Please pray for my mum…

Glad to hear the process is moving along to get her home .  It can be hard work at times. But like I've said over and over, I would do it again in a second if I had to.   I hope that You continue to post on here about her recovery and so on after she's home.    It's nice to see the good sides of people are still there , the world has gone crazy and the focus on negative stuff is constant. 

Seeing people come  together to offer support for You and Your mum, and seeing You working to help her is so refreshing and reminds us all that there is still a lot of good in the world. I hope that Your Mum can harness the energy and support and have an amazing recovery and enjoy many more years of life.  

 I hope that somebody seeing Your posts that is in a position to do the same thing for their parents follows Your lead. I was surprised by the level of surprise I got  while caring for my Mum.

 I know that it's not always possible. That some people require care that is too intense to handle without extra help, help that may not be available to them. I don't want anybody to feel bad about being unable to do what Your doing for their parents. The important thing is that they do what they can to make sure their parents are in the best place for them.  If that place is an assisted living facility, I strongly suggest going and visiting as often as possible. And advocating for Your loved ones if You see something that is not right. 

Both my Mom and Sister worked in Assisted living places and families being there , pushing for something sometimes helped them be able to have more resources to help them ( simple things like an extra bedside table, or air mattress, or different type of bedding, etc.) .  It's one thing if they ask for something, and another if a family pushes for it. There are a lot of amazing people that work in those places.But like any workplace there can be some not as amazing ones too. If You visit and see any of those , You can   ask to not have them work with our parent . Sometimes that may just not be possible. But sometimes they can move them around and You help Your parent avoid a person who might make their day less enjoyable for the time that person is around.   

 My Mom and Sister told me stories of people  that their families never visited . And told me stories about families who came often.  I know it can be hard to watch a parent decline, but often them seeing You can be the highpoint of their day or week.  And try not to get upset if they forget something. My Mum  didn't want to disappoint anybody by not remembering something . I would refresh My mums memory with a little story about whatever person or things we talked about if she seemed confused . It worked well for my Mum.  But just visiting and updating them on the good things going on . Keep them a part of Your life . You will never regret spending more time with a loved one. And the more time You spend with them, the better chance of catching them on a good day and making some amazing memories that You will be forever grateful to have.  

Good to hear from you! Prayers for your Mom and yourself. Mutt

Awesome news!   When helping my Mum, I would do the same. Have her do as much as she could and  some days she was able to do more. Some less.  It's a great way of getting her back to being able to do it on her own.

One of the harder things to do was to watch my Mom struggle as she pushed to gain back her mobility. She was very determined so I did not need to push her at all. She would push herself and sometimes I would tell her to relax and not push too hard.  If I saw  the activity from one day bleed into less energy the next, I learned what too much was.  Sometimes she would want to struggle through to be able to do it herself. Other times she asked me to help her.  I reminded her that it gets easier and would show her progress when she had days she was discouraged. 

 Coming onto Vital  when I get into the office, first thing I check is this thread. Hoping to see some good news and start the day off happy for You and Your Mum. I know its not always going to be great days, but staying positive and finding something positive on the worst days helped my mom and me. I;m happy to see that there were multiple posts and that things are moving in a great direction!! 

 Hope You get to enjoy today's race with Your mum, last week at Millville I saw many things that reminded me of my Mum and dad. With riders with their lucky numbers finishing in spots that would have meant something number wise. Overall it felt like a sign from My mum and dad that we were watching the moto together as a family again. Like we had for so long. It brings a big smile to my face to hear of the good news with You and Your mum, and thinking of You both watching the race , brings back so many memories of watching races with My mum.    

Mom turned 94 last Wednesday. We had a nice afternoon celebrating with cake and listening to mom tell stories. Even some unintended comedy when mom wasn't hearing well. 3 of her 4 children were there with spouses. Even the cleaning lady popped in. Mom and her really get along. She calls mom "Miss Margaret"

Glad things are going well ffor you and Mum Ezza. 🙂💪

Positivity and Progress. 

Simply wonderful.

💪🏼

So happy to see her improving. Laughter truly is the best medicine. 

My mum was cracking jokes right up until the end.  Glad to see that Your Mum is able to have some laughs and enjoy herself!

 It sounds like You will do fine with her at home. Similar setup to what we did for my Mum. with her spending a lot of time in the living room.  We got a commode  that doubled as a raised toilet if You placed it over the toilet. It has 2 arms so it makes it easier to on and off. We also got a sliding shower seat that made it safer and easier to get into the shower for her.  The bathroom she used only had a tub/shower. If You have a walk in style shower than You might not need a shower seat at all. I happened to have some of that stuff from back when I was recovering from a bone infection that required multiple surgeries  that took about a year and a half total.  So I had the seat already.  

