The short update on Mom:  She moved several weeks ago and is receiving excellent care.  She was exhausted in the beginning and slept a lot.  She’s feeling better now and her health is starting once again to improve.

If you’d like more detail, please see below.   :o)

Mom moved to Harmony Senior Living two and a half weeks ago.  It’s located in Adair Village, a few miles from Corvallis.  There are two adult foster homes situated next to one another.  Mom is living in the house named Tamarack.

We’ve spent many hours there and we appreciate the kind and respectful care that Mom and the other four residents are shown.  The Resident Care Manager, Joanie, is also very conscientious.  She and the other five caregivers work hard to help each resident be as well as possible.  They take time to listen and to get to know each person.  That kind of consideration means a lot and especially during hard times.

The day before Mom moved, we took furniture and her personal things at our house out to Tamarack.  We set up her bedroom and bath so it would be ready for her and somewhat familiar when she arrived.  Mom seemed very pleased when she saw the house, her new room, the view out of her large bedroom windows, and again when she was thoughtfully served her very favorite food for lunch. 

At Rehab, the rooms were all double occupancy.  Even though Mom’s roommate was great, the lack of privacy and considerable extra noise was difficult.  Now when Mom wants to sleep or rest, she can have as much peace and quiet as she wants.  Joanie set up a CD player in Mom’s room and she keeps beautiful instrumental hymns playing softly in the background.  The music is very soothing.

Mom slept much of the first week, and she’s still sleeping extra hours.  It seems like she’s finally able to get the extra sleep that Dr. Gallagher recommended for healing after her stroke.  Since then she’s been through even more change.  It isn’t surprising she needs extra sleep.  Harmony is the 10th place she’s stayed since November 1.   It takes time and rest to process and adjust.  We are grateful that the environment at Tamarack House is conducive to healing and we hope it continues to benefit her.  

We now realize that staying in Rehab was more stressful for Mom than anyone realized.  She needed to be there in order to have the medical care and rehab that she required.  But it wasn’t easy.  Even though we and the staff literally tried everything we could think of to make it easier for her to get more sleep and nutrition, she didn’t get enough sleep, she lost weight, and she was often dehydrated.   

But Mom is now looking more rested than she has in a long time.  She’s able to visit and be up and around more too.  She’s started to read magazines again and show more interest in life.  We set up some bird feeders right outside her window and lately we’ve enjoyed watching the birds together and talking.

She’s also started to eat and drink more liquid again.  She likes Joanie’s cooking and it looks like that will result in needed weight gain.  She’s still having some cognitive and memory problems but we hope those will also improve with time.  Her health improved significantly between the first and second weeks at Harmony.  Lindsay, the other owner, who’s worked in this field for 20 years, thinks that Mom may have postoperative delirium.  This condition is not well-understood but it likely occurred as a side effect of anesthesia during her hip repair surgery.  Lindsay’s assessment is actually encouraging because, even though it can take months after surgery for it to clear, postoperative delirium is temporary.

Mom started in-home physical therapy two weeks ago and occupational therapy last week.  The Home Health staff is excellent and Mom already doubled the distance she can walk when the PT is here.   She’ll also soon begin with a new physician.  We’ve waited a long time for an appointment and we look forward to progress in this area as well.  We think that Mom may feel better if some of the doctor’s orders from Rehab can be adjusted.

Thank you for your notes, cards, emails, texts, digital photos, calls, and voice mails.  Even though Mom isn’t able to talk on the phone or respond to texts/emails yet, she reads, listens to, enjoys, and appreciates them very much!   Please continue to use our home address as her permanent mailing address.

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Thanks again for your concern and support!

Marcia