Curlew of Bluster
Feb. 26th, 2025 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ismoVisiting Madame was a trip and a half today. When I arrived, a nice young woman I never saw before was in her room, and Madame was nowhere to be seen. The young woman said she was the physical therapist, and was waiting for Madame to get dressed so she could work with her. I said I would go and sit in the big room with the TV, because I was sure that if Madame saw me, she would want to take off immediately, and the PT would have no chance.
After a few minutes, the PT came out and said it was no use--Madame's hearing aid wasn't working, so they were not making any progress. Madame was getting mad at her for her attempts to help, and kept saying "Don't touch that! It's mine!" So I went in and had a look. Madame didn't mind my interference, as she finds me a familiar face. I thought the battery might be run down, and looked for the other batteries, which were not in the charger. After we had hunted for awhile, Madame pulled them out of her pocket! When plugged in, they showed a green light, meaning they were fully charged. But tried in sequence, none of them made the hearing aid work. A staff member came in and brought with her the spare battery that is kept in the office. It didn't work either. We concluded that the problem was probably in the wiring, which looked pretty sketchy, due to Madame's habit of twisting it around. I tried to call Mademoiselle to let her know, but she wasn't picking up, so I left a message. The staff member said she would also contact Mademoiselle.
I was grateful I had turned up at that time, because I was able to help figure things out with minimal disturbance to Madame. She's used to me, and we communicated to some extent via lip-reading and me writing notes on her post-it pad. She was 100% determined to go out, whether she could hear or not. Though somewhat dubious about this prospect, I thought we'd give it a try. I got her into the cafe all right, but she said a couple of times that she was worried about falling. She ordered coffee and TWO sweet rolls--a cinnamon twist and a chocolate muffin. I ordered a black bean quesadilla. This worked out well. She wanted me to cut the muffin in half and share it, so it was easy to suggest we share the quesadilla and thus get some actual food into her.
The bookstore took all but four of my offerings and gave me $50 in store credit, which I'm certain to use. As we walked back to the car, Madame again expressed fear of falling. I had my arm under hers so I could catch her if necessary, and I could feel her shaking. I'm quite concerned about this. It is getting harder for her to climb into the car, as well.
I imagined that Mademoiselle was not getting back to me because she had been busy replacing the hearing aid, but no. She texted at 7 pm to say she'd been working and then took the baby to swim class. She said she was going to replace the hearing aid, though. I'm not sure she understands that it's very scary for her mom to have dementia and also be totally unable to hear. Let's hope Madame spends most of her time napping until the new unit arrives.
All this kinda sucked the life energy out of me. I arrived home later than usual and forgot most of the things I'd been planning to do until it was too late. Tomorrow will be a better day!
After a few minutes, the PT came out and said it was no use--Madame's hearing aid wasn't working, so they were not making any progress. Madame was getting mad at her for her attempts to help, and kept saying "Don't touch that! It's mine!" So I went in and had a look. Madame didn't mind my interference, as she finds me a familiar face. I thought the battery might be run down, and looked for the other batteries, which were not in the charger. After we had hunted for awhile, Madame pulled them out of her pocket! When plugged in, they showed a green light, meaning they were fully charged. But tried in sequence, none of them made the hearing aid work. A staff member came in and brought with her the spare battery that is kept in the office. It didn't work either. We concluded that the problem was probably in the wiring, which looked pretty sketchy, due to Madame's habit of twisting it around. I tried to call Mademoiselle to let her know, but she wasn't picking up, so I left a message. The staff member said she would also contact Mademoiselle.
I was grateful I had turned up at that time, because I was able to help figure things out with minimal disturbance to Madame. She's used to me, and we communicated to some extent via lip-reading and me writing notes on her post-it pad. She was 100% determined to go out, whether she could hear or not. Though somewhat dubious about this prospect, I thought we'd give it a try. I got her into the cafe all right, but she said a couple of times that she was worried about falling. She ordered coffee and TWO sweet rolls--a cinnamon twist and a chocolate muffin. I ordered a black bean quesadilla. This worked out well. She wanted me to cut the muffin in half and share it, so it was easy to suggest we share the quesadilla and thus get some actual food into her.
The bookstore took all but four of my offerings and gave me $50 in store credit, which I'm certain to use. As we walked back to the car, Madame again expressed fear of falling. I had my arm under hers so I could catch her if necessary, and I could feel her shaking. I'm quite concerned about this. It is getting harder for her to climb into the car, as well.
I imagined that Mademoiselle was not getting back to me because she had been busy replacing the hearing aid, but no. She texted at 7 pm to say she'd been working and then took the baby to swim class. She said she was going to replace the hearing aid, though. I'm not sure she understands that it's very scary for her mom to have dementia and also be totally unable to hear. Let's hope Madame spends most of her time napping until the new unit arrives.
All this kinda sucked the life energy out of me. I arrived home later than usual and forgot most of the things I'd been planning to do until it was too late. Tomorrow will be a better day!
no subject
Date: 2025-02-27 02:59 pm (UTC)