Monday, January 14, 2008

Well, if there are ten days and one days, then this one fell about a four or five. Mark did well with his therapies. His range of motion in his left arm has improved very nicely. He sat up with his new back brace and balanced with very little aid, even on his own for a short time. His speech therapy was wonderful. He thought the questions and reading situations were too easy. He only had a little trouble with days and dates, which is very common. However, he was in pain and extremely agitated for a good part of the day. I do think the therapies were a distraction, but then he goes back to complaining about pain and fidgeting a lot.

He needs to wear a mitt on his hand to prevent him from pulling out his catheter and picking at things, but he constantly tries to bite at the Velcro to take it off. A couple of days ago he removed an IV port from his arm with his mouth and then spit it out onto the bed! He even manages to grab things with the mitt. In fact, this afternoon he grabbed my arm with it, pulled my hand to his face, and then accused me of hitting him. It wasn't funny at the time, but the aide and I finally convinced him he did it himself. Then he apologized and gave me a hug. It can be so frustrating to want to help him to no avail. He knows he's being unreasonable but can't help it. He is not sleeping well at night, and this is also part of the problem.

Well, tomorrow we start over again, and hopefully it will be a six or seven day. I really need to BELIEVE that!