I Love You in Sign Language

 

I know this isn't a very good picture. We'll just establish that I am no good at "selfies" whether it's of my face, or whether it's of my left hand. I think you have to be of a certain age to be good at taking a picture of yourself and I am waaayyy beyond that age. ha.

Friday afternoon Hubby and I took off for Iowa to spend the weekend with my mom and dad. It had been two weeks since I last saw my mom. (Six weeks ago, Mom had a stroke that took away her speech and her mobility on her right side.)

Mom has been on a rehabilitation floor of the hospital for about three weeks.  I was very amazed at the change I saw in my mom. 

Today I saw her physical therapy session and saw her sitting up unassisted and she seemed pretty steady. I remembered back about 4-5 weeks when she first tried sitting on the edge of the bed for five minutes and would keep leaning over and was very unsteady.

Overall she seems much more alert. She tries to say something, but mostly vowel sounds come out and we don't understand what she is saying. Frustrating to her and to us. 

She gives big smiles when family comes in and it's not totally lopsided. She's learning to nod her head "yes". She's good at shaking her head "no". 

She is feeding herself and doing a really good job. She doesn't want any help and is clear about that. (Her stubborn streak is showing through. Grin.)

My sister and brother-in-law visited Saturday. And a sweet, wonderful bonus was a visit from my daughter and son-in-law. My mom was pretty excited about seeing her youngest granddaughter. She would hug Megan and then motion with her finger for Zach to come over to get a hug. Pretty cute to see that!

This afternoon I tried to teach her how to say "I love you" in sign language. She really caught on! I think Dad is going to work with her on that every day. She held her hand up with all the fingers in the correct position and held it out to my dad. So sweet! 

I didn't think about taking a picture of that accomplishment (phooey), thus the awkward picture above.

I had a hard time telling her good-bye this afternoon. But as I was signing "I love you" to her and saying it to her, she looked at me and I knew that facial expression. It was most definitely, "I love you, too, Honey". Made me cry and made me happy all at the same time.

It was a good weekend visit. It was good to talk with my dad in the evenings at their house. If my readers out there think of us, please pray for strength for my dad. He works so hard to be a support to my mom all day long it wears him out. I admire his dedication very much.

Tomorrow Mom moves out of the hospital to a skilled care home. It's in the same community so she and my dad will still have their support system around them. I'm thankful for that. Mom will get even more intense physical, speech and occupational therapy there.

Thank you for your prayers for our family and specifically for my mom and dad.