Update on Grace, Friday, Sep 3

Friday. Latest update 8:45 PM.

4:00 PM - Jan had a meeting at work cancelled, so she ran down to visit Grace on her "lunch break."

She was only there a short time.

When Jan arrived, Grace was already up, she'd been fed and bathed, and she was dressed and in her wheelchair reading a book and combing her hair.

Jan says all of that was really a good sign, she was happy to see it all. It looked like progress.

Grace told Jan she was expecting the therapist at any time, so she declined Jan's offer to push her in the wheelchair to the courtyard.

She asked what day it was. Jan said, "It's Friday."

Grace said, "Oh, it's day 3 of close. How's it going?"

Jan was glad to hear that Grace remembered that. She said, "Good, work is good."

Then Grace told Jan she couldn't get her TV turned on, so Jan gave her another lesson on the remote control for the TV set and they got it turned on.

Then Jessie the therapist came in. She said they were going to take Grace to do their assessment of where Grace was. They need to do this for all new patients so they can administer the most effective therapy for them.

Jessie said she didn't know whether she or someone else would be Grace's primary therapist, but once the assessment was done, Grace would have one person who would be her primary therapist.

Jessie told Jan Grace will have physical therapy six days a week, and Occupational Therapy five days a week. They would need to wait on the results of the assessment to see whether they would be giving her speech (cognitive) therapy.

Then Jessie confirmed that Dr. Hobgood was Grace's surgeon, and that Grace has an appointment with him on the 16th at 12:45. Jessie said she would do her best to be there at the appointment with Grace, so she could get any information about needed therapy from the surgeon directly.

Then Jessie wheeled Grace off to therapy. Grace's leg was held straight out on a support brace of the wheelchair, wearing her soft cast/brace, and Jan left before noon.

We're about to go visit her now, maybe both before and after dinner, and I'll report when I get back.

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6:45 PM - Jan and I went to see Grace before dinner.

When we arrived, Grace was reading her new library book we brought last night, and she was already a good way into it. She gave us a huge smile when we came in the door and said how good it was to see us both.

Jan asked, "How was your therapy?"

Grace said, "There were some Cracker Jacks on the leaves."

Jan said, "In therapy?"

Grace nodded. "Yes. Therapy. The leaves were in the stream." She patted her chest. "The Cracker Jacks were on the leaves."

Jan and I looked at each other.

Jan then asked Grace, "Did they work you pretty hard? Did they give you some pain medicine?"

Grace nodded again. "Yes. They gave me some pain medicine after therapy."

Aha.

Jan picked up the book Grace had been reading. "So how's this book?" she asked. She read the blurb on the back cover. A mystery, with a pond, and probably some leaves...

We think that explains it. Reading the book, really immersed in the story, fairly recently having taken pain medications, then when we asked about therapy first thing, it all got tied up together and we had Cracker Jacks on leaves in the pond.

We talked about therapy some more, and things became a bit more clear. Grace said she did work hard at therapy.

I said to Jan, mostly for Grace's benefit, "She's working hard at therapy because she knows the harder she works, the sooner she can come home. And she wants to come home!"

Grace was enthusiastic in her assent. "That's right, I do," she said.

Then Jan talked with her for a while about what clothes we should bring from home. We are really happy that their policy there is to have all the patients get dressed every day. There's no question it perks up Grace's spirits and attitude, and goes a long way towards making the patients feel like they're truly on the road to recovery, much more so than if they had to remain in pajamas or a hospital gown all day.

Grace told us that last night she fell asleep with TV on, and got some vigorous complaints from her neighbor. Oh, well. What'cha gonna do? I don't think the TV in that room has an automatic shutoff timer. But I'll check it out to be sure. Grace likes having that on her TV at home and uses it quite a bit. That way she can just fall asleep and the TV shuts itself off after the set amount of time.

We asked what the procedure was for her getting out of bed, and Grace described how two helpers helped her up, and she would stand on her good leg while the two get-up-helpers and another wheelchair bracing helper would assist her into the chair. She seemed quite cheerful about the whole process, and I just know it's got to be a huge boost to her spirits simply to be able to get up and into a chair, instead of having to lie in a hospital bed all day.

We speculated what she might be having for dinner tonight, and Jan said, "Well, it's Friday. I'd betcha anything you have fish."

She nodded, "Likely so."

I said, "It's a good thing Grace likes fish."

She said, "Yes, I do!"

It was getting on to suppertime, so I said, "Grace, before we leave, do you want me to dial anyone on your phone so you can talk to them after we go?"

She thought about this for a moment and said, "No, I think I'll just read my book for a while."

If you're one of the people who thinks she should be calling you, please give her more time. First, that tiny phone is NOT the most user-friendly device I've ever encountered, and second, I think Grace wants to have a bit more time to get her faculties back before she has to engage in a conversation and answer questions.

Give her a bit more time, and please continue to pray for her.

Again, we're pleased so far with the new facility she's in. All the people there (with the one exception I told you about yesterday) have been pleasant and helpful, and it seems the therapists are all top-notch.

We're praying this is true throughout the facility, and that Grace will get the best of care there.

We're about to leave now to go back and take her the additional clothes she needs. I'll report again after that visit, but I'm expecting it will probably be a rather short one.

More to come soon.

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8:45 PM - We took another small suitcase of clothes to Grace after dinner tonight.

When we arrived, she was reading her book again. I'm sure that only part of her dedication to that book is that she's enjoying the book. Knowing Grace, I believe at least half of the reason she was reading the book is because she didn't want to turn on the TV - she thinks it might bother her roommate, and Grace, as you know if you know her at all, is the kind of person who will endure almost limitless personal inconvenience so she can be considerate of others.

I might be wrong about her reason for reading the book so much today, but that's my feeling about it.

Jan asked her what she'd had for dinner and she said tuna. Yep. Fish on Friday, as we expected.

She was ready to be prepared for bed. She said she had pushed the call button, but I looked outside the door and the call light was not illuminated. I told her to try pushing it again. She did and the light came on.

She was definitely looking forward to the helper coming to help her get into her jammies and get tucked into the bed.

While we waited for that, Jan put away the clothes we'd brought, telling Grace what each item was as she put it away. I didn't listen to that part very closely.

Then Jan said, "Mom, I brought your watch." She held it up and handed it to Grace.

"Oh, good," Grace said. "I've been wanting that."

"And I brought your cross necklace, too," Jan said, fishing in a zip-top bag for it.

Grace looked at it, then said, "I better not wear it in here. It would probably get all tangled."

So we put it back away.

"And Mom," Jan said, "I brought your wedding ring, like you wanted." She got it out. "You remember, I told you they had to cut it off your finger at River Oaks."

"Oh?" Grace said, a bit uncertainly.

"We can take it to a jewelers, if you like," Jan said, "and have it resized so it fits your hand better."

"Yes, that would be good."

I said, "Is there a ring in your room that's the right size, that we could use for the jeweler to use as a gage for the right size?"

Grace told me about a green stone ring that was still too large.

Jan said, "Well, with the wedding ring being too small, and the other ring being too large, the jeweler can probably come close to the right size."

Grace thought that would be a good idea.

Jan asked Grace if she was enjoying the book she was reading, and Grace said, "Yes, it's much better than the last one."

Not long after that, the helper arrived to help Grace get ready for bed, so we said nighty-nite and went home.

It wasn't a very long visit, but she was glad to see us.

And now I think we're all sleepy, so I'll say nitey nite to you, too.

More tomorrow.

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