Baby Steps...

Mom was able to get out of bed and literally take some baby steps today. I am very proud of her because she has been in a tremendous amount of pain all day due to her headache and kept on telling the physical therapist that she couldn't move. For Mom, this means she is in so much pain that she doesn't want to move, but every time Mom said she couldn't move, the physical therapist said "Ok, I'll come back later."  I had to talk to Mom to let her know that she would benefit from at least sitting up in bed.  She got her positive mental attitude ready and the next time they came in she said she would try to sit up.  I felt like this was a small victory, but after sitting her up, they asked if she wanted to walk a little and to my surprise she said "yes"!!!! Another small victory.  She was able to shuffle along a little and eventually sat in a chair in the room. She was going to stay in the chair for about 45 minutes, but upon sitting, she immediately dozed off because they had given her extra pain medication to ease the pain while they sat her up.  Figuring she would be better off in bed, the physical therapist and I helped her back to bed and I learned how to take her back brace off (which was originally put on prior to her sitting up.)  She should be getting out of bed and sitting in a chair a couple times a day until her next surgery (at which point I would imagine we will have to build up to sitting, standing and walking again.) She looked much better after moving around a little bit - I think she was getting stiff in bed, so this seemed to benefit her more than I even thought it would.  I think it also helped her to sleep a little better because she has been asleep for almost an hour and a half, which is the longest stretch of time she has been able to stay asleep all day!

On a side note, the physical therapist says she has a great log roll (rolling your neck, back and legs all at the same time) and her response was "it's because I do Pilates 5 days a week!"  I'm glad to know that all of her hard work prior to surgery is paying off already!!

Overall, Mom had a great attitude about her first walking experience and I am very proud of the progress she made with her baby steps today.