Here goes! Another big day-mom’s last full day at HealthSouth. It started with family training day at 8:15. Four back to back therapy sessions: occupational, speech, physical and an extra occupational  and getting in and out of the car safely training. Then on to radiation! Nothing but fun over here.

Occupational therapy was a revelation. Mom does not follow basic instructions nor does she listen if she doesn’t want to do what is asked or cannot for some reason, process it. Uh-oh. It’s starting to hit me that there is a lot more going on here than I had anticipated.

Speech therapy further proved that point. First, when given a worksheet, she started in the middle, and jumped around wherever she wanted trying to skip anything too challenging. It was difficult to watch. Her mind is simply not working the way it once did. Temporary or permanent? It’s anybody’s guess. The second occupational therapy didn’t go much better, nor did physical therapy.

On my last afternoon of freedom, Rick and I went to the casino, because it just seemed like something different. Something I won’t be able to do for a while. Then we came home and had a nice quiet dinner, just the two of us, because that is unlikely to happen for quite some time either. I feel bad because mom is so looking forward to going home and that is the end of my life as I know it. I will miss it. A lot. I already have the last month…this will just kick it up a notch.

I also found out today that the second lady I had hoped to have help out at home is no longer available. I have one kind soul to take mom four nights a week. That leaves me with 3 nights, and 7 days per week until I can find someone else. If anyone knows of someone reliable please let me know, because this schedule cannot work for long. While an hour here and there might be helpful, something scheduled and consistent is what we need. Desperately.