BABY STEPS

What may seem like normal, everyday occurances to some, are actual baby steps of accomplishments to my Mom and our entire family.

Take showering for instance.  Most of us enjoy a warm shower on a daily basis.  Mom on the other hand has only been able to get away with meager sponge baths occasionally over the past 3 months.  I was able to wash her hair one day after figuring out that I could get her wheelchair up to the sink close enough.  Friends and other members of the family have come by to help her wash her hair, but showering and bathing has been something that Mom was nearly contending with that she'd never enjoy ever again....

Until today.

Her hair still dripping wet from a long, warm shower, she calls me.

"Jenni?"  Mom says in a slightly shaky voice.

"Honey, I just had to share this with you.  I just got done taking a shower all by myself today in the shower."  She was so excited when she was explaining her accomplishments to me over the phone.

My first thought was, how the heck did she get up the two little steps to the shower?  What about the slippery floor in there?

Mom told me that Daddy had build a very nice little bench that she could scoot from her wheelchair to the shower to the chair that he had put in there.  She assured me that she never felt like she was in any kind of danger at all.

"Oh, it feels so good to actually get clean and wash my own hair." She said.  I could hear a little laugh in her voice.

Since all this had taken Mom from an ambulatory life to a life now restricted to a wheelchair, she has only been able to take small sponge baths.  That never really does any justice because she could never get "really" clean.  Just the feeling of being able to lather and rinse and have the water run over her body to get clean is a feeling that most of us take for granted.

A couple of months ago, I was able to wash Mom's hair for her.  This was the first time she was able to get it clean since all of this had transpired. So, being able to enjoy the shower and the feeling of being clean again was definitely a baby step of progress.

Good for you, Mom.  I am so proud of you and your willingness to regain some sense of independence.  It's always a good feeling.  I love you.