Mom is Walking Again

One of the most rewarding moments in the past six months was reaching out to my mom from the other side of this climbing frame. She stood up from her wheelchair, held onto the climbing frame with one hand and grasped my hand with the other. She had been saying: 我諗我隻腳好返。 I think my feet have recovered. Watching her stand on her feet again was a relief.

She was released from the hospital in January, after spending a month there, confined in geri chairs. While she was hospitalized, I tried to negotiate opportunities for her to exercise. The first ward let me release her from the geri chair and walk around with her in the visiting area from time to time. I could not get permission to do so in the second ward. When she first returned to her nursing home, she could still walk, though she was largely confined in geri chairs. After a week or so, she began to deteriorate. She could not longer stand on her own or walk, even with assistance. A medical staff member in her nursing home told me to expect the worst, that she would continue to deteriorate.

I returned to the Bay Area for a month to pack up and move out of my house. When I came back to Hong Kong again, she could not even place her feet on the foot rests of her wheel chair – I had to lift them for her. On top of that, she was refusing food. I took her to Times Square and ordered spaghetti Bolognese, a dish she had enjoyed before. She only took a couple of bites. My priority was to get her to eat again. She had lost a lot of weight.

I signed her up for physical therapy at her nursing home and exercise at a government daytime hospital. By the time she completed her exercise program at the daytime hospital, she was able to lift her feet again. Last night, she walked back to her room from the bathroom, without a walker.

Now that she’s no longer going to the daytime hospital, she goes to a daycare center twice a week, where she makes art, socializes and plays games. I still haven’t fully adjusted to her new schedule. I went to see her this morning, only to realize she had gone to daycare. I can’t keep up with her.