Monday, June 13, 2011

Monday? Halfway through June?

Okay, when one gets old the days go faster but they don't have to go at supersonic speed.
I'm losing my way here.

The fence is propped up and the builder has inspected.
We are now going to have the entire side fence replaced. The inspection revealed rotting uprights, splintering palings and if we had just done the fence to my carport, the rest would have fallen down within weeks.
The BOH has to move all his car parts away from the fence and he'd better get them out of my wheelbarrow as well. I have to cut away the lemon tree so the fencer can get in there without being ripped to pieces. He'll just have to go gently past the Camellia. Don't ask about the money, I'm trying not to think about it.

I spent yesterday with Mum who was not very well and stayed in bed. Unfortunately her shadow remained in the room as well. This lady has had a bad stroke and mum is her lifeline as she understands her speech and what she wants which is fine unless my mother is not well and needs to rest especially to sleep. She would drift off to sleep and I'd think good and start reading the paper and the next minute the shadow would be calling for her. Mum would wake up with a fright and instantly would see what the shadow wanted. I was getting very angry and it didn't help when I dropped a cup which shattered and woke everybody up.

As for sweet little Val in the bed next to Mum. This is the one we call "The Pincher" and can she take a chunk of skin in seconds. Frail little voice calls, "Can you help me?" and you go over and she strikes like a cobra. Yesterday she was in fine form, swearing like a trooper, pinching and nearly choking a nurse in the shower. I felt like kicking the bed every time I went past.

Then we had Don the Peeper doing the rounds of the windows. This one would have been a natural tunnel digger in Stalagluft anywhere. He's in the shadow zone of Alzheimer's where he still knows things, like checking the fences for weak spots and using his tool kit to get the palings down and get out. He did that the other night and they found him 2 kms away. He's also inclined to a bit of stangling, we've learnt not to wear necklaces on the outside of clothes or scarves and the nurses now have clip release ID tags.

But I digress, still fuming about the shadow who should have been down in the day room for a few hours so mum could rest, I spoke to the head nurse who was speaking to the others about it today. Mum already had permission to use the Chapel room at weekends for her craft to get away from everyone so it has been noticed that she gets used as a babysitter. I keep reminding her that she is a resident not an employee but if you can't wheel yourself away then you get stuck. I don't know about anyone else but it's giving me a headache.

15 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

Aaaargh. Not only a headache it makes my eyes leak reading about it. Take care.

JahTeh said...

EC, I've just rung her and she was on her way down to lunch but she admitted she could have used a long sleep yesterday. It wasn't so bad before but the ratio of men to women has changed and the men take much longer to organise so the staff are rushed off their feet.

JahTeh said...

And it's 12.19 and I'm still not dressed and don't look as though I will, I'm de-stressing.

River said...

I got a headache just reading this, then realised it was the hayfever kicking in and straightaway took some antihistamine.
Go ahead and kick the bed of the pincher, I would. Make it look like an accident by walking just a tad too close.
It doesn't seem at all fair that your mum is left to translate for the shadow, if she's been unwell, the nurses should be ensuring she gets the sleep she needs.

Ann ODyne said...

For the fence cost you also got the automotive business removed. Think Positives!
and re the Home For The Terminally Bewildered:What El Chi said at the top, plus
The Pincher and The Peeper need their drugs UPPED.

JahTeh said...

River, I'll be having another word with the nurse who looked after mum on Sunday.
As for the pincher, well it's nearing the full moon so everybody will be bonkers more than usual. That's not an urban myth either, ask any nurse.

Annie O, depends on the doctor, some don't worry about leaving a standing order for medication. The pincher is about 4 feet high but deadly and I reckon she must have had an evil nature before she landed here.
The automotive business hasn't moved yet.

R.H. said...

Hi, I've just been outside, there's no moon and I have a monstrous headache.
Get down to Mentone tomorrow and collect that package. Big Woman.

R.H. said...

Hi. Jahteh's hubby has come back. Now she'll wake up to herself. Divorced women sink to some awful bad habits. They laugh on the phone and fall off the toilet. Both at the same time.
How come there's no winos in parks anymore? Cold never stopped them. This is a dreadful city, cold days freezing nights, daft women on mobile phones. Yes well there went my youth, a bed at the Gill Memorial doss house for eighty cents. I was twenty-three before I really got a root, and in a Tehran brothel, that quarter of town where women crippled in some way were allowed to be prostitutes.
I told a doctor that and he laughed.
This city is closing up, packing in on itself, pulling down everything. The cadavers go to and fro, no love beween them, it's all technology. The doss houses are full, overflowing, there's more bums and less sign of them. Poor things. It doesn't seem that long ago, not thirty years, when an old wino told me the elephant balls joke in the Pie-teria all night cafe.

Jayne said...

Get em to put mittens on the pincher or shout you a bottle of Blue Sapphire.

The Editor said...

Hugs, JT. I send you lots of hugs.

JahTeh said...

Robbert, the winos have been frightened away by the druggos and their dealers.

Jayne, they've lowered the bed and put a mattress on the floor in case she falls out, always a sign of impending departure from this plain.

And here's another really bad omen, the bear's being nice to me. I feel like little red riding hood heading in the door to Grandma.

R.H. said...

You're right.

The Editor said...

My, what big .... you have...

JahTeh said...

Imagination, Bear.

The Editor said...

I was trying to remember what Grandma said.