A Mum update, and an Award

I saw Mum the weekend after her stroke, and I must say that I was a little shocked, but also surprised at how well she seemed to be coping.

Her speech is slurred, but she is able to be understood.

She has regained movement in her left leg, but is not standing as yet. Her left arm is pretty much immobile, but she is able to shrug her shoulder. All in all she is making progress and some progress is definitely better than none at all.

Her spirits are amazingly high, she is giving cheek and complaining about the food she says that the food is 'S#!(' LOL. Her swallowing reflex has been affected and her food has to be the consistency of honey to prevent it going straight to her lungs, this is highly undesirable as she has a lung infection on top of everything else. She is very thirsty and is always asking for a weak black tea with a dash of cold water, or a beer LOL.

She has been dehydrated and has had a nasal-gastric tube put in place to increase her fluid intake, and the silly bugger pulled it out. It has been re-inserted, along with a trip to the hospital, she is now in a place that specialises in re-hab, for an x-ray to ensure that the positioning is correct and her right hand is now sporting a sock which has been taped on to prevent her from pulling it out again.

While I was visiting her she complained that her dentures had not been cleaned since the stroke, five days, so she asked me to clean them for her. Now, I am the only one in my family the youngest of five, that has their own teeth, and of all the people to ask, she asked me LOL. Well I gave it a shot and did the best that I could, she said that they felt better.

I would sincerely like to thank each and everyone of you that have left comments about Mum, it is so comforting to know that so many people are thinking of Mum and my family during this time. While talking to Dad on the phone one night, I told him that I had blogged about Mum and I told him about the messages that I had received, he was so touched he was actually crying and he said that it was wonderful to know that so many were thinking of us. Thanks everyone.

Ann has very kindly bestowed an award on me and my blog. On her blog she said that she was impressed with my cake decorating abilities, see previous posts where I made a Pirate Ship cake for Joel's birthday. Thanks so much Ann.

The 'rules' of the award are as follows:

1 Put the logo on your blog
2 Add a link to the person who awarded you
3 Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4 Add links to those blogs on yours
5 Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I am not going to nominate any blogs, sorry Ann, but everyone who is a regular reader, or those who have left a comment regarding Mum, please accept this award from me.

My next post will include a prize, and some wip pictures.

A Gift and some not so good news.....

This has taken awhile to post about, sorry Ranae.

Here is the prize that I won on Ranae's blog. It is called Offering From the Heart and it is by Ewe and Eye and Friends. The verse says "Please now accept this little gift an offering from the (heart picture)". It is a gorgeous design, and Ranae also included some DMC Pearl thread, Thank You so much Ranae. I love it, and I am looking forward to stitching it.



















Now for the not so good news. Yesterday I was at a cafe having a coffee with some friends and my mobile rang. It was my Dad and highly unusual for him to call me on my mobile and in the middle of the day. He said that when he got back home from walking their little dog, he found Mum had fallen over in the bathroom, he called an ambulance and the driver suspected that Mum had suffered a stroke. Dad was so upset, understandably, and I just broke down crying. A friend called DH and he came and calmed me down, as all I wanted to do was get in the car and travel the five hours to go and see Mum.
Dad rang later that night, after he had been to see Mum in hospital, half an hour away from where they live, and said that her spirits were high and she had regained some of her 'cheek' while he was there. She has paralysis down her left side and her speech is a little slurred.
She will be in hospital for some time, as she has to have physio and speech pathology. But the best news is that there appears to be no permanent brain damage, there was no bleeding on the brain. Apparently Mum was brushing her hair and dropped her brush, and while picking it up, slipped on the mat. It is not known if the fall caused the stroke, or the stroke caused the fall. Either way it seems that she has fared rather well, Thank God. Now just the long road to recovery.
Please keep Mum in your thoughts and prayers as she begins her recovery, she is a strong and determined woman so we are hoping that these traits see her through this difficult time.