(no subject)

[elainegrey]

First, Mom looks great. More light in her eyes, more curiosity. More strength. A few more words. A long way to go. Some reading helps me to believe they are sending her home because there are good rehab outcomes for people at home, not because that's that.


Home physical therapy as effective as therapy on special equipment in improving walking speed and balance according to this study by Duke researchers in 2011. So this may be part of the grounds for sending Mom home. Apparently, people with home therapy also stuck with it better. (Which makes sense to me).

https://www.webmd.com/stroke/news/20110525/stroke-rehab-home-exercise-as-good-as-rehab-facility

It took a year for 50% of the patients to improve "one functional level," which the article explains as if walking less than one mile per hour is moving to faster than one mile per hour.


I was well enough to commit the entree extravaganza. Yesterday i prepared sauces and rice stuffings, which was a couple hours in the kitchen getting everything prepared and packaged to go. Today i sliced a long slit along the belly edge of the two sides of coho salmon. One i stuffed with wild rice, celery and shallots, and cranberries sauced with juniper and rosemary. I applied a rub of ground fresh rosemary and juniper and laid it on a bed of rosemary. The other i stuffed with mixed rices, celery, onion, and shallots, capers, and added a lemon caper sauce. It was laid on a bed of lemons and then more lemon slices applied. At my sister i poured a glaze over them and baked. Voila! Food. It was well appreciated, and i feel a little pride that i pulled off making up recipes and having them be not horrible. I mean, it's audacious to do something like that and i was afraid i'd make the salmon resinous and unpalatable, but no -- tart cranberries, the sweetness of added sugar, the juniper-rosemary resinous sharpness all worked well together.

For folks on the east coast, i felt good about my order from https://www.wildforsalmon.com/ . They ship their frozen catch efficiently in a shipping container over water to the east coast, so one is able to buy from a small fishing family AND get the efficient transportation of the frozen fish. The best part is they also had sable fish and so Christine and i will have a simple meal of that buttery, sweet fish some night.

I'm currently feeling exhausted and drained. I don't feel like it's been that much, but i guess i am still recovering.

Comments

[annie_r]

I'm glad you're starting to feel better, and your mom will be doing rehab at home. She'll be a lot more comfortable in her own home. Rehab is hard and long. Does your dad need respite care, housecleaning, meal delivery, etc.? Their insurance may cover non-skilled aid visits as well as skilled.

[elainegrey]

We're hoping all of that unfolds with help from UNC's team, which seems to be very much on top of in-home care services. I am thinking i will work over there one or more days a week, as i assume that sort of respite would work well for all of us. But we'll see. I'm trying to let him catch his breath before bombarding him with decisions, because i think we have the time to work it out.

[gurdonark]

That salmon sounds good. I do not know the up or the down of the answer, but it makes sense to me that therapy at home would be at least as good as therapy at a medical center. I hope your Mom continues to improve.

[elainegrey]

I think the researchers were surprised because the recovery equipment they had invented seemed like it would be superior. I suppose there's an equipment supply company out there very disappointed that their tools aren't critical to recovery.