Some weeks are harder than others
I can tell as the week wears on that I am getting tired. Lots of things are getting under my skin. I already told you about Linda's back pain not getting reported to the doctors because I was in Kirksville. I was there this morning so I reported it myself, but the doctors weren't finished with rounds when the med nurse came at breakfast, so she couldn't get Linda's ibuprofin (to her infinite credit, she ran them down and got them to sign the order after I mentioned it). I think I'm going to have to coach Linda on sticking up for herself. A day and a half is long enough to hurt before you start complaining to everyone. We also got a spinal X-ray out of the deal just to make sure nothing serious is wrong.
She told me last night that they dumped out her coffee when they cleaned the fridge. They did. Maybe it didn't have her name on it, but I had something tossed too, and I know it was labeled. I think she was a bit disappointed that I hadn't brought another back with me. I'll get her some tomorrow.
Today she told me that they don't feed her all of her meals when I am not there. I got to see an example of that this morning, because I left to take my shower during breakfast. I was just finishing up when breakfast group ended, and they brought her back to the room. I asked her if she had eaten everything, and she told me no. They hadn't offered it to her (obviously she needs to complain louder). I asked if she, at least, had drunk all of her fluids, since the doctors are particular about her drinking enough. Her orange juice hadn't even been opened. So I went back to the meal room and retrieved it from the cart. Apparently the same kind of thing happens a lot when I am not there. If she isn't done when the time ends, things just stop anyway.
It is still hard for Linda to ask for things. Even though her language is good, people still don't get it when she asks for something without context. She's often a bit slow, because it takes some effort, and people don't always hang around to see if she needs anything. I think I need to explain to her the principle of assertively pressing the call light until they figure out that you need something. It's been kind of bothering me since I found this 4ft tall SMILE poster in the work room. SMILE is an acronym that lays out the room protocol. I don't remember what the letters actually stand for, but I remember the M stands for announcing yourself by name (making your Mark). The last part is essentially, "Do you need anything else?" before you leave.
Oh, how much simpler life might have been if more people had asked that question back when Linda had a harder time communicating. It's no wonder she wanted me to spend nights at Rusk. Nurses would ask, "Are you wet?" but not, "Do you have to go to the bathroom?" Guess who was wet 20 minutes later? It's better now, but I still dread getting a new night nurse who hasn't worked with us. Just this week we somehow regressed to the, "Are you wet?" stage. And I'm over on my cot prompting, "Do you need to go to the bathroom? Did you kick the light by mistake? Do you need anything else?" Maybe if I wasn't tired it wouldn't be so annoying.
Since I am all complaints, I thought I would add that tonight one of my cats pooped diarrhea on my bed, so I am washing all of my bedding in addition to my clothes. Like I needed that hassle. She (the cat) does it to express discontent. Perhaps you'll be appalled to learn that when we were at the hospital and thought Linda was going to die, I realized I would be able to put the cats down. They are the single thing that most makes me desire to be a gun owner. I'm always held back by the need to store and secure a weapon, and I don't want that trouble, so they live. I bet Jen Creer will be glad she adopted Boone when she reads this.
There was a big revelation today. Several times when I asked Linda about why she was crying, she would tell me, "It's just part of the stroke." That's really common with strokes, and I knew that, but I can honestly say I didn't really get it until today. Lately she has told me that people misunderstand her a lot, including me. The crying was one of those things. She had had a crying spell just before our morning OT session, and Lyndsay came in on the end of it. She had some information about the crying, including what it is called (although that escapes me at the moment).
The summary is that she will often cry when she isn't really upset. She described it as kind of like being pregnant again. The important thing to understand is that it's really more physical than emotional. It turns out that she laughs a lot in the same way, but that usually isn't quite as embarrassing as the crying. So we are developing a protocol, starting with, "Are you sad?" Because if she isn't really sad, we should work on stopping the tears, not comfort (which is just annoying). The system for stopping the tears consists of interrupting the physical pattern of crying: breathing slowly and deeply, relaxing her forehead, etc. It's likely to get easier with practice, particularly now that we understand it better.
