Dad's Physical Therapy Session

Today was Dad's physical therapy appointment at the VA to be fitted with a walker and for exercises for his sore leg. Jean the physical therapist had Dad try out both a 4-wheeled walker and one of the 2-wheeled ones with sliders on the back. Jean felt that the 2-wheeled walker was better for him at this time because of the pain in his leg. He goes a little slower with the 2-wheeled one so he is a little more stable as he moves. She gave us one for him to bring home.

Dad trying out the 4-wheeled walker with help from PT Jean.

PT Jean also gave Dad 7 exercises: ankle pumps, ankle circles, squats with walker, calf stretch, knee  extensions, knee flexions, & hip abductions. He is to do 10 repetitions of each; the first 4 he does daily, the last 3 are done 3 times a week. I made a chart to keep track of the exercises and Dad's meds, as well as Mom's meds & exercises.


While we were at the VA, Mom was at Aunty Judy's house. Mom was very unhappy this morning when we discussed her going to Aunty Judy's house while I took Dad to his physical therapy appointment. She says she is perfectly fine & can stay by herself; I told her I was under doctor's orders that she not be alone & she has to do her exercises every hour; she said she didn't need any help for anything. She was upset last night, too, but was more vocal about it this morning because I had not backed down after she told me last night that she wasn't going. I told her the other option was to have someone from Safe Harbor come and stay with her; she was totally against that. (Curtis had a retirement luncheon so wasn't able to come & stay with Mom.) Dad & I got an earful all the way to Aunty Judy's house. But when we went to pick her up she was having a lot of fun & totally forgot about not wanting to go to Aunty Judy's house this morning. It always happens this way.

Mom & Edin.

I heard from Dr. Pham today. I had sent her an e-mail through the Kaiser patient website last night  asking about when she wanted to do Mom's follow-up appointment, how soon Mom could go on a 6-hour plane flight, & if there was anything else I needed to do for Mom. Dr. Pham said a hairline rib fracture usually takes 6 weeks to heal, but in Mom's case might be longer. Dr. Pham said younger people have taken the risk of traveling after only a couple of weeks but she did not recommend it for Mom. She said the uncomfortable seat and having to contort herself to move around would probably make her rib more sore if it wasn't completely healed before she tried it. So there will be no trip to Seattle, or Las Vegas, for at least the next 6 weeks. Dr. Pham said there was no reason for a follow-up for the rib. But she did want Mom to get another x-ray in about a week to check on the dark spot to see what's going on with it. So Mom will go back next week for the x-ray.

Mom has been doing her incentive spirometer exercises almost hourly while she is awake, as prescribed. And I have to explain them to her every time. In the hour between exercises she totally forgets what to do. She always asks, "Am I supposed to blow or suck?" So far she has done them about 20 times in the past 2 days and still has no recollection about what to do or that she has ever done them.

Happy Birthday to cousin Fran and Susan!