2 weeks since discharge from hospital and this week has been the first with an hour’s carer first thing in the morning and another hour at lunchtime. This is intended to prompt Amanda and help establish steps and procedures, not to do stuff for her, or even assist.
She has managed to get the same person for 8 out of the 10 weekday sessions, which helps with consistency for both of them. Unfortunately, because of demand the a.m. session doesn’t start until 9am.
So, this morning was my first back at work, and leaving Amanda at home alone. She was up at 7am, clothes prepped and ready for her shower, which was done by 7.30. Then she got herself dressed and had her breakfast by 8.15. By the time the carer arrived Amanda was ready for a walk around the corner, out in the sunshine. The carer is used to dealing with the old, sick and infirm, so a younger person who is not sick, but recovering and rehabilitating makes her job a lot easier!
The brainbox continues to recover. Amanda is able to navigate her way to Facebook on her ipad and has been ‘liking’ posts, although not always able to articulate what she thinks she is reading.
We’ve discovered the 30 minutes after our evening meal is an optimum time for Amanda to be alert, so we do ‘brain’ stuff then. This evening the task was matching the phrase to the noun. eg ‘drive the CAR’, ‘park the CAR’. Very bizarrely she cannot read the words but if I spell them out verbally e.g. -” d.r.i.v.e spells?” – she can say ‘drive’. She did this for over a dozen words.
It just might be the key to unlock learning to read again
The Blue Banana Diaries 