Well Donna is into week two of therapy. It takes a toll and it shows in fatigue. She has had 2 good nights sleep and two naps yesterday and despite all that, she could barely keep her eyes open today with the exception of her two more physical therapies (physical and occupational). They give her no choice.
Donna went to specialized therapy this morning, garden group, where we go outside and pull weeds and water plants in some special (wheelchair friendly) beds. When she shook off the sleep, she got her hands dirty, literally. She loves to garden so this was great.
There is no doubt that she is getting much stronger. She is now able to pull herself up to a sitting position with some effort. Those abs are strengthening, their development are an important ingredient to much more we need Donna to do.
So, I spend a lot of time in this space talking about the exciting. There are more difficult times. Donna spends her time moving between 3 areas: sleep, clarity and confusion. I don't think I need to talk about the first 2. Confusion comes from a combination of the healing that has not yet happened and the jump she gets from stimulants provided. All geared to enhance the healing process but some times it makes her more confused. Each day is a variation on theme. We go through days when clarity steadily increases and we go through days when we step back a little. Overall the trend is good but the instantaneous can be very hard on us all. Day to day, hour to hour, we don't quite know what we will get. Patience is the rule of the day.
So on a lighter note, I am always trying to make a connection to something for her and do a little therapy too. Today I brought some real toe tappin cajun music and we danced. Well it wasn't quite like before, she sat in her chair and I stood but it took her mind off the fact that I was stretching the heck out of her tight right arm. It was great while she tolerated it. We'll revisit this later. Those who have been with her on a dance floor know this was just the ticket. We'll have to take a break for a few days as her good friend James decided that he was fixing her right arm now and casted it today. We'll cut it off in two days and it will serve as a splint she will wear at nights after. For you LSU fans, it is a brilliant purple. Not a coincidence, it is almost football season. I did pledge though that if she gets another cast and I have any say it will be black and gold.
We persevere,
Bob
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