 Those 2 things can be bought on amazon for about $125 ish each  for decent ones.  You'll know better if You need these things than I do. 

 I also got a  gait belt for helping my Mum walk. Its kinda like a kidney belt with grab handles so You have a safe and solid way of helping her balance when getting back into walking. Some are just a beefy thicker standard looking nylon woven belt. I had my Mom help pick out some of the stuff. She loves tie dye and purple , so we got a purple belt and a tie dyed one. 

 I had a thermometer and scale, but I got one of those things You stick on your finger that measures the oxygen levels and some other vitals so I could chart those things on a daily basis and I would take notes of any irregularities or readings that seemed to align with any issues My mom had.

I also got a blood pressure cuff.  CVS pharmacy happened to be where I bought my scale, and the scale has an app . They have the other tools  that connect to the same app . So making sure that all are compatible will help You track stuff easier if they all can use the same app.  I'm not saying they have to be a certain brand. But if You can get them so they all work together You can collect better info to relay to Dr.s when You have a visit. 

 We were able to find out my Mom had a very high resting heart rate by monitoring everything and having so many data points it was clear that it was not an isolated event.  She was having a hard time communicating exactly what was going on. Just saying she felt afraid , but she didn't know why. 

 There may be some other things that would fit Your Mum's recovery better. I talked to My moms PT and OT people and asked what I should get for her at home. They had told me the minimum, but I asked them for any recommendations to make things better than the minimum. 

 The bedside table made eating much easier for my mum. Since it can slide over the lap.  Even just for having a drink or spot to hold the TV remote for her. It gave her an easy to reach spot that was solid. 

 So happy to hear that she's heading home, I'm sure she will sleep MUCH better at home . Even if You have a rough night here and there, a bad night at home is better than a good night in the hospital or rehab.  I loved seeing those photos of Your Mum. Reminded me of the visit My mom had with one of her friends that she had been friends with since before they could talk. My Mum is the taller one.  They shared so many funny stories  that day.   I know I need to paint the trim on the house. We were getting color chips to figure that out.  We were planning on going with a dark red.    

I second that Arm760. Mum looks happy and laughter is a great medicine.

It is so awesome to read all the positive updates, Ezza. Keep em coming.

Tell your Mum that the African Vitard sends his love and strength...all the way from Cape Town

That’s great news!🎉 GO MUM!❤️

   Sometimes Ezra that is just the thing you need, a chance to chat about a subject that is dear to you, even if only a few minutes, is all it takes to get you moving forward again.  Wishing you the brightest and best of Luck !

Awesome stuff!  Looks like Your going to be set up well to get Your mom back in good shape! 

 Everytime I scroll this thread and I get to the photos of Your Mum making the faces , I get a BIG smile and I wanted to have You thank Your mother for that. Sometimes it's hard for me to read about similar things going on with Your mum with my Mum's passing having been so recent. But it never fails to brighten my day and give me a nice warm feeling of happiness when  see  those photos.  

 Keep on pushing and don't let bad days get You down. Often as people recover its one step forward and a half step back. Doing a lot more will often result in being tired and doing a lot less the next day. One-time I was told that I couldn't over do my PT by one of the PT people after one of my many foot surgeries .  Then they told me that I was the rare person who had overdone his PT and to step it back a little.  I never pushed my Mum like that, but sometimes I would see her pushing like that and I would tell her about my experience and how she could make it take longer to recover if she overdid it too often. We both just wanted to get her back walking ASAP and  may have over done then under did things. Its easier to see now with time providing some hindsight. During the process its easy to be sucked into just going. 

  We found that my Mum liked having a sheet ( Duh I know that's obvious) over the mattress and then one of those soft fleece throw blankets on top as a toper. It made the mattress less noisy and most of the nurses didn't realize it was an air mattress until I told them. It was nice and super soft. We have so many of them that it made sense for us.  That extra little thickness helped keep the sound down from the air moving around  felt more like a regular bed for my Mum. She had a pressure sore that we were able to heal  after getting the air matress and also some wound care stuff. And it kept her from having any issues . And the blanket didn't impact it negatively.  

 Hope that You and Your Mum have an amazing day and that everything goes smoothly for You both!  Thanks again for the smiles, it's a similar feeling to when I would see my mum smiling.  

Its strange. I felt relief when I saw that photo of your kum in her bed.  I feel so relieved for you and her.  

So happy for both of you !!  And hoping for the best. 

That's so awesome !  It reminds me of my mum having similar words for her dog.  I've spent enough time in hospitals from MX  injuries   and an infection that resulted from one of the surgeries.  And being back at home always gave me a mental boost. And allowed me to relax and I saw the same from my Mum.  

 Awesome seeing the pics and hearing about the positives.