Closing in on the end of the first week in the Stroke Ward and Mr Trifectagirl is doing pretty well.
When he smiles, his smile is gradually becoming more even on the left and right sides.
He's now eating baby mush! Considering with the esophageal stent he may have faced nasal-gastric feeding for life, baby mush is a great step forward. Even if that's as far as we get, when it comes to food he's thankfully more flavour oriented than texture oriented.
He sits up in a chair for a while each day, but they have to put a safety belt around him as he keeps trying to get up and walk away. I think he tries this more when I'm with him than anyone else, so I need to seek information from the staff on that one.
Only problem is, he can undo the belt. 12 months of training with the myriad of baby products with clips and clasps probably comes into play here. Going by the scowl I got, I was very unpopular for telling the nurses he'd done this, as they promptly put him back into his bed.
There is some concern that cognitive function has been impacted and he doesn't completely understand all the time what is happening/is asked of him. For example, the doctor asks him to touch his elbow, and he touches his nose.
However, many a person who knows him that gets told this seems to respond with 'is he just being a prick? It would be within character'. I need to let the doctor know this as I did have to tell him to behave and cooperate while in the ICU - and he started to.
As stroke rehab is a long, slow process, I'm finding it easier to visit every two days or so, rather than daily. It lets me see progress and I need that at this stage. As the hospital staff have always said, he is being looked after, I don't have to worry about that. What I do have to worry about is looking after myself, so do what I need to do. It's easier to skip days for me to be able to see progress as I know there are a bunch of friends visiting now and breaking up the monotony for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment