July 26 am

Today is Mom's Birthday!

She'd tell you how old she is but I'll refrain out of politeness. Besides, I've already probably told you more about her than she'd care to know ;)

Thanks
It seems that the healthier Mom becomes the less frequently I post a message here. My apologies. I'll also take this opportunity to thank those friends of the family that have stayed so dedicated to keeping up on Mom's condition and for offering advice and help. The next paragraph has updates about Mom's current condition. I'm afraid that I may have forgotten someone.

• Family friends: Jan C, a family friend, was lined up a dozen times to take Dad to the hospital but something came up every time for us to cancel her help. The Wesileys helped keep track of Dad and also offered to take him to Detroit. Bob Keys, too.
• Cathy B from my Rotary has been gracious in offering medical advice as well as help for me and my family.
• Mom's neighbors have been helping Dad a lot, they took him to the hospital, watched Sassy, edged the driveway when Dad wasn't looking (because they knew he's stop them).
• Alice and Jim, Dave's Mom and Father-In-Law, waited on us hand and foot at their place the week day care was closed.
• Richard, Dave's Dad, offered to let Dad move in with him and to transport him to Henry Ford.
• These people took a good bit of time each to try to get Mom into U of M Hospital through their connections: Leslie K, Dan B, Bob C, Cathy B, Stan S. I'll also use this opportunity to plug the Brighton Rotary Club. I sent out an urgent message looking for help to get Mom out of McLaren and boy did they step up! All but one person in the UofM list I just mentioned was from Rotary. If you are community minded and considered a leader in your company, you should join Rotary because it you'll be joining the ranks of very good people who do a lot for the community, both locally and worldwide.
• Doris Longfellow kept tabs on my mental condition ;) Thanks Doris!
• John, my brother, flew from Va Beach to stay with Dad while I was at Alice's house. What a relief!
• Sign-A-Rama: My staff is wonderful. I was able to be away from the shop basically for 6 weeks without a hick-up viewed by the customers. They are a great bunch of good hearted people!
• Last but not least, Mom's immediate family: sisters Sue and Lisa, nieces Kim and Steph were as diligent if not more so than me at attending to Mom and Dad. I could go on and on but let's just say that they're the greatest.

Condition
Mom was transported via ambulance to Hurley Medical Center in Flint to their hospital rehab center on Tuesday, July 24, in the afternoon. They settled her in and she began OT and PT the next day. She is expected to work about 3 hours a day on her therapy. She was able to dress herself and bathe herself! While she is in good spirits, the fact that we're excited about these simple yet huge accomplishments mesmerizes her because in her mind she should be able to do this stuff with no effort. However, she wasn't the one at her bedside for many weeks in a row wondering if she was going to pull through this "incident".

Her oxygen levels stayed on the low side of the acceptable range while she was working out, so to speak. Her heart beat elevated, of course, but still in the acceptable range for her condition. She developed a low grade temp. I'm not sure if that's because she was working so hard or a result of her unresolved medical issues. Kim, the family nurse / my cousin / Mom's niece, visited her for a long time yesterday and reported these items to me. She also mentioned that they (Henry Ford?) neglected to remove her stitches from where her dialysis catheter was removed and that she has a soar spot on her heal from being bed ridden.

Visitation
Now that she's in Flint (thank God!), I hope to visit her 3-4 days a week -- probably Tues, Thurs, then Sat and or Sun. Dad will visit her most days. (Side note: Mom decided that Dad could drive himself but if anyone is heading that way to please take him with them so he doesn't have to drive too much.) It would be ideal if the family touched base with each other by phone or email to let the others know when they plan to visit Mom so that we can have even coverage.