Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2009. It was the fourth of July weekend and our friends invited us away for two days. When I say away, it was about an hour's drive from where we are in DC. Though I was hesitant to do this, Mattie's doctor approved the trip, as she felt the change of scenery would be good for all of us. So literally we packed up the house and our pharmacy of supplies and went for a weekend away. This may look like a happy photo, but this was a HORRIFIC trip for us. Mattie got to see what kids his age were doing and he was very attuned to the fact that he was different. This difference made him extremely agitated and depressed. He lashed out at us and was beyond miserable. Looking back, did we make the right decision to take him away? Probably not, if given the chance to do it again, I wouldn't have gone. But I did not know how it would go, and therefore, I felt it was worth the try.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- number of people who were diagnosed with the virus: 2,874,396
- number of people who died from the virus: 129,870
If you read yesterday's blog, then you know we are struggling to get my dad to do any of his daily occupational and physical therapy exercises. Each time we ask him to do them, he tells us he is TOO tired, doesn't want to do them, and that we are torturing him. We have tried empathy, we have tried rationalization, and yesterday I even tried down right a brutal reality check. No tactics have worked. Keep in mind that we don't watch him when doing his exercises, we participate along. I never ask someone do something I won't do myself. Nonetheless, I have had NO success at getting him to comply.
I therefore wrote to both his therapists (OT and PT) and I explained the problem. One therapist said that my dad needs tough love. Did that, done that, and it doesn't work for him. I am not working with a patient who is cognitively intact to begin with, so this makes rationalization (which is what tough love is based on) ineffective. I am taking my dad to the doctor tomorrow to discuss the chronic exhaustion and to have blood tests to rule out a physical explanation for this fatigue. Once we rule that out, then the only conclusion I can come to is we are dealing with a motivational and psychological issue.
My dad did make a short facetime call today to our cousins in New York. This was a positive connection for all us on many levels, and I am encouraging my parents to do this weekly. As it is an excellent outlet to talk to people you love, but also people who understand what you are facing each day. As Tuesday grows closer, I land up feeling very anxious because I honestly do not know how things will continue on when I return to the East coast. I am not touting my abilities, I am just a keen observer and assessor of situations. Geographical distance is not the best, but in a crisis, it makes things 100 times harder.
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