Memories of Christmas morning broke new ground this year with aphone call from Patti’s care facility that she had been found on the floor nextto her bed about a half hour before dawn.
After physical and neurological examination sheappeared OK and had no complaints nor remembered anything. Of course MultipleSclerosis related memory loss, Patti’s MS short circuiting of pain neurotransmittersand probable shock confounded examination.
Incoming day shift found her during 7 AM ‘observation’.Overnight shift reported her asleep in bed at the previous hour’s 6 AM check.
Nursing staff wanted to keep her up and alert,just in case (some kind of concussion protocol), and on priority monitoring andevaluation. After a couple hours – a bruise beginning to develop on her kneewas the only observable concern.
Continuing with plans to pick Patti up forChristmas Day with family still seemed the best of possible ideas. All things considered, in fact, Patti wasfiring on all cylinders right through the day. Patti never gets up as early as7 AM and has not gone without at least one mid-day nap for at least a decade.She was beyond impressive for someone who began the day falling out of bed, participating with over a dozen family members inChristmas Day festivities .
After about the umpteenth time of pestering herif she remembered anything about how she ended up on the floor - she turned to me while riding in thevan and said, “the damn reindeer were flying drunk.”
You got to love it!
For the First Day of Christmas, I do know thatPatti is getting the return of two bedside fall mats and that beginning lastnight her high-low mechanical style bed will be lowered to as close to the flooras possible when sleeping, about a foot (30.48 cm) off the floor.
Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer
videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer
