We expected that today - Mom's 74th birthday - she would spend all of part of her birthday in a (new to her) rehab clinic. But she's stayed put in the hospital. This morning I brought her a Happy birthday balloon, and then late morning half a dozen hospital staff came by to sing her Happy birthday and bring her a balloon. Then one of the hospital musical therapists (Isabella) - who turns out to have worked with a fellow church member and parent of a high school friend - kept playing guitar and finding that Mom likes classical and hymn music - with a beautiful voice - sang "Amazing Grace" (music therapy interlude with another patient pictured above top, with text).
This evening I got cards that had arrived from Mom in the mail - from sisters June and Barb (both get well cards and birthday cards) and one from her church friend Kate - plus one from Stephanie, Vincent, and me. Then Mom unwrapped four techie gifts we had gotten her - another cordless phone, an external 4 1/2 inch floppy drive, an MP3 player listen to National Public Radio with headphones in the nursing home, and speakers so that if she wants to download or get podcast NPR broadcasts such as "Fresh Air" (nost Terri Gross pictured above middle) she could download them to a computer, transfer to her MP3 player, and then play them on speakers (places where she doesn't want to listen to the MP3 player and doesn't already have a computer. Mom used to tape most NPR news shows, then just "Fresh Air," but she says her timer has broken. We'll see which of these if any she uses, but in a way the MP3 player- for the rehab clinic - was essentially her idea.
Although her birthday did not start out well, by late this afternoon she had perked up - she stayed awake through pastor Emory's visit and then stayed awake - just barely - to open cards and presents and then to split a piece of cake I had bought downstairs with me. Meanwhile, various hospital staff helped us get the MP3 player to work and looked at our digital camera at pictures of our dog.
Mom says this will be one of those memorable birthdays - just like Mother's Day 1982 when Mom drive up to North Carolina to help me tow my car home (an error) and - after spending the night illegally in my friend's Wake Forest dorm room on the boy's side of the campus (campus silhouette pictured above bottom) - we drove all night at 30 mph with a car swinging wildly back and forth behind us - covering the 10-hour drive in about 20 hours.
Happy birthday, Mom!
This evening I got cards that had arrived from Mom in the mail - from sisters June and Barb (both get well cards and birthday cards) and one from her church friend Kate - plus one from Stephanie, Vincent, and me. Then Mom unwrapped four techie gifts we had gotten her - another cordless phone, an external 4 1/2 inch floppy drive, an MP3 player listen to National Public Radio with headphones in the nursing home, and speakers so that if she wants to download or get podcast NPR broadcasts such as "Fresh Air" (nost Terri Gross pictured above middle) she could download them to a computer, transfer to her MP3 player, and then play them on speakers (places where she doesn't want to listen to the MP3 player and doesn't already have a computer. Mom used to tape most NPR news shows, then just "Fresh Air," but she says her timer has broken. We'll see which of these if any she uses, but in a way the MP3 player- for the rehab clinic - was essentially her idea.
Although her birthday did not start out well, by late this afternoon she had perked up - she stayed awake through pastor Emory's visit and then stayed awake - just barely - to open cards and presents and then to split a piece of cake I had bought downstairs with me. Meanwhile, various hospital staff helped us get the MP3 player to work and looked at our digital camera at pictures of our dog.
Mom says this will be one of those memorable birthdays - just like Mother's Day 1982 when Mom drive up to North Carolina to help me tow my car home (an error) and - after spending the night illegally in my friend's Wake Forest dorm room on the boy's side of the campus (campus silhouette pictured above bottom) - we drove all night at 30 mph with a car swinging wildly back and forth behind us - covering the 10-hour drive in about 20 hours.
Happy birthday, Mom!
2 comments:
Let us know if your mom needs anything. mark's mom just flew back up to cleveland at 130pm today.
Happy birthday Martha. Good luck in rehab. I hope to see you soon. ---Stephanie
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