The resilience of mothers.

This little entry is to record the resilience of my dear old mum.  Mum had a stroke on 21 December 2009 and is currently making remarkable progress in her recovery.

The last few years have been something of a medical adventure for mum who has suffered from high blood pressure for many years.  She had a heart attack while living in Wellington (2002?) and had had angina for a while before that.  A precursor to the stroke on the 21st was a TIA in 2007.

In the days immediately after the stroke I was rather worried that we might not be enjoying mum’s company for Christmas! Slowly, however we are seeing improvement each day.  Her speech has returned to much the same as it was, her ability to read is a real blessing as it allows her to make productive use of the long hours in bed.  Her biggest challenge is mobility as her right leg and arm have been considerably weakened from the stroke.

The first few weeks were a worry as mum wasn’t eating much and was fainting rather regularly, after a series of tests however we were all reassured that there was nothing more sinister at work and that these issues were related to the stroke.

Mum’s appetite has returned and she is beginning to sleep more regularly at night.  This in turn means she has more energy for the many hours of physiotherapy and occupational therapy that she partakes in each day.

Seeing her walking (with the assistance of one nurse) is a huge relief.  In a week or so mum will have a trip home with her OT team and they will assess what modifications we’ll need to do in order for mum to return to her own place.  This is of course the ultimate goal and is still a month or so away yet.

It is far more realistic than it was in that last week of December 2009 for which we are very very thankful.