I saw Mom tonight, and what a difference two days have made. I stayed for about an hour and a half.
Mom is a lot more talkative today, conversing in conversations with me. She was doing fine the first twenty minutes then began to get hungry and feel pain.
Mom was also eating liquid/yogurt foods and was off the feeding tube. The nurses mixed some pain meds in with the food and that knocked her out about an hour later.
Mom seems to see fine and to talk well but strangely is not doing well with names. She doesn't seem to remember her own name or anyone else's, and calls Dad and I "sweetie," "honey," and "daddy." She also doesn't remember the name of the hospital or of other specific names of nouns in general. She remembers who we are and what things do but not their names. I think that the most damage occur ed in the part of the brain that matches language with objects.
Mom also seems to realize this is going on and her inability to recall specific names of objects is driving her crazy.
As I was leaving I also got to see an airlift helicopter come in with a patient and transfer the patient to a waiting ambulance.
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Allyn,
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that things are improving for you. It must be frustrating to know what an object is but not be able to recall the name of it. This will get better as you recover and receive speech and language therapy. If the part of the brain that decodes words has not been impacted, I wonder if putting up labels of general items around the room (as well as nametags for people that visit frequently - especially Scott and Steve) will help you recall the names as you tie the visual object with the written word. You should definitely try that just to see if it helps you recall names at a faster rate. (Scott - make sure you take a stack of index cards, scotch tape, and a green marker that is thick enough to see from where your mom's bed is. Research says that green helps us remember things!) The more repetition the better. That's how a lot of non-English speaking students learn the English language. It's worth a try!
Michelle & family