No Funny Quips Today

So today's visit to Annie was another not so good one.  When I arrived at lunch, she was sitting in the common area in a lazy boy by the TV with pretty much invalids surrounding her.  No wonder she is upset.  But the only transportation device around was a walker! HOORAY!  She was walking around with her walker all day today and she used it to get to the dining room for lunch.  Good news.




She couldn't stop talking about the size of the woman in the background. 

 I sat with her and her friend Murry at lunch and we had the best conversation we could have considering Murry is pretty much deaf and Annie wasn't making much sense either.  She complained about the treatment by the nurses again, about the conspiracy to kick her out of assisted living, about the lack of physical therapy and about the size of the nurses.  She said, "The blacks here are huge."  She is so inappopriate. 

I explained to her that mom is coming in tonight and she was horrified that mom is leaving her baby at home which required an explanation that the baby is Ashley's.  She is still confused about this.  She is also continuing to obsess over the lack of tidyness of her windowsill so we are going to try to declutter that for good over the next few days.

On another note-she ate her entire lunch today and almost even forgot about dessert.  So until next time...Sorry the report isn't more cheery.  OH YEAH!  Blanka is back from the hospital minus teeth but in good spirits.  Yeah Blanka!

One of Them is Shaped Like a Spin Top

Unfortunately last night's visit was not a very positive one.  I left work and went straight to Cedarfield to spend the dinner hour with her.  She was eating in her room.

Mom-you mentioned you guys had asked that the staff bring her to eat in the dining room each night.  I have a feeling she is not going because of her hair.  We need to make sure we get weekly hair appointments for her if we want her to socialize more.

She had shrimp, rice and greens and complained that she had already had that three times this week which is of course not true but she cleaned her plate and didn't touch her dessert.  She asked instead for the chocolate covered cherries. 

She spoke mostly in inchoherent sentences last night going from the present to the way past and in between.  She is still convinced they are trying to kick her out of assisted living, that they are leaving her apartment unlocked because everyone likes the stuff in there, and she keeps complaining about the nurse named Allie.  She said she is rude, manhandles her, etc.   As far as Allie is concerned-I think this part is true.  I haven't seen Allie behave this way but when some of the other nurses enter the room, Annie lights up, but she does not light up when Allie comes in.  It probably doesn't help that she called Allie her maid when I was there last night.

We ended our "conversation" with Annie telling me that the majority of the nurses there must weigh 300 lbs and one of them is shaped exactly like a spin top.

I promised to visit again today so hopefully she is in better spirits.  Until then...

Oh Dahlin, Anyone who is Anything in Richmond Knows an Azalea

April 17, 2011

Yesterday Jeff and I finally made our way down to visit our new niece and take the boat out for the first time in 2011.  We got home around 4:30 and made our way over to visit Annie before and during dinner.

When we arrived, she was using her TV remote as a phone and talking to I don't know who so I was worried this might be a strange visit.  She quickly realized the error of her ways and we brought the real phone a bit closer to where she was sitting.  We then got her the heck out of her room and down to a pre-dinner walk in the secret garden.  We walked her in circles several times so she could get some fresh air and we quizzed her on the types of flowers growing around the garden.  I asked her what kind of flowers were growing on a giant bush and she was very disturbed with the fact that I #1 don't know flowers and #2 didn't know they were azaleas.  She then proceeded to spout off the sentence that is the title of this post.  Note to self: brush up on my flowers.  How will I ever have a pretty yard if I don't know what an azalea is?  I have already determined that my daughter is doomed.  I don't know how to sew, fix hair or do makeup.  And now I don't know flowers.  Yikes.

Anyway we sat for a while on one of the benches and she remembered that we had just recently enjoyed strawberries and pound cake over at the table for her birthday.  Great sign!!  We headed back inside for dinner and dined with her in the assisted living dining room.  Orange glazed salmon and fried chicken were on the menu.  Annie and I had the salmon which was delicious and she nearly cleaned her plate!!  Dinner conversation was great and she only strayed off course once or twice.

After dinner we returned to her room when she once again asked us to straighten her windowsill.  She is very particular about the placement of the food vs. the flowers vs. the cards vs. the pictures but I think she is satisifed until our next visit.  She said she had visitors from church that day, and as we were chatting, Ann Heller also came to visit.  She recapped the events from Palm Sunday at church, told us Pi is going deaf and sadly informed us that Art Hunt died.  Annie was quite saddened by this as was I because he was such a kind man and treated us so nicely when Poppy died.  I have linked to his obituary for anyone interested.  I feel so sad for Courtney.  Supposedly Art suffered an anneurism when he and Courtney were on a cruise on South America and he has been sick ever since. 

 http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timesdispatch/obituary.aspx?n=arthur-hunt&pid=150390216

Anyway-we left her in great spirits and felt really great about our visit and her progress...until we got a call around 9:00 last night from Rebecca (the night nurse) who informed me that Annie was being defiant, removing her leg brace and trying repeatedly to get out of bed.  I called Annie, told her how important it is to leave the brace on and do what the nurses say.  I told her I had heard she was giving the nurses a time.  She giggled and said, "Yes, I am," but promised to do what she was told.  I also called Julian and asked him to give her a call to tell her to keep the brace on, etc.

