Taking the Good With the Bad

There was some bad news and some good news at "the home" today. I spoke with Francine, the activities director for the other building, who happened to be in the foyer of mom's building when I arrived. She filled me in on some of the details of recent developments. The supervisor and her assistant are gone. I don't know if they left of their own volition. Regardless, there is no one in charge. Bad news. She said they are actively looking for replacements and have many candidates lined up for interviews. Good news. Unfortunately, the head honcho is out of town for a few days so everything is on hold. Bad news. Francine was optimistic and promised things would get better soon. She said everyone would get trained again in the treatment of Alzheimer's patients. That was my opening to give Donna, the best CNA, a big compliment, and I did so at length. I also said I wasn't fond of one of the aides and told her who it was and how she behaved. She informed me that JoAnn had moved across to the other building. Good news.



My roller coaster ride of emotions continued as the morning wore on. Mom was calm early in my visit but became upset during lunch. She could not get the soup to her mouth so I handed the small bowl to her so she could sip it. This wasn't very successful so we quickly moved on to the main course. She was very frustrated that she couldn't seem to use the fork. The food kept falling from the fork back to the plate or onto her lap. Occasionally, she would stab at the place mat as she couldn't see the food. To relieve her frustration I loaded up the fork with food and handed it to her. This worked for awhile but eventually she was ready to give up. I fed her the rest of the meal. She opened her mouth like a little bird while I put in the food. Dessert is usually the best part of her meal but today she couldn't even manage the ice cream. Again, I spooned it in her mouth. So, she was well fed, but I fear she is slipping even more in her ability to do the most basic of things. Bad news.



Claudine, the nurse, told me the doctor had DC'd (discontinued) the nasty-tasting Coalace and increased the dosage of the preferred medicine which has no taste. A small but satisfying victory. Very good news.



I asked mom if she was tired, and she was. I wheeled her back into her room and managed to transfer her from the wheelchair to her lounge chair all by myself. After getting her all comfy in the chair with her feet up and her new soft blanket covering her, I suggested she try to take a nap. A few days ago I had purchased a small cd player for her room. I put on a cd of beautiful relaxation music which I played at a fairly loud volume. I gave her a gentle head massage and she was peacefully asleep within minutes. She was content. Very, very good news.