Making Lemon-Aide: Just the Beginning

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Just the Beginning

Today was the first day of therapy for Mom. The therapy that Mom will receive is designed to show her how to live every day life and how to strengthen key muscles while following spinal precautions. The spinal precautions are no bending, no lifting and no twisting - easily remembered by BLT. Mom mainly had baseline evaluations for both occupational therapy (OT) and physical therapy (PT) today. She learned a few stretches and exercises during her physical therapy session that she can do on her own to start "waking up" the muscles again.

Mom got her new custom brace today and it is actually pretty comfortable considering it is basically a plastic mold of her torso. I will try to put a picture up when I get a chance, but it basically looks like a strapless corset with a hole in the front middle part of it. There is a lambs wool type of insert that goes in the chest area of the brace to make it more comfortable. This insert can be replaced by a neoprene insert so that she can wear the brace in the shower. This brace makes Mom feel a lot more secure and she has less pain with it. She has even taken to wearing it in bed because of the extra support it provides. She isn't required to wear a brace when laying down, but that is her preference for now.

Gramme and Grandaddy (Mom's parents for those of you that don't know) came to visit her in the hospital. It was a nice visit because Mom was doing particularly well at the time they came to visit. I think they were surprised to see how well she was doing and what good spirits she is in. It is absolutely remarkable that she is in the condition she is considering it hasn't even been a week since her major surgery. I had the pleasure of going to dinner with Gramme and Grandaddy after their visit. It was great to be able to catch up and socialize a bit.

I am so glad Mom got into this program because it has been so informative already and she has only received the baseline evaluations so far. I look forward to the knowledge that tomorrow's therapy sessions will bring.

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About

As many of you know, Mom has been suffering from severe back and overall body pain due to Scoliosis and Stenosis for over five years now. She is at the point where not a day, hour or even a minute goes by without her being in severe and sometimes debilitating pain. Despite the constant pain, she still manages to put a smile on her face every day and continues to do her favorite activities. She draws strength from Pilates, throws hay to her goats, and of course endures the long plane ride across country to visit her wonderful grandchildren. To me, this is the best illustration I know for the saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

It is time for Mom to get corrective spine surgery for the 60 degree curve in her back that is a strong contributer to her constant pain. She will undoubtedly be thrown many lemons during her recovery process, but I am confident that she will continue to courageously turn her daily dose of lemons into lemonade. My job will be to aide her (hence the name "Making Lemon-Aide") during her recovery process and I will try my very best to keep you all updated on her progress. In addition to Mom's courage, I drew inspiration for the blog's name from Mom's love for everything lemon and her collection of lemon squeezers, which are a fond memory of mine since childhood. I know the lemon squeezers will definitely come in handy for making lemonade ;).