Thursday, April 06, 2006

Busy schedule


Jan is in a busy physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy schedule. If you visit during the scheduled activities, be prepared to be part of the activities-if the therapists invite you-. She has to re-establish the connnections lost. She is working right now on contrasting things, like dogs and cows, on ordering by magnitude, like water in a bucket or in a swimming pool, on associations like light-day, dark-night, on organizing sequences, saturday-friday, february-january. She will benefit if you can use some of these in your regular conversations with her.

She has been having more drastic mood swings. It can be that as her right arm and leg are becoming more mobile, they also have become more sensitive. She expresses pain often on that side of her body. Her energy level is still variable. Last night she could not sleep well, so this morning she was struggling to stay awake during the speech therapy.

She is expanding her vocabulary and is very aware of spiritual toughts and practices. She speaks often about these part of her life. Paul from O. suggested that she write her journal, but she is still not ready to do that. We hope soon she will be able to write her own thoughts. Having Aphasia can be frustrating, because she thinks in her brain a thought but the word that comes out of her mounth can be completetly unrelated, she is thinking about a card and says curtain or wants her glasses and says boxes. This is the process, to build the connections between words and thoughts.

Because of this communication challenge, she has become very observant, She used to be able to read people's emotions very well, now this skill has been refined to the Nth degree. So be expressive about what you are feeling, it is another way of keeping a conversation with her.

She is currently in a limited space, so she feels a bit crowded. When you visit, ask for permission to go to the cafeteria or the lounge, or if possible to the park behind. I don't know the rules well yet. You'll have to ask.

If you want to bring her a gift, she would love a simple cotton t-shirt. She uses them for exercise.

Parking is easier. You can park for free after 6PM the Broadway street. During the day I think it is $1/hr. The hospital parking lot is $2.50 per 1/2 hour.

Enjoy your ability to speak clearly and the use of both hands. Then think of Jan and give thanks because she is alive and happy.


-FC

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