Tuesday at Youville

This morning began Mom's first full day at Youville. In the morning she had trouble finding people to give her pain medication. Mom said they seem a little slow. After 11:15 am occupational therapist, Barbara, came in to see Mom. She wanted to assess how well Mom could do certain tasks like get dressed, go to the restroom, etc. After this Mom spoke to her nurse about pain. The staff member gave her some oxycontin. Right after (at about 12), a physical therapist visited and took Mom for a walk. She also taught Mom some techniques for standing up and sitting down on her own. Soon after the oxycontin started working and Mom became very drowsy. Mom continued sleeping for most of the day. Although she did not feel any pain, she felt over medicated. She spoke with the nurse about this problem and they will work to find a "happy medium" between no pain and complete sedation. Later in the day, a sister named Tracy Chen, came to visit Mom. Apparently she works on the same floor of Mom's room. This was quite encouraging.

It seems like Mom is adjusting to her new environment. The staff are still getting to know her, so her adjustment to this new facility will be a new adventure. Fortunately Mom has been more alert (aside from the oxycontin session), and is able to explain things like when her next chemotherapy treatment will be or what foods she cannot eat, but we still need to pray that the transition will be smooth.

On a side note, Youville does not have internet access available for visitors, so for those of you who read the blog regularly, there may be larger intervals between posts. Our apologies for this inconvenience.

Stephen