With improvement comes more danger
NOW FOR GOOD NEWS: There have been some positive things happen that has affected Bob greatly! Remember the chair lift we got, that I had hoped would start him into more action? Well, 3 things happened, that I think has had a great affect on him:
1. The blessed chair lift, which made it possible for him to get up and down at will, = freedom and more mobility creates more mobility
2. Getting to see son & fiancee, was an upper
3. Seeing everyone doing and working made him want to get up and be more active
All these things are working together to make him better. He usually sleeps 15 hours a day and when I see his eyes blur over and know he is headed for bed, I'd give him his baclofen so he wouldn't stiffen up during his naps. He has not had the tiredness, in the last week! So, since he was so alert, I haven't given him the morning and afternoon baclofen. He has only had to take only the bedtime baclofen (instead of 3xday) and he is feeling so much better. His eyes are clear, and look more like himself, talking better and thinking more, trying to express thoughts, and saying he is having good happy days.
Along with this comes the dreaded part, I knew would come one day. I knew while he couldn't get up and down, he was at least safe from hurting himself. Now, his brain is faster and he is acting on things, like normal people do. For instance, Monday Oct 22, I was trying to move the shower bench and the curtain hung on it and he reached out to help get it off, like a normal person would do. Unfortunately, this made him go off balance and he fell. BUT, for the first time, he was able to assist in getting up. The few times he has fallen, he has been like a turtle on it's back, unable to bring his legs up or roll over, needing complete assistance up. This time, he was able to crawl to the couch and only needed my help in getting raised up on it!
Then we were going thru the living room, me holding the gait belt, him the hemi-walker, and he made a funny step, like not the one you should be doing with a hemi-walker, but trickier, like anyone might do. He started going down, and he was close to the chair, so I was able to get him falling into it. A few times he has gotten close to his chair and sat aside the hemi-walker and tried to turn around, this worries me, as his brain is thinking like a normal person, wanting it out of the way, but his body is NOT there yet!
So, he's been wanting to walk around thru the house more, which I told him I wanted to see, because since he could get up and down and strenghten his legs and do some stationary exercises, next was to start moving around the house (with me!), to gain more balance/mobility. So we've been doing that, but I warned him.... after the fall and the almost fall, and seeing him make some questionable steps. I warned him that his brain was thinking faster, but he had to STOP and consider if his body should follow what his brain thinks, or shouldn't he stop and think about the move first. Not move on impulse, but by evaluating the move and considering what it would take to do it. Ok, I know from reading a stroke book that they want to act on a thought and think later, but you have to start somewhere, so I warned him several times.
One of the rooms we went to Tuesday was the back screened in porch. There is a half step up to the house, and both times, coming in, his toe caught and I put my foot under his and lifted it up, he KNOWS that. So, Wednesday, I fell on my face and told him I had to lay down a couple of hours, once I got him on the porch, happily sorting hot wheels. As I woke up, I think, man I have to get up and get him in here, it is getting a little dark. As I come out of the bedroom, there he is, walking thru the dining room from the porch! He said he didn't want to wake me, as I looked so tired. While impressed, I still had to admonish him, because just the day before he stubbed his toe twice, and if he'd fallen coming in, it would have NOT helped me to have to deal with that!
So yes, he is improving, and with that, we move into the more dangerous time of him acting on a thought and falling or whatever.... so my alertness will now need to be more alerter(yes, I made that word up ;P
I have hoped and prayed he would get to this next point, at the same time, knowing, it would be a more dangerous time to negotiate thru!
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