2012 03 07 Wednesday March 7

Post date: Mar 8, 2012 5:08:14 AM

Martha was doing really well today! I went to her weekly "Care Plan Team" meeting this afternoon, and the reports were excellent. She is regularly walking quite far -- 200 feet today -- and needs only a small amount of assistance when transferring. They have been decreasing the supplemental oxygen, so soon she may no longer have the noisy machine ("oxygen concentrator") running near her anymore.

Martha's cognition is improving a lot, too. She and I had a long conversation today about her current situation and what she can and cannot yet remember. She remembers nothing of her stay at St. Vincent, and has only hazy recollections of her first week at Salem Place. She kept remembering things that were on her schedule for February, and I would remind her again that it's March now, so those events came and went. I also have been reminding her where and when Dr. Krisht performed her three surgeries, because she doesn't really remember them well at all.

Apparently one of the side-effects of brain surgery is that certain things are very difficult to remember, so she has been struggling to memorize what used to be well-known phone numbers. Also while she has not had any trouble recognizing people she knows, if someone visited her more than about a week ago she might not remember it, or she may have the circumstances a bit confused. I believe her memory is continuing to get better every day.

Martha seems to be much stronger and catching up on her sleep, so I suspect in the next few days visitors will be more likely to catch her awake when she isn't in therapy. She loves visitors, so stop by if you can. Tim hopes to help her get to church, too, so don't be surprised if you see her there soon!