So Many Changes

I haven't written in my blog for so long, I've forgotten how to use blogspot! The past two weeks have been so hard, I decided I need to write a few things down before I forget the timeline. January 16, 2o14, Mom had a serious stroke. She had a 'mini-stroke' on December 3, and it was such a shock when it happened again. I went over about 9:30 Thursday morning, and she was sitting in her recliner, just staring out the window. She had a very 'flat affect', meaning very little expression on her face. I asked her what happened, and it took her several seconds to respond. She said she had fallen and hit her head when she got up to go to the bathroom. As she was leaving the bathroom, she fell against the doorjamb and hit the side of her head, bounced off and hit the other side of the doorjamb, again bumping her head. So there were 3 hits to the head, I thought, which could account for her behavior. I was assessing the situation and continued to talk with her, becoming more worried by the moment. I called her doctor and explained what happened, and they sent us to the emergency room. We found out that Mom had a stroke, but it was quite a shock to me when the doctor was doing a stroke assessment; she had no numbness or paralyzation on any limbs, but she couldn't see his fingers wiggling at her on the left side. He sent for a neurologist, who did a more thorough assessment, and it quickly became clear that the stroke had damaged her brain's ability to interpret the messages the left eye was sending. The doctors and nurses seem to think this damage may be permanent, which means she can no longer drive. Her swallowing was also affected somewhat, but that cleared up pretty quickly. By the next day she was returning to normal thinking and responses, which was a huge relief to me. She was very unsteady on her feet and having difficulty with her new vision problems, so I pushed to have her admitted to a good rehabilitation hospital. The doctor recommended Mountain Valley Rehab in Prescott Valley, and they moved her Friday evening. Allison drove through the night Friday night, spent a few hours sleeping at Megann's before picking me up to drive to P.V. Dear Allie stayed with Mom from Saturday until Tuesday, helping her with everything she needed except walking, the hospital was insistent that one of their employees had to be with her getting in and out of bed, to the bathroom, etc. Allison made it so much easier for Mom and for me by being there. Mountain Valley had her doing some kind of therapy 3 hours a day for 10 days, especially teaching her how to compensate for the vision problems. Tuesday January 28 I drove her from Prescott Valley to St Johns, AZ, to her new home at the Hinkson Assisted Living center. Thank goodness my cousin Marvin Haines came up from Mesa and went with me, he was so much help getting Mom in and out of the car, and even drove quite a bit. Mom decided it was time for her to live somewhere with more care available. It's really hard to see her leave here, but I know my sister Debbie will take good care of her there. Besides, 4 of Debbie's kids, and 20 grandkids live in St Johns, so Mom will have a lot more family there to spend time with her. This has been a huge adjustment for her, but she is determined to make it work out. She is an amazing woman!