A couple of days ago I received an email from my father about another remarkable stage in my mother's recovery.
She can now raise herself from seated in the wheelchair to standing, and lower herself back down again, without any assistance. Today she remained in her standing frame (a wooden contraption with a couple of support straps) for half an hour - that's a reasonable length of time for anyone to stand still in one place - you try it sometime!
She can now transfer from bed to wheelchair by shuffling across much more securely, with less assistance and support, given by one trained carer, or my father. The hope is that the hoist will soon be surplus to requirements.
They are now talking about fixing a "grab handle" to the bedroom wall, so that she will be able to hold on to it for support while transferring from one wheelchair to another etc.
The stroke happened 15 months ago. There is little more that can be done medically; my mother has a problem with clearing her chest, as her muscles are weakened by the stroke and she cannot cough effectively. However the physiotherapy is proving to be worth every penny. Not only is her strength and mobility improving, all the exercise and standing (she practises in the standing frame nearly every day) is having a beneficial effect on her digestion and her chest.
We only have to look back at how things were when she came out of hospital 11 months ago to see just how much better things are these days.
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