September 2, 2012 - first day of rest

Copying CDs is about as exciting as watching paint dry (fortunately I have a blog to write).

Apparently they worked Gretchen pretty hard yesterday.  When Peter and I were there before church and in the mid-afternoon she was pretty out of it.  I found out later that she had done more than just get a shower.  Apparently they had her stand up and sit for a while along with some other assessments.

The feeding tube is back in and she has mitts on her hands to keep her from pulling it out (she did get one out with the mitts on but it requires more thought so hopefully she would wake enough to realize what she was doing before she got it out.  She was still running a low grade fever so they are looking into what infections she might have.  Someone non-medical suggested it might be related to the stuff going on in the brain.  Regardless, Peter prepared a cool washcloth for her forehead and she appreciated it.  We also took the mitts off her while we were there and I could tell she appreciated it (although it hurt her feelings when Peter stopped her from itching her nose to protect the feeding tube).

The CD player went over well.  I only had a couple CD copies ready this afternoon so I took them.  One of them had the Vivaldi Gloria on it and she conducted it for a few minutes.  I got a report later that she even tried to sing to some of them.

Since I have an aversion to leaving our CDs where they can disappear I have been copying some of the ones that I think she would like.  I have to preview some of them that I know she likes but may not be good for her right now (she loved Britten but some of his work can be a bit agitating).  I did throw in a bit of "fluff" in the form of Irish Folk Songs and Sea Shanties (both by the Robert Shaw Chorale so they aren't too fluffy).  I may even throw in some Patsy Cline since the nurse told me that earlier in the day she asked Gretchen what kind of musing she liked (before I brought in our player) and Gretchen told her "country".  The nurse told her she didn't look like a country girl and Gretchen said "yup".  I seem to remember that Gretchen's mother used to listen to Kenny Rogers so maybe that's where she gets it (her father will be sooooooo ashamed - and yes you may kid him about it now and Gretchen when she is more coherent).

Pray for Gretchen's alertness, strength, and endurance as she embarks on serious rehab tomorrow.  I plan to be there for most of it since I am off.  I also want to get down there at least once a week for the entire day so that I can keep tabs on her progress (there goes the rest of my vacation).  Pray for Peter to be understanding if he is excluded from these early sessions.  He is quite protective of his mother and wants to be part of the recovery.  Unfortunately he tends to speak with authority on things he knows little about (I wonder where he got that???) so I want to get established before I subject the therapists to him (when he is there to learn and help he is wonderful but his confidence has grown so he is volunteering things and expressing opinions - which can be good at the right time, which he hasn't learned yet).

Well, I guess I am through copying CDs for now (I can't remember if I took the Vivaldi Gloria or Gloria! which has an excerpt from the Vivaldi Gloria so I can't finish that tonight) so I will wrap this up early tonight.