Numerous times during Kate’s recovery I have said that she is making progress “though gradually” or “slower than I would like.” That doesn’t mean that we don’t have moments or days with giant steps forward. I reported on one of those almost two weeks ago when I described the first time we were able to get her out of bed, to the bathroom, and to the table for dinner. That was a major victory, and it occurred as a result of her own desire to get up.
I think all of us (home health, the daily caregivers, and I) felt that was a confirmation that we were doing the right thing by not having forced her. We had been acting on the knowledge that her hospitalization had traumatized her so much that we didn’t want to add further trauma to her life. I believe we made the right decision.
A number of times since then, she has said she wanted to get up, but she got cold feet when we tried to help her. Three times she wanted to get out of bed after the caregivers had gone. I was relieved that she backed out because I wasn’t sure I would be able to get her back in bed by myself.
At the same time, she was beginning to adapt to our changing her. That was good because that is the most difficult issue we have faced, but it was still an unpleasant experience. Even the caregivers recognized it would be almost impossible for them to do it without my help. We began to believe her life and ours would be improved if we could just get her out of bed.
Late last week, I decided we should be more assertive with her. I may have been motivated by a couple of experiences with Kate’s physical therapist. I had talked with her about the importance of getting her up. She said she could get Kate up if I would give her permission to physically pull her up against her will. I told her I thought we should try. With the two of us pulling her, we helped her sit up on the side of the bed. She protested verbally and physically, but the process occurred quickly. She settled down almost as fast. We repeated this when she was here last week.
The caregiver who was on duty the first time we got her out of bed was on duty Saturday. Soon after she arrived, we talked about another attempt. This time I told her I wanted us to be more assertive, that I felt getting her out of bed wouldn’t be any more traumatic than changing her in bed.
Kate’s best time of the day is usually later in the day. She was asleep until noon, so we decided to give her time to have lunch and then see if we could get her into her wheelchair. For several days, I had talked with Kate about getting her up. She felt that would be all right. Of course, that was easy to say because there was no immediate threat. We took that same approach Saturday, and she expressed interest. I can’t say it was easy or that she didn’t protest, but we were able to pull her to a sitting position on the side of the bed and then to the wheelchair. From there we went to the bathroom and helped her on to the toilet. She was frightened and fought when we lifted her from the wheelchair to the toilet and back, but overall it went well. She spent the rest of the day in her recliner in the family room. When it was time for dinner, we took her to the table where we ate dinner together for the first time in weeks. It was a very good day.
Yesterday, the same caregiver was here. Kate was awake at 11:00 and had her morning meds and some yogurt before the caregiver arrived. She was also in a very good mood that lasted the entire day. We got her up, to the bathroom, to her recliner, and later to the table for dinner. It was a day in which she was filled with delusions. She was very talkative but also very happy. The caregiver and I were also happy.
The icing on the cake occurred today when a different caregiver was here. I told her about the weekend. We decided to try again and had another success. Lunch was especially fun. It was the first time she had come to the table for lunch since before she contracted the virus. That’s six or seven weeks. Our Monday/Wednesday caregiver is from France and enjoys making French Toast and French Omelets. Kate had a little of both today. She fed herself and even told the caregiver the meal was “wonderful.” Later in the meal, I asked if she liked it. She gave me a very loud and enthusiastic “Yes!”
I will say that it was a bit more difficult getting her out of bed today. I don’t believe we gave her enough time to thoroughly wake up, but we succeeded anyway.
Looking back, I feel that we did the right thing earlier by not forcing her out of bed. She was too fragile from her hospital experience. Gradually she was improving. It was clear there were times she wanted to get up but was too frightened to do so. I feel she reached the point at which she needed to be pushed to save her from an experience that was more traumatizing. I am glad we decided to change our approach. She has enjoyed being up. As I close this post, I can hear her happily talking with her caregiver.
She has been up three days in a row. That makes me believe it should get easier in the future. I can’t tell you how good it is to see this leap forward.
