A day with Diane

I spent the day with my mother today. She was glad to see me and we talked about many things. I told her some of what I remember from the first two weeks and we semi-celebrated her one-month-from-the-accident day. I shared her lunch, she couldn't eat it all and didn't want her tea. I ate her ice cream. I showed her pictures we took of her from the ICU. I asked her if anyone had told her yet "I told you so", she said, "no", so I said, "I told you so." I can do this because I did tell her so and we talked about our conversation when I did, in fact, tell her so.

She is comfortable in her room (she has a nice inflatable bed) but still adjusting to things. She said the nurses have been very nice but she is concerned that some of them here don't know what she went through before she came here and it seemed that a few had not read her chart and were asking her. She didn't want to have to fill them all in, it should be their job to know. She is so sweet with them, however, even if she is in pain or concerned about something. She is always thanking them and asking them, first off, how they are today. It won't take any of them long to realize that she is a special patient with a special family and will easily get special treatment from all of them. :)

My mom is still mi madre. Last time I was here I couldn't talk to her but now I know that she is here, all of her, and she will be back to her normal life eventually. She still has a good deal of healing ahead of her but has come a long way already. She worries for us that she has put us through too much and continues to be thankful to all for your prayers and she knows that they are what has helped her get to this point. She said there are over 50 patients where she is now and tries to remember all of them in her prayers, to share those she is recieving.

She became distressed today over the odor coming from the back of her head and said they had not cleaned or looked at the back of her head since a while back at UAMS. We had them come and clean it and the doctor looked at it. I had never seen the back of neck since her surgery and was surprised to see that her scar is nearly 9 inches long along her entire neck. It has healed up well but she has a small sore at the top, on the back of her head. The doctor said it was not infected but inflamed. This is mostly due to her laying on her head and not being able to turn from side to side enough. A nurse commented that the C Brace they had her in prior to surgery puts pressure that may have caused it. It will be watched and kept clean from now on. They laid gauze on it and had to put a stretchy cap over her head to keep it in place. It looks retro chic. John took a picture. I'll see if I can put it here.

While he was there, the doctor ordered x-rays of her ribs and neck. They really want to remove that chest tube from her side. It seems to have served it purpose and be uncessary but they want to be sure.

I could see the the giraffes in the zoo from Mom's room window.