Post #7: Still not eating

Dear all,

Just composed this post and then accidentally deleted it. There is no "undo" button on this site. So here I go again.

Spent yesterday afternoon with Mama. She had a bite or two of oatmeal in the morning but otherwise ate nothing else. I offered her some creamy, soft avocado but she refused. She is still taking sips of water.

On Sundays a new physical therapy guy comes in. This one had a wonderful, gentle approach and was able to do some therapy with Mother in her room. This was heartening, although her cooperation may have been due to the fact that John and I were there watching her. Anyhow, he raised and lowered and stretched her right arm and leg and asked her to resist his efforts. This was so he could tell whether she has any muscular activity or not. I believe Mother tried, but the therapist could not feel any movement. He did notice a slight movement in her shoulder, but said that that was probably just a reflex (for example your shoulder moves a bit when you cough). Her right arm and leg are flacid.

He then sat her up on the edge of the bed with her feet on the floor. He said this is good exercise for her core. The musculature of the core deteriorates with lying down in bed for an extensive period of time. One of the problems with sitting up after lying down for a long time is that the blood from the head rushes to the feet and the person can get dizzy. Mama did get dizzy but what is wonderful is that she was able to communicate to us that she was dizzy and wanted to lie down again. She did this by pointing to magnetic letters that I had arranged. I don't know if Mother can actually read or not, but I arranged the words "YES" and "NO" on the magnetic board and told Mom that the group of letters on the left meant "yes" and the group on the right meant "no." When asked if she felt dizzy, she put her hand on the "yes" group. When asked if she wanted to lie down, she did it again.

My goal now is hopefully to get her to respond to more yes/no questions. Sort of like "20 Questions." If we can narrow down the questions, she may be able to express herself more specifically on subjects.

She has now not been eating much of anyting for about a week. This is most troubling. Today (Monday) may prove to be crucial in determining Anita's direction in that the regular speech and other therapists return. Whether she continues her cooperation is the question. We shall see.

Melissa