One Day At a Time

 Mom woke up on her own this morning and was able to talk on the phone with Aunt Jinnie's kids. The neuro surgeon walked in and was surprised stating,  "good call on not doing the shunt."  I left at 6:00 am after taking care of the horses to relieve Beth. The nurse came in to evaluate mom and she was also impressed. Mom could do almost everything that she asked except for her left arm. She was able to wiggle her toes on the left leg and move it a bit which yesterday she could not do anything with that leg.  With her left arm we could tell mom was trying but she was not able to move it but when the nurse put her fingers into mom's left hand and asked her to squeeze it she did it. Dan came up this morning just as Beth was leaving. Right after he arrived one of the IV bags fell off the stand. This bag had been taped but we couldn't find any tape so Dan got out his toolywooly, poked another hole and rehung the bag.

The entire neuro team came in to talk and told us that mom would be moving to the step down unit today. Unfortunately the chest x-ray showed some pneumonia starting and she picked up a UTI. The antibiotic they were trying wasn't helping much so they switched to two different kinds. Diane and Aunt Jinnie arrived as the team was in the room and were able to hear most of what they told us.  Once the team left Dan and I left as they only allow 2 in the room at a time.  They moved her this afternoon she is now in room 3312 and that has a chair that reclines for the person spending the night. As they got off the elevator and mom was being rolled to her new room they ran into Bobby, others know him as Dr. Meister, Aunt Bernie's son.

 That was the perfect person to run into. He followed them to the new room and he is going to be able to arrange Molly, mom's dog to come for a visit. Mom's fever went up to 102 which set her back some so no Molly today but Joan had already given Molly a bath just in case. Diane had to leave for work around 3:00 pm so Karin came up to relieve her and Aunt Jinnie decided to stay the rest of the afternoon. Below she is helping mom eat her first real meal.

Mom had been asking for a steak and in the new room was finally given MEAT but it was ground up and mom said it tasted like mashed potatoes. She would eat a few bites, need to rest then eat a few more. When I got home around 11:30 am I worked with the weanlings haltering and starting the leading process by asking them to step forward or move back. They were given grain, fresh water and another bale of hay moved in. Evan needed a new bale and when Mark got home we got that done before cleaning up and heading back to the hospital.  Mark and I had the late shift tonight arriving at 6:30 pm to relieve Karin and Aunt Jinnie. Karin had made some chicken salad and had that in a cooler for our dinner. She had made enough for their lunch too.  We met Sarah R who was just leaving and she was glad to show us the way to the new room. They were trying to reduce the fever with tylenol and not letting mom have covers on but she wasn't too uncomfortable.  She only at a little sherbet and some thickened water which she did not really like. She wanted a real drink. I asked the nurse for some sponge sticks and ice water. That was perfect. She was allowed to suck on the sponge and really enjoyed the cold water.  Mark brought his laptop up and turned on Peoria church on Facebook live and we were able to watch Craig Stickling have the Bible study tonight. Mom enjoyed the singing. Joan arrived around 10:00 pm so we headed home. It was a surprising day with what we considered a miracle as last night things had turned bad and we thought without the shunt she may not be alive much longer but God has other plans. It really does teach us to just take one day at a time and now that song is stuck in my head.