I can tell as the week wears on that I am getting tired. Lots of things are getting under my skin. I already told you about Linda's back pain not getting reported to the doctors because I was in Kirksville. I was there this morning so I reported it myself, but the doctors weren't finished with rounds when the med nurse came at breakfast, so she couldn't get Linda's ibuprofin (to her infinite credit, she ran them down and got them to sign the order after I mentioned it). I think I'm going to have to coach Linda on sticking up for herself. A day and a half is long enough to hurt before you start complaining to everyone. We also got a spinal X-ray out of the deal just to make sure nothing serious is wrong.
She told me last night that they dumped out her coffee when they cleaned the fridge. They did. Maybe it didn't have her name on it, but I had something tossed too, and I know it was labeled. I think she was a bit disappointed that I hadn't brought another back with me. I'll get her some tomorrow.
Today she told me that they don't feed her all of her meals when I am not there. I got to see an example of that this morning, because I left to take my shower during breakfast. I was just finishing up when breakfast group ended, and they brought her back to the room. I asked her if she had eaten everything, and she told me no. They hadn't offered it to her (obviously she needs to complain louder). I asked if she, at least, had drunk all of her fluids, since the doctors are particular about her drinking enough. Her orange juice hadn't even been opened. So I went back to the meal room and retrieved it from the cart. Apparently the same kind of thing happens a lot when I am not there. If she isn't done when the time ends, things just stop anyway.
It is still hard for Linda to ask for things. Even though her language is good, people still don't get it when she asks for something without context. She's often a bit slow, because it takes some effort, and people don't always hang around to see if she needs anything. I think I need to explain to her the principle of assertively pressing the call light until they figure out that you need something. It's been kind of bothering me since I found this 4ft tall SMILE poster in the work room. SMILE is an acronym that lays out the room protocol. I don't remember what the letters actually stand for, but I remember the M stands for announcing yourself by name (making your Mark). The last part is essentially, "Do you need anything else?" before you leave.
Oh, how much simpler life might have been if more people had asked that question back when Linda had a harder time communicating. It's no wonder she wanted me to spend nights at Rusk. Nurses would ask, "Are you wet?" but not, "Do you have to go to the bathroom?" Guess who was wet 20 minutes later? It's better now, but I still dread getting a new night nurse who hasn't worked with us. Just this week we somehow regressed to the, "Are you wet?" stage. And I'm over on my cot prompting, "Do you need to go to the bathroom? Did you kick the light by mistake? Do you need anything else?" Maybe if I wasn't tired it wouldn't be so annoying.
Since I am all complaints, I thought I would add that tonight one of my cats pooped diarrhea on my bed, so I am washing all of my bedding in addition to my clothes. Like I needed that hassle. She (the cat) does it to express discontent. Perhaps you'll be appalled to learn that when we were at the hospital and thought Linda was going to die, I realized I would be able to put the cats down. They are the single thing that most makes me desire to be a gun owner. I'm always held back by the need to store and secure a weapon, and I don't want that trouble, so they live. I bet Jen Creer will be glad she adopted Boone when she reads this.
There was a big revelation today. Several times when I asked Linda about why she was crying, she would tell me, "It's just part of the stroke." That's really common with strokes, and I knew that, but I can honestly say I didn't really get it until today. Lately she has told me that people misunderstand her a lot, including me. The crying was one of those things. She had had a crying spell just before our morning OT session, and Lyndsay came in on the end of it. She had some information about the crying, including what it is called (although that escapes me at the moment).
The summary is that she will often cry when she isn't really upset. She described it as kind of like being pregnant again. The important thing to understand is that it's really more physical than emotional. It turns out that she laughs a lot in the same way, but that usually isn't quite as embarrassing as the crying. So we are developing a protocol, starting with, "Are you sad?" Because if she isn't really sad, we should work on stopping the tears, not comfort (which is just annoying). The system for stopping the tears consists of interrupting the physical pattern of crying: breathing slowly and deeply, relaxing her forehead, etc. It's likely to get easier with practice, particularly now that we understand it better.
<< Home