I am getting ready to  head on over there now so more updates to come...

Can You Use your Fingernail to Scratch that Dry Skin off my Face?

April 16, 2011
I baked cookies all day on Saturday with Lizzy and Jenny to raise money for a 3-day, 60 mile walk I am doing in September for breast cancer research.  We are selling Lizzy's delicious cookies as a fundraiser.  We began baking at 9am and finished at 7:30pm-780 cookies later.  Sheesh.  If I never roll another ball of dough again, I will be happy.

Anywho-as soon as I finished at Lizzy's, I drove straight across to visit Annie.  She was already in bed with her hair protector cap on and was finishing up a phone call with Will.  She was excited to see me again and listened with great interest as I recapped the cookie baking events.  She mentioned Lizzy seemed very domesticated.  She is-very much more so than I am.  I brought Annie some of the raspberry thumbprint shortbread cookies to add to her sweets collection.  She was thrilled.

After a few minutes, Russell and Harriett arrived for a post-dinner visit.  She was really happy to see them and carried on a completely coherent conversation with them.  I was so happy for that and for her.  She knows that her brain isn't functioning very well and even said that on Friday so when she does really well with outside visitors, I know it makes her happy.

After they left, we chatted a bit longer about some additional chores she needs me to complete.  Because it was approaching 8pm and I hadn't eaten dinner yet, I promised her I would complete them on Sunday. Just before I left, I leaned in to give her a kiss on her forehead and she realized she hadn't put her face cream on and asked me to do it for her.  I didn't mind at all but when I started rubbing it on her face, she mentioned a dry skin spot on her right cheek.  She asked me to put extra cream there and to use my fingernail to try to scrape some of the dry skin off.  AAHHH!  I just rubbed a little harder there, but no matter how much I love her, I just couldn't bring myself to scrape her dry skin.  You have to draw the line somewhere right? HAHAHA!

Until next time...

I Asked You to Get Me More Clothes and You Disobeyed Me!

April 15, 2011 Evening
When I returned for my visit on Friday night, she was already eating dinner and was scarfing it down.  It looked kind of good but I couldn't tell if it was chicken and rice or seafood and rice.   It came with a cheese biscuit which she used to LOVE and I pointed it out and said, "Oh Annie, you LOVE the cheese biscuits here."  She said, "Not anymore, circumstances have changed..."  She ate the biscuit anyway.  Dessert was jello which kept dropping on her skirt and bouncing to the floor so I encouraged her to eat some of her Easter sweets instead to avoid further skirt soiling.

The rest of our visit was pleasant and we talked about my plans for the weekend.  At one point she accused me of disobeying her orders to go get her more clothes but I reminded her that I had shown her all the clothes in her closet and she had changed her mind about needing more.  She replied with a giggle and "Oh, that's right."

We then said goodnight and I love you and I told her I would return when I was done cookie baking on Saturday.

I Do Have a Classy Wardrobe Now, Don't I?

Now that you are all safely back in your hometowns, I have decided to use Annieisms as a way to keep you up to date on her progress and my visits with her.

Friday, April 15, 2011
I visited with Annie at lunch today.  When I arrived, she was sitting in her wheelchair watching the news.  When I walked in, she lit up and was extremely excited to have a visitor.  We chatted about her morning and she mentioned she'd had physical therapy that morning and that it hadn't been as difficult as she thought it would be.

She then proceeded to give me several chores to do.  #1-Clean up the stuff on the windowsill because "it loks tacky."  I consolidated all her Easter candy, placed her flowers strategically amongst the photos and cards and moved her makeup, etc. into its own little spot.  She was satisfied.

#2-Go get her some additional clothes to hang in her closet because "no one will agree to bring her anything."  I quickly corrected her and brought all the clothes out of her closet and placed them all on the bed for her to see.  She was very satisfied afterward and told me, "Well I do have a classy wardrobe now, don't I?"

We chatted about Will and Julia's flight back to Seattle and the fact that they saw David Hasslehoff in the airport.  She said, "Well he is certainly a handsome man," and then she started giggling.

We had a nice visit.  She complained a bit about the treatment she is getting from one nurse in particular and I reminded her they are just trying to help her.  She seemed to believe me.

Her lunch came shortly after I arrived : turkey and cheese sandwich, chips, ice cream and coconut cake.  She starting eating and I stepped out to go to the bathroom.  When I got back, she had taken one bite of her sandwich and had quickly moved on to the ice cream.  I encouraged her to step away from the ice cream and continue eating her sandwich and she reluctantly obeyed.  I had to continue encouraging sandwich eating each time she reached for the sweets.  She told me angrily at one point that the cheese on her sandwich has "more cheese than you can possibly imagine."  Internally I thought to myself, "yeah that cake and ice cream has 0 calories."  :)

At that point I had to go back to work and promised a visit later in the evening.

Luna vs. Wine

Annie is now in healthcare at Cedarfield due to the broken hip.  She is very weak and needs to gain weight but she only has a taste for sweets.  This is nothing new.

Today Uncle Will offered her a Luna bar which she thinks is a sweet but the joke is on her.

When he made the offer, she said:

"I'd rather have some wine."