OT and Speech Pathology each day. The Speech Pathologist will work with her not so much on her ability to speak, but on her words and cognitive skills. We see her coming back to herself more and more each day, but the SP will be able to help move that along even more. She'll also have a Recreational Therapist, who will work with her on things she likes to do. She's even bringing her dog to the rehab on Monday, since Mom told her she likes dogs!

While Mom is clearly in a place that will aggressively work to gain her some independence, we are all missing John Muir in Walnut Creek. CPMC certainly doesn't tend to Mom (or us!) like they did at John Muir, where she had been ever since the accident. Rehab doesn't seem to be quite as compassionate and kind. But, we all get to transition as she gets better and better.

Geoff is spending the night at the hospital with Mom tonight, to help her get acclimated. Tomorrow, she starts PT at 9:15 - right after breakfast - so we'll head in to see her later in the morning. When I was there this evening, she was much more relaxed and her room was much quieter. She has a beautiful view of San Francisco from her room, which she loves.

As she wakes up and the new staff ask her questions, it is clear that she knows what happened to her. She will tell the staff about the accident (in a nutshell), but she will not talk about it any further. Tonight, she did say to me "I just can't believe I'm like this," which just kills me because I can't believe it either. I'm glad she's starting to talk about it, or at least acknowledge it. She'll be seeing a Psychiatrist starting Monday, which will help even more.

I'm off to bed. It's been a busy day today. It is Heather's birthday, so we (Geoff, Heather, me and some of Heather's friends) went to the world's largest corn maze. We split into teams and OUR TEAM WON (thanks to Geoff's competitive nature... er, navigational skills!) at getting out the fastest. 40 acres of corn maze! Anyway, that sandwiched between hospital visits can wear a girl out.

More later.

love,
jennifer