Monday and Wednesday we had afternoon appointments and we learned very quickly that she is better in the mornings when she is rested and fresh. That makes total sense when you relate it to exercise most trainers will tell you that you will get your best results by having a morning workout routine. So we switched back to mornings, I'll just have to better discipline myself to work my business in the afternoon. Usually by the time we get there, have therapy and get back I'm ready for a nap too.
This week she had a lot of "down" moments mostly due to reality of her capabilities and limitations with her right hand. Yes, she can type and do quite a bit but the fine motor skills haven't returned yet, she still doesn't have full use of her right thumb and only partial use of her index finger. She still has 9 or 10 more weeks of therapy and according to my brother-in-law Dennis, who is a well respected physical therapist, this is the point where most patients go through a bout of frustration. Each week she progresses, however, she is wanting to be able to do more, be like she always was before. There are times when she cries because we have to help her do things that were simple that she never gave a second thought to doing them prior to this senseless attack. It's heartbreaking to watch her have to go through this emotional and physical struggle.
She had x-rays last week and we learned the results on Wednesday. The x-rays were of her left hand and wrist because she has been experiencing quite a bit of pain in her left wrist since we left the hospital. The x-rays show a SLAC wrist - Scapho-lunate Advanced Collapse. (Thank you to Albert, her therapist that she adores, for writing out the explanation for us.) Albert explains, "Over 15 years ago the ligament between the scaphoid and the lunate was torn. Over time the space has widened between the two bones and the capitate has migrated downward. This is very painful. It basically turns into an arthritic condition." He continues, "The only two treatments for this are to fuse a few of the bones together to limit movement at the joint. You will still have half of your movement and be able to function normally, but you won't have the pain. The other option is to have a row of the bones removed (proximal row carpectomy). Again, this procedure will preserve half of your movement." Albert recommends that she wait to see how well she recovers with her right hand to see if that alone helps the pain since she won't be so reliant on her dominant hand and she did not have pain in the left wrist prior to this injury. Tried to find some x-ray examples of normal vs SLAC wrist for the blog but you would likely need someone to point the exact difference. For now we are going to wait, if the pain continues when therapy draws near the end then she will likely have the surgery here and work with Albert/the Hand Institute for rehab if any is required. By the time that ends we should be getting closer to knowing if she is going to need additional surgery to re-route a different nerve to the thumb, she wants to have that surgery done here so that I can care for her if the surgery is necessary. Albert did make a custom brace for the left hand and wrist that he wants her to wear especially at night. This is to help push back any surgery or prevent it as I understand.
She is receiving scar therapy every day she goes to for therapy which consist of ultra-sound treatments and scar massage. We can definately tell that the scar is getting softer on the right arm. She is also wearing a pink silicone like mold on the right arm about 8 hours a day, minimum, which is helping to flatten out the scar and make it as normal looking as possible. It is making it look better; however, it's always going to be a very apparent scar and conversation piece.
I ask her all the time why she isn't more angry and she just tells me that she is grateful to be alive. She's told me several times that she doesn't want to live with Percy anymore and she probably doesn't want live with Fancy, the female dog that has bit her before. She isn't afraid of dogs amazingly enough, however, she is afraid of what those two dogs could do to her. In Florida, the attacking dog would have been removed from the home and not returned.
We went shopping yesterday for some clothes for Mom (she isn't too keen on my choice of clothes I packed for her). She wanted to go shopping for clothes that don't make her look like, and I quote, "an old lady". So we found some pull over shirts she likes and we are going to look some more this week when she is feeling up to it.
She's been using her computer a little more each day. She's has checked her email and has been to the H and R Block site and her banking sites.
She talked to Kitty, Marlalie and Aunt Nancy this week. Maybe a few others that she may have called that I don't know about. She received a card from her son Scott and his wife Cindy this week too. Aunt Janet fell a few weeks ago getting out of the shower and broke 3 or 4 ribs. Aunt Janet is in her 80's and lives alone. Mom learned of the fall on Sunday or Monday, Aunt Janet didn't want to tell her because she figured Mom had enough problems of her own. But in light of Aunt Janet falling getting out of the shower, Mom decided she should test her ability to take a shower on her own and in true Mom fashion she decided to do that when no one was at home!!! That was on Monday while Paul and I had an appointment together in Gainesville before her therapy appointment. I told her explicitly not to try to shower while I was gone (I had a real strong feeling in my spirit that she was going to do something she shouldn't.) Good thing she's the Mom or I would've spanked her for taking such a risk. She did alright though.
Well, I am going to close for now. Paul is on his way to the local Solantic. He was working on our bulldozer on Friday and ran a drill bit across/through the knuckle of his index finger. He stopped the bleeding and thought it would be alright. However, it's taken a turn for the worse and he went to have it looked at to see if there is any infection. It appears as though there might be because it is swelling and the pain was much worse this morning. On that note, I'm going to be very protective of my hands. It seems we have an epidemic going on in our family for hand injuries!
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