Milkweed of Zenith
Jun. 11th, 2025 08:15 pmA somewhat suboptimal day. The smoke is back. I used to not be so sensitive to such things, but whether it was the smoke or something else, I lost some of the moxie I had regained yesterday. I decided to curtail my visit to Madame by not taking her out. I just wasn't up for that. So I picked up coffee and lemon cake and took it over there. Once again I was greeted with almost tearful joy and relief. She is very perturbed and worried about being where she is, and her one aim is to get out of there. She is convinced that everyone has forgotten her. Even though someone visits her almost daily, those visits don't stick in her mind. Her hearing aid battery had run down, so she wasn't hearing anything. I eventually found the charger, with one spare battery in it, in her purse. Fortunately, that battery had been charged before she purloined it, so when I switched them, the new battery enabled her to hear. However, we then could not find the cord to the charger. It was a tragicomedy as she tried repeatedly to plug it into her phone cord. Eventually, I was in contact with Mademoiselle, who texted a staff member who then came and took the charger away to the office to plug it in. This is just the new normal. Madame disassembles and conceals all the parts of her hearing apparatus, so there's a scavenger hunt before communication is re-established.
Then we have the usual sad conversations about where her car is, and whether she could get in it, and follow me to her house, if I would drive there. It's funny how she sort of realizes that she doesn't know the way any more, but still believes she could drive. I asked if she had her license--knowing she does not--and she brushed that off irritably as a triviality. She's not going to worry about that. She's just going to drive, and if the police stop her, then it will be their problem. Similarly, she thinks she will just go back to her old house, and then eventually someone will be forced to come over and help her. "I can live alone! There's no law against it!" She asked me to let her dad know where she is, so he can come and get her. It gets sadder every week. I made her laugh a couple of times, though she won't remember that either!
What with all the confusion, it took just about as long as going out does. When I got home, I was too tired to do anything and had to take a nap while the Sparrowhawk went to the gym. After I got up, I got a phone call from Deb with a situation report. She had, indeed, taken the Prussian to the ER in an ambulance last night. She went back this morning to check on him, and he had finally been given a room. He has bacterial pneumonia, and they are keeping him for observation for a couple of days to rule out any other complications. She left him with a friend to keep him company while she went to the funeral, where she was one of the readers. She was then exhausted and took a long nap. She was on her way back to the hospital. Notifying all the well-wishers of what's going on is one of the hardest parts of caregiving, at least for those of us who are not natural extraverts.
Then we have the usual sad conversations about where her car is, and whether she could get in it, and follow me to her house, if I would drive there. It's funny how she sort of realizes that she doesn't know the way any more, but still believes she could drive. I asked if she had her license--knowing she does not--and she brushed that off irritably as a triviality. She's not going to worry about that. She's just going to drive, and if the police stop her, then it will be their problem. Similarly, she thinks she will just go back to her old house, and then eventually someone will be forced to come over and help her. "I can live alone! There's no law against it!" She asked me to let her dad know where she is, so he can come and get her. It gets sadder every week. I made her laugh a couple of times, though she won't remember that either!
What with all the confusion, it took just about as long as going out does. When I got home, I was too tired to do anything and had to take a nap while the Sparrowhawk went to the gym. After I got up, I got a phone call from Deb with a situation report. She had, indeed, taken the Prussian to the ER in an ambulance last night. She went back this morning to check on him, and he had finally been given a room. He has bacterial pneumonia, and they are keeping him for observation for a couple of days to rule out any other complications. She left him with a friend to keep him company while she went to the funeral, where she was one of the readers. She was then exhausted and took a long nap. She was on her way back to the hospital. Notifying all the well-wishers of what's going on is one of the hardest parts of caregiving, at least for those of us who are not natural extraverts.