Journal entry by Cindy Tucker —
I'm happy to report that Mom (Mayrene) is settling in well at home and getting stronger each day. We're hoping that the at-home Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy will start early next week. She's been doing her exercises faithfully, which isn't a surprise to any of us! 😉
At this point, she can move around the house easily with her walker and/or wheelchair. We did purchase a new recliner with the power lift feature. Even without raising it very much, standing up from a seated position has gotten much easier. Just two weeks ago, she had to think through every step of the process. (1. Scoot to the front of the chair. 2. Rock forward three times. 3. Use ALL OF THE CORE muscles to stand up and balance.) If you watch her stand up now, you might not even realize that she still has fractures just about everywhere!
Getting in and out of bed is actually fairly easy for her, but the mandatory back brace and walking boot are still a struggle. She can't bend (Ummm, hello ... 5 fractured vertebrae!) so she's completely unable to put on or take off the walking boot. She's able to somewhat "assist" putting on the back brace, but she really feels most secure when it's pretty tight. Her left hand is pretty useless right now, so she's just not able to get the brace secure enough.
We took our first field trip to WalMart yesterday afternoon. Y'all ... it's hot out there! We don't have a handicapped placard yet, but Sonia scored a "front row" parking spot. I think we still managed to get a sunburn in the time it took to get the wheelchair set up, mom in the chair, and trudge across the parking lot. ☀😎☀
Mom has an appointment with her general doctor this week and we are hoping he can provide us some answer to a few things, or at least point us in the right direction. We hope he can advise us on the best options for an orthopedic doctor (and neurosurgeon) that will evaluate the x-rays from the first days in the hospital and the newer ones to see if we're actually healing the way we think we are!
Sonia returns to work in a week. We're a little anxious about that - getting up in the night a time or two to help with the whole "boot/brace on, boot/brace off" process makes for a bit of a slow morning! She leaves for work in the wee hours of the morning - and Dominick leaves even earlier! We do know, however, that this is a temporary situation. We often remind ourselves how blessed we were - it could have been so much worse.
We are thankful for the meals and gift cards. Mom's doing really well but doesn't really have the stamina to cook or prepare things. 😊 We thank you, again for the continued prayers.
At this point, she can move around the house easily with her walker and/or wheelchair. We did purchase a new recliner with the power lift feature. Even without raising it very much, standing up from a seated position has gotten much easier. Just two weeks ago, she had to think through every step of the process. (1. Scoot to the front of the chair. 2. Rock forward three times. 3. Use ALL OF THE CORE muscles to stand up and balance.) If you watch her stand up now, you might not even realize that she still has fractures just about everywhere!
Getting in and out of bed is actually fairly easy for her, but the mandatory back brace and walking boot are still a struggle. She can't bend (Ummm, hello ... 5 fractured vertebrae!) so she's completely unable to put on or take off the walking boot. She's able to somewhat "assist" putting on the back brace, but she really feels most secure when it's pretty tight. Her left hand is pretty useless right now, so she's just not able to get the brace secure enough.
We took our first field trip to WalMart yesterday afternoon. Y'all ... it's hot out there! We don't have a handicapped placard yet, but Sonia scored a "front row" parking spot. I think we still managed to get a sunburn in the time it took to get the wheelchair set up, mom in the chair, and trudge across the parking lot. ☀😎☀
Mom has an appointment with her general doctor this week and we are hoping he can provide us some answer to a few things, or at least point us in the right direction. We hope he can advise us on the best options for an orthopedic doctor (and neurosurgeon) that will evaluate the x-rays from the first days in the hospital and the newer ones to see if we're actually healing the way we think we are!
Sonia returns to work in a week. We're a little anxious about that - getting up in the night a time or two to help with the whole "boot/brace on, boot/brace off" process makes for a bit of a slow morning! She leaves for work in the wee hours of the morning - and Dominick leaves even earlier! We do know, however, that this is a temporary situation. We often remind ourselves how blessed we were - it could have been so much worse.
We are thankful for the meals and gift cards. Mom's doing really well but doesn't really have the stamina to cook or prepare things. 😊 We thank you, again for the continued prayers.
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