Kathy
let us know on Saturday, September 17, 2011, that the date she was considering
was either
Sat. or Sun, (10-22-11 or 10-23-11)
or even the day of the B, D. (10-25-11) if everyone could make that. Once we
decided on a date, she would ask Aegis to reserve “the lovely room” (and yes,
it is beautiful) and then we could decide on food and or cake, ice cream,
etc.
She let me know that Mom was now on
Zyprexa, 3x a day, which was “a minimal dose.”
She had also discussed Mom’s weight
loss with the Kaiser N.P. who had first diagnosed Mom’s “global Alzheimer.” Declining appetite is part of the Alzheimer's
disease. So, she ordered an appetite stimulant, Megace- a liquid to be given
daily by the med techs.
As for Mom’s change-of-roommate,
nothing had changed yet, but the head of the establishment and others were “working
on it.”
Kathy sweetly closed asking, “ Any
other questions out there?--you have questions, I'll try to have answers.” She closed with “Take Care. Love, K.”
From
Tina, Saturday, September 17, 2011 Mom,
Sonia
Hi
again!
The days you mentioned are all okay
for me except, possibly, Sunday, October 23, which may be the day our View and
Chew French group meets. (It’s either
the last Sunday or the fourth; I’m not sure.
There are five Sundays in October.)
As for the room, is there a way to familiarize Mom with that room before
the day of the party so she won’t be totally disoriented? Could we start meeting with her in there
and/or have the staff do that? We could
show her how close to the bathroom it is.
This was not one of Mom’s best days,
but it wasn’t one of her worst either.
It was a little better than the day Jonathan and I visited, but not as
good as the last time I was with her.
She was sitting in the dining room
with Bob, who had his chin on his chest as usual, and Ella Mae, who had her
head totally thrown back. Both were
comatose.
Mom said, “You’d better go because right now
I’m under investigation for not doing something I did. These are my co-workers” (she indicated Ella Mae and Bob), “and
they’re in the clear right now.”
“People think they’ve been doing
their job just fine?”
“So far,” Mom said.
“Well, I keep hearing good things
about you. Maybe the staff has a higher
opinion of you than you think.”
“They’re being swayed. Not in my favor,” she said.
I told her I was having a Peace
Corps gathering tomorrow for former
Peace Corps Volunteers who work at City College.
She said, “And I’m having a party
for my ninetieth birthday, if I’m still alive.”
I told her that I was looking
forward to that.
I
also told her I was going to get her a milk shake, but not until after lunch
because I didn’t want to spoil her appetite.
“I’ve already had lunch. Maybe they don’t know that because they’ve
just come on the job. But I’m not going
to eat lunch again. And I think they’re
giving us something to drink that has a little bit of poison in it.”
I
was glad to hear that it was only a little.
I
asked her whether she’d like to have Ensure now and the milkshake later. She said they didn’t want her to have Ensure.
I put my arms around her and told
her I loved her, and she said, “I love you, too. But here nobody wants to touch me because
there’s too much alarm in it.”
She was willing to get up and play
the piano, but on her way, we passed by Franz, and Mom said, “There’s the one
who will beat me up after you leave.”
After
she’d played “Poor Butterfly” (on which
she wrote, “Record if appropriate”) and two others, she looked over at the
people still asleep and said, “They’re still mesmerized,” which I think was her
word for comatose. Maybe she felt that
if they weren’t joining in, there was no point in her playing, but she got up,
and again she asked me to leave.
Francis
Dean started screaming at one of the aides, and Mom said, “What’s he upset
about?” I tried to assure her that his
anger wasn’t directed towards her.
“You’d
better go,” she said. “Otherwise, people
will think we’re in cahoots.”
“I
think they’ll understand that we’re just giving each other love and support.”
“Oh, he doesn’t care about love and
support. He just thinks that there are
two of us in trouble instead of one.”
We sat down beside Carol, and Mom
said, “It will be a disaster if I poop.”
At this time an aide (the Indian
one—What’s his name?) approached and gave Mom her medicine with water, and
another aide got Mom some Ensure, but as soon as Mom took a swallow, she said,
“And now I have to go to the bathroom, but both doors are locked.”
I walked her down the hall to her
room, where Kay was sitting, looking out the window (away from us). Mom told me to go.
“Her Majesty is there. If she sees you sitting out here, she’ll (I
don’t remember what she said about the consequences, but they were grim).
“Do you want to take your Ensure and
drink it in there?”
I greeted Kay, who didn’t say “So
that’s what you’re up to.” She was
pleasant enough. Mom went to the
bathroom, but she still wanted me to go, so I did.
In the lobby I saw Sonia, who asked
to speak to me. She told me their e-mail
had been down, and she lost a message I’d sent her—probably the one about the
insulin. (I wish I’d had some to spray today.)
She asked me to please send it again.
I asked her about Mom’s new
roommate, and she told me that she (Sonia) had been out of town, but this
morning she had a meeting with the caregivers who didn’t think Beverly (last
week’s candidate) would be suitable for Mom.
They thought Patricia, who’s been in the Assisted Living but is now
showing need for my help, would be a better candidate. Sonia is now waiting to hear from Kay’s
family (Still waiting???????) and expects to hear from them Monday (“Couldn’t
you call on the weekend?” I asked) and
Aegis is proposing that Kay go to the room across the way and Mom stay where
she is now.
I expressed concern that Kay would
think Mom had permanently moved her out of her (Kay’s) own home. Couldn’t Mom be the one who moved? But I told Sonia that you, Kathy, would be
the person to give your advice or consent or not.
So…that’s the latest from my morning
visit at Aegis.
Love,
Tina/Mom
PS
Maybe Mom could be involved in decorating the room to get her acquainted with
it. Maybe, too, they could let her play the piano “out there” because
it’s so close to the beautiful dining room.
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