Staying Hopeful!

Sam is adjusting now to the new facility and we had a very good weekend together. I had an hour long conference call with all of Sam's therapists on Friday and they are all working with her on the various issues, especially her speech. Sam has already won them over with her charm and great sense of humor, which everyone commented upon. When I arrived on Saturday morning there was a note in her binder from a meeting she had with the Program Director. The page long-note in someone else's handwriting, went as follows:

12-3-09- Meeting with Gerry Brooks, Program Director (bald guy). Talked about "motor perseveration" and "ideational perseveration" the problems he thinks I have. It means I get stuck doing and thinking things over and over again. He suggested that I should a) Notice when it happens and immediately b. Breathe quietly until it stops c. If that doesn't work, take a break for at least a few minutes. Make sure when you stop to breathe you're actually breathing in and out. Last thing he said was "Job#1 is staying positive and staying hopeful!" He said others have been through this, I will make it through too!

Everytime I read this note to Sam over the weekend, she smiled and I could tell it was truly meaningful for her. What a wonderful way to work with the "neighbors" as they are called at Northeast Care Center (instead of "patients"). On Saturday morning, one of the Occupational Therapists came by to work with Sam and so I observed the session. It was the first time I have seen Sam walk in awhile, and she is doing great. I know she was trying to show off for me, but show off she did! I also brought Sam a photography book to look at with her this weekend, which was the New Visions/Photography Between the World Wars- Ford Motor Company Collection at the MMA book which she absolutely loves/ed. She lit-up everytime we went through the book this weekend> It was wonderful to see her so happy and smiling so much. I asked her to explain the artwork to me as we went through the book and she tried as best she could, managing to say simple things like...this is a really good picture quality, but it was hard for her to say more. Everything I know about photography, I learned from Sam, so it was quite wonderful to go through the book with her, but I am sure it must have been extremely frustrating for her not to be able to express all that she was thinking. I did decide however that next weekend I will bring in a small bookcase for her room and start putting photography books on it for her. There was also a Harry Potter movie festival on the TV this weekend and Sam and I watched with great interest. At one point, when there was a really scary monster on the screen, I said to Sam.."Ihope you're not scared...you know, this is fictional, it is just a movie and not real at all...it is on T.V." and Sam looked at me funny and said " I'm not scared....I know that ....if I thought it was real, you'd have to put me away!"

Before I left Sunday evening, I went to clean Sam's glasses for her, while she was sitting in her room and just stepped into her bathroom for a moment. When I came out, she was no longer there. Where did she go in that short period of time.?! I looked all the way down the hall and saw that she had wheeled herself to one of the nursing stations...she had actually gone in the wrong direction (perhaps because she did not have her glasses on), as I think she wanted to be where the large screen TV and couches were, but I was delighted that she seems quite comfortable now to move herself around in such a way. The CNA's have begun to sit with her in the evenings too, so that she is not too lonely or upset, and that has improved her mood immensely. This was the first weekend in a long time that I left feeling comfortable and knowing that Sam is in very good hands.