One Step At A Time - Thursday, January 19th - Day 15

I was kind of reluctant and just plain scared to go see my mom today, after what happened yesterday. But at the same time I wanted to see her more than ever, to make sure she was okay. When I walked into her room, the curtain was drawn and I heard my mom, a man, and a woman talking. I said, "Hello?" and they said to come on in. I found that I walked in on my mom's first session of physical therapy. That was the first time I'd seen her on her feet since January 5^th, and even then she really wasn't ON her feet. So I honestly can't remember the last time I saw her ON her feet, ON her own.

She had a walker in front of her and the man and woman were helping her use it. They had her take a couple of steps and then sit down. It was SO hard for her and I could see how tired just those few steps were making her and how painful they were. The therapists had her get up one more time and take a few steps to her bed and sit down. Then she got to lie down. She was shaking and perspiring a little. Walking. The things we take for granted. So this is the next step in my mom's life. My mom has to learn to walk again.

After the torturers left, I told my mom she was doing a good job, which she was. I also told her that I was surprised that they had her up so soon only 2 days after major surgery. I kept thinking that some kind of stitch or whatever they put inside of her would pop open from the sheer exhaustion of moving one leg and the stress that it must have put upon all of her organs. She said she thought that they just wanted the bed, so they were trying to get her out of there as soon as possible. Maybe so. But I hope not. If that's the reason, how sad our world has become.

My mom was still somewhat upset from yesterday, evidently (I say that because of her comment above). But she was okay. She was eating, coherent, able to have a chat with me, not scared or paranoid or hallucinating. These are all good things. I have to admit I was on edge the whole time. Didn't I have good reason to be?

Anyway, so nothing much stood out in this day except the physical therapy. It really bothered me that she was up so soon. I asked one of the nurses if this was the norm, getting the patients up so soon after surgery. She said that it was, because it helped prevent things like embolisms and to keep the patients' muscles from starting to atrophy. That still seemed odd to me. My mom was in that bed for about 12 days, and they didn't start getting her up and around until AFTER she has a major surgery?

My mom said that what hurt the most when she was trying to walk was the area where her kidney had been removed. That made me so scared. What if she ended up having some sort of hemorrhage or something? It's hard to trust anyone but myself with my mom. But I guess these people are "supposed" to know what they are doing. It's the "supposed to" that scares me. DON'T MESS WITH MY MOM. I MAY BE LITTLE BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T HIT HARD!!!