Mum was chuffed the other day when a nurse referred to her as the hardest working patient in the unit. So I thought I’d document exactly what a day in the life of such a hard working patient looks like. I surprised Mum and Dad Saturday night after arranging with the ABS to work out of the Brisbane office for the next month. As such, I was able to spend the whole day with Mum today for the first time in a few weeks.
A day in the life
6:00 – Wake up. It’s Monday morning and time to work.
7:30 – Breakfast. Mum loves porridge and eggs for breakfast. They certainly don’t go hungry in the unit! As Mum is eating independently now, a family member no longer needs to be with her and we can arrive after her ablutions – around 9:30am.
9:30 – I arrived at the hospital at 9:30am to find Mum had been fed, showered, dressed and put into a wheelchair for the day. But mostly I arrived just in time to be kicked out of the room for her speech therapy session. The speech therapist prefers to work with Mum alone. However, Mum’s friend, Sally, was also visiting and was granted permission to observe the session.
Sally said:
“I found today fascinating. I was so glad I went. She can clearly still read. It’s just a case of forcing her brain to go the left automatically and start reading from the right place: the left of the page and the left of the word. It’s so encouraging to think she could regain her ability to read. That just gave me such hope.”
10:00 – We got back to the room to find Mum being visited by Dr Chan who was pleased with Mum’s improved range of movement and pain management. Mum actually had a near fall last night because of a gap in the nurse’s training in patient transitions (the process of transferring Mum from bed to her wheelchair to her shower chair) and we were a bit concerned but Dr Chan said she had no injuries so that was a relief.
10:20 – By this stage, Mum wanted to get a bit of sun and get out of her room so we wheeled her out to the balcony for a bit of sun before physio. Mum’s friend Sandy had joined us by this stage and the four of us had a chat in the Brisbane sun for ten minutes when the physio girls came to take her to…
10:30 – Physiotherapy. As I mentioned, Mum had a near fall last night and I have to hand it to the physio and nursing team – they were not complacent about it. Mum spent the first twenty minutes of her physio session in her room being transferred from her chair to bed and back again as a training exercise for the nurses (this activity is what requires the ‘plonk’ ‘plonk’ motion Max referred to in his post. Even the physios have started to call it that now). Mum’s a pro at transfers… apart from her pesky impulse control issues. Waiting until they say “Go” is not something she’s good at – although she says it’s because they take too long to say “Go” in the first place.
From there it was a short stroll (or in Mum’s case, a short wheel) down to the gym to practice her standing. Mum has definitely become better at getting herself up and at straightening her knee. Unfortunately, she was a little tired by this stage and also reported some dizziness. Despite this, she did some excellent standing and locked her knee. Mum’s strength has improved considerably since I saw her last.
11:30 – Mum required some more ablutions, which meant she didn’t get to see the OT until
12:00 – Mum’s least-favourite session. Occupational therapy is all about functional recovery; re-learning the skills you need to get back the tasks you consider meaningful. Unfortunately for Mum’s therapist, OT involves manipulating Mum’s neglected left side either manually or with electric stimulation. This “passive ranging” helps to move Mum’s muscles; improving tone and helping to stop fluid pooling. It’s also extremely painful for Mum who describes OT as her least favourite thing to do. I wasn’t going to put any photos up of Mum’s OT session – mostly because of the sheer misery on Mum’s face throughout – but decided the following could not go unseen.
12:30 – Lunch. Mum finally got to have something to eat and to have a bit of a rest afterwards.
14:30 – No rest for the wicked as physio resumed with another training session (this time for the afternoon nurses). After the transfer lesson, we wandered once again toward the gym where Mum spent an hour on the sliding machine. The sliding machine is some seriously hard work; with Mum lying down on the machine and sliding her body up the bed with her left leg. They then incline the machine and do another ten reps before inclining it again. Mum did forty reps in all and made me send a video to Dad and Rick to show them just how hard she’s working.
Forty slides using only her left leg? No more complaints about PT, Rick! Mum says you’ve got nothing on her.
16:00 – Some of the afternoon/night nurses requested another training session on Mum’s transfer to the shower chair and bed so the physios came back again to demonstrate the technique. It’s quite comforting to see the staff take Mum’s safety so seriously and to see them working with the physios to make sure they have the process down. Nonetheless Mum was extremely tired by
17:30– when the nurses came to take her to dinner and I left for the day.
I don’t know about Mum but I was certainly exhausted after today.
Addendum: We’re current looking at transferring Mum to another sub-acute unit in Townsville so that she’ll be in Townsville when she finishes her rehab. No word as yet but I’ll update the blog when we know more.
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