Interesting. That’s the best word to sum it up. Interesting. Why? Because it is, that’s why!
Now, I had been under the impression that Mom was a more than willing participant in her showering. HA! Apparently, Tuesday, it was as though WWIII was in the making. She threatened to summon my brother, the attorney; call the police as well as city hall! But they still managed to get her into the stall and she calmed right down, enjoying the water and being cleansed.
She walked every day for about 10 minutes. She was quite conversant - one day she went on for nearly 2 hours! And, she did play BINGO (even yesterday, as my brother discovered when he dropped in to visit).
Her eating habits are decreasing, though. On two days she ate but one meal, others two, and some three - it’s very inconsistent.
Connie and Jean popped by earlier in the week, and here is their account:
We were lucky not to be rained on today. Lunchtime was over, and we found Norma at her table, reading The Oregonian. We talked a bit about the different headlines, and Norma perused each large sheet of ads that came with the paper. It's nice to have a discussion almost as we have done other times.
Norma was wearing a nice white sweater, dark blue pants, and a lovely Pendleton Wool dark gray jacket.
We asked if she cared to take off the jacket; no, she was fine with wearing it.
Then she read aloud the advice column, "Ask Amy." Perfect reading, with understanding, we thought, even keeping her place as she stopped to say something then go back to the column. She reads as well as ever. We talked about the problem presented, with our various ideas about a proper answer. It was a good 3-way conversation.
Connie is good about introducing a new subject any time Norma starts to express a thought, then drifts off. Mom was in good form today generally. As you might guess, Jean tends to speak with other residents and even "help" them move away from our exclusive property. Norma discourages this, but Jean does it anyway. (They have already been "invited" to go "over there" or anywhere but at our table.)
Norma asked Connie where her car was. She said Jean's car was in the parking lot. Usually she follows that question with saying she would go with us; We think she did not do that. As we said, Connie is good about bringing up some interesting subject. She said she was gifted with a copy of "The Romanov Sisters" by Helen Rappaport.
Morina was working with a few ladies, carving a pumpkin. We think she was the carver, they, the audience. She put a big piece of black plastic on the table before starting.
Hair-fixer Barbara stopped for a few minutes to chat. Norma said that Barbara was a good hair cutter; Barbara thanked her.
We had coffee; Jean told Norma she would get her a cuppa after she drank the juice in her glass. It was red; when she was ready for more juice she specified not the red kind. She found apple juice in the refrig, gave it to her,and she said something about wine..did not catch what she meant. Jean said maybe there was a bit of wine in it, but did not really know. We reminded her that she has wine with dinner,and that the ladies keep her own bottle for her. She seemed to deny that this was true, just a kind of poo-pooing the thought. (Mom hasn’t had wine for a few months now)
Jean asked Norma if she could check out her bathroom, and she asked, "Where is it?"
Jean answered that it's right next to her bedroom, a few feet from her bed. There were no towels on the racks, so Jean got an orange towel from the cupboard. Her bathroom looked nice and clean, as always.
jean brought Connie's walker and coat from Norma's room, then we walked to her room. She sat in her recliner, the room was rather dark, and I suggested she might have a nice nap before dinner. No comment from her; I'm guessing she did nap. It was a bit after 3 pm.
We said our goodbyes and left. We had been visiting for two hours; it never seems that long.
So, today, I popped around for the morning visit (as I am prone to do). I had received a text from Leddy that she was in a very bad mood - Leddy surmised it could have been because they told her her breakfast was on the table and they would like her to come out. Who knows? Another aide told me she knocked on Mom’s door and Mom told her to wait a minute. When the aide finally opened the door, Mom was putting on her shirt, pants and socks. However, five minutes later, when she returned to see if Mom was alright, Mom had taken off the shirt and pants and had replaced them with her nightie, then put sandals on over her socks. She did put on her own compression stockings, though, too.
When I arrived, Mom was sitting in her room dressed in what I thought was just her nightie.
“Don’t you want to get dressed?”
“What do you mean? I am dressed”
“I mean put a shirt and some pants on.”
“There’s nothing wrong with what I have on! Some people wear only their bathing suits, and some less! Stop being so rude!”
Deep intake of breath here.
Mom did mention she was feeling a chill (even though it was 74 in the room and I was feeling rather comfortable). So, I helped her put on a sweater and out we went into the dining room where she supposed she would have her breakfast (only 3 hours late!).
As we sat down, another woman came to sit with us. Mom tried, tactfully - for once, to ask her to leave us alone. In truth, we tried many strategies, but she woefully couldn’t take the hints - even when we said she needed to go! At last, Leanna came and tried to move her. This didn’t work, either. Mom was rolling her eyes and glaring at the woman (“There is really something wrong with her!”). At last, we were able to move her to another table and she was content.
Mom began reading her paper, and we talked about some of the articles. Of course, we repeated many of the conversations as they seemed to have flitted away in her mind.
At one point she turned to me and stated, “You really have no shame, do you!?”
“What’s that about?”
“I do not like you trying to shower with me (gug!)!”
“Did I try that this week?”
“Duh! You did it this morning! Your father was very upset.”
“Oh. Did you win at BINGO! yesterday?”
“Of course.”
“You know, Lawrence tried to visit with you, but you were off playing.”
“Well, he needs to stop that disgusting shower stuff, too - I’ve had it with both of you!”
Apparently, we are both taking showers with her on a daily basis…...gug gug ugh!
I was to leave, only to return later after a hike, bearing flavored creamers with me (she had asked, and I figured ‘What the hey!’ I know what I’ve stated about the brain and sugar and insulin, but at this point…..). She loved it. She was still involved with her paper, and then, finally, she stated we needed to get going. She believed we were going somewhere, but had to wait for someone to take the cups and napkins. I took them and she began to throw a fit. I returned one napkin, and she found a piece of rice on it -which she flicked off and then folded it up to reuse at another time.
Upon my departure, she began lecturing me on collecting children. She reprimanded me for having too many and feeling smug about it as though it meant something. “Well, it doesn’t! It just means you’re a creep!” Where this came from, I imagined, was the same wonderful world that gave her showers with us. Oh well.
I then left her with music after I filled up the vase filled with fresias someone had brought her (beautiful! I wish I’d been able to snap a photo!). She was weary and ready for a nap. After all, she’d had one very trying day.
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