MomWolf is in the Hospital Again

[Sundae]

As Brianna pointed out, the rate of exchange is in my favour at present, so as it turns out I can spare some more love and good wishes.

All the best WolfMom.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

These people are so much more eloquent than I am.

May she get home soon.

[wolf]

I hug her every chance I get. Except for that time when she had the scabies from the nursing home.

She was discharged from the hospital yesterday. After a brief adjustment period (of her being extremely irritable and me being somewhat indifferent), things are pretty much back to normal, although what I need is for things to be somewhat different ... one of the things that should help to keep her OUT of the hospital is to increase her activity level. Anybody have any ideas on this? Simply encouraging her to walk down the (very long) hallway of the apt to increase her strength and endurance has been unsuccessful. I have even offered to do this along with her, rather than just telling her to do it on her own. I have ordered a Tai Chi for Seniors DVD that we can do together. I'm thinking that if both of us do it it might encourage her more.

Short of having Richard Simmons come over to motivate her, I don't know what I can do here.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Arrange for her to go bowling with Obama. Winning will motivate her to do more.

Same problem with my Mom. When the wheelchair became necessary, she decided she liked it... too much so. Now she only gets out of it when she has to, instead of when she can.

[BigV]

Likewise here.

Her physical strength, endurance, agility, flexibility, etc are all way down, even from her previously low levels, when she got her new wheelchair. This *is* a problem. The problem is most severe when she has to make a transfer. From the chair to the bed or the chair to another chair or the chair to the toilet, etc, etc.

I have changed my position on this issue. I used to get upset about it and encouraged her to exercise more. My encouragement usually took the form of complaining that she wanted to take the chair somewhere that usually involved us walking together. I think that approach, while well intentioned, was received as nagging and whining after a very short while.

Her physical abilities are limited, not her mental faculties. She knows what's good for her. She knows the value of exercise. And she exercises in direct proportion to the importance she assigns to it, which is pretty close to zero. I'm not really in a position to compel her to exercise, despite the clear benefits to her. She has to want to. And... she doesn't.

I've decided to not nag her. *I* don't like to be nagged. I'm just applying the golden rule. I wish she relied on the chair for the minimum necessary instead of relying on the chair to the maximum amount possible.

I think some new different strategies are needed here. Games, like the Wii, are one option. Bowling, another option. There just needs to be a bigger carrot, it needs to be more enjoyable than sitting in the chair watching FoxNews. How can I compete with that?

Hey, let's agree to share any successes we have on this subject, ok? I wish you, and your mother good luck in the future. This goes for you, too, xoB.

[jinx]

I don;t think it helps with motivation, but there's a possibility that hawthorn berry would help with her ability to exercise.

Hawthorn has primarily been studied in people with heart failure (a condition in which the heart is unable to pump adequate amounts of blood to other organs in the body). Four studies conclude that hawthorn significantly improved heart function. There have found that the herb can improve a heart failure patient's ability to exercise. Patients have reported that hawthorn significantly improved symptoms of the disease (such as shortness of breath and fatigue). One study found that hawthorn extract (900 mg/day) taken for 2 months was as effective as low doses of captropril (a leading heart medication) in improving symptoms of heart failure.