Christmas 2007
I heard the shuffle of feet and then saw a little white-haired person coming toward me. Bearing a gift, Miss Dixie handed me a piece of apple. I was still in bed, sleeping more than usual as a result of the anesthetic associated with routine gall bladder surgery. Nana, our short-term nursing assistant, was doing laundry. And, Mother had broken for daylight, which she still likes to do to assert her independence.
A couple of days earlier, Miss Dixie had bolted through an outside door. I thought it was Nana going out. Mother was found quite easily this time, sitting in the car parked in the driveway.
Some of the major highlights in this year of gifts and challenges...
In February, Mother stopped walking after a hospitalization. Miraculously, she came back to walk again after home visits from a terrific geriatric physical therapist and another excellent nursing assistant, Emma. It took three and a half months, but Mother became the statistical anomaly at her Arlington day care program … the patient who was able to return to the program despite the fact that she has a progressively debilitating disease.
This journey began officially with her diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's in 2000. So, we are beginning our 8th year, my 5th year as sole caregiver in August. In January, we begin a new phase of her care since she is being discharged from her Arlington day care program. She requires too much one-on-one care for the program. At the moment, there are limited openings in the next day care phase and I am hiring a nursing assistant three days a week. (I hyperventilate at the mere mention of costs since I actually had to turn down a second contract this year because of my own health.)
This year, too, Mother has started a new form of communication. Her ability to speak is declining, so she claps her hands when she’s happy, pats people on the arm when she likes them, and has been known to hit folks when she doesn’t like them or what they are doing.
There have been adventures, too. Like the time I turned my back to take the trash out to the curb. I returned to hear water running and found the floor of her bathroom flooded along with the floors of the utility room and my bathroom and water shooting from a sink hose. When I asked why she did it, I was told that the mythical “she” had done it. The mythical she and Mother’s horse show up from time to time. One evening Mother asked where was her horse and what was she going to feed it. I think I mumbled carrots.
As for me, I’m falling apart like a cheap suit. I walk with a cane. Herniated discs in the old back have caused the most difficulty this year, but the good news is that there seems to be nothing worse than that and I am grateful.
There is no doubt that Providence was smiling kindly at us with the gift of six months in her old day care program. Our gratitude and warmest wishes to you for the coming year …
I heard the shuffle of feet and then saw a little white-haired person coming toward me. Bearing a gift, Miss Dixie handed me a piece of apple. I was still in bed, sleeping more than usual as a result of the anesthetic associated with routine gall bladder surgery. Nana, our short-term nursing assistant, was doing laundry. And, Mother had broken for daylight, which she still likes to do to assert her independence.
A couple of days earlier, Miss Dixie had bolted through an outside door. I thought it was Nana going out. Mother was found quite easily this time, sitting in the car parked in the driveway.
Some of the major highlights in this year of gifts and challenges...
In February, Mother stopped walking after a hospitalization. Miraculously, she came back to walk again after home visits from a terrific geriatric physical therapist and another excellent nursing assistant, Emma. It took three and a half months, but Mother became the statistical anomaly at her Arlington day care program … the patient who was able to return to the program despite the fact that she has a progressively debilitating disease.
This journey began officially with her diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's in 2000. So, we are beginning our 8th year, my 5th year as sole caregiver in August. In January, we begin a new phase of her care since she is being discharged from her Arlington day care program. She requires too much one-on-one care for the program. At the moment, there are limited openings in the next day care phase and I am hiring a nursing assistant three days a week. (I hyperventilate at the mere mention of costs since I actually had to turn down a second contract this year because of my own health.)
This year, too, Mother has started a new form of communication. Her ability to speak is declining, so she claps her hands when she’s happy, pats people on the arm when she likes them, and has been known to hit folks when she doesn’t like them or what they are doing.
There have been adventures, too. Like the time I turned my back to take the trash out to the curb. I returned to hear water running and found the floor of her bathroom flooded along with the floors of the utility room and my bathroom and water shooting from a sink hose. When I asked why she did it, I was told that the mythical “she” had done it. The mythical she and Mother’s horse show up from time to time. One evening Mother asked where was her horse and what was she going to feed it. I think I mumbled carrots.
As for me, I’m falling apart like a cheap suit. I walk with a cane. Herniated discs in the old back have caused the most difficulty this year, but the good news is that there seems to be nothing worse than that and I am grateful.
There is no doubt that Providence was smiling kindly at us with the gift of six months in her old day care program. Our gratitude and warmest wishes to you for the coming year …
posted by BK Kincaid at 7:27 AM
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