Steve, the second good-looking Physical Therapist from STAT Home Health Care came back yesterday. Since it was Nathan who tested Mom’s abilities last week, Mom had to go through the same lifting and pushing exercises again to show where she is in terms of flexibility. Again, thanks to her desire to impress the fine-looking therapist, […]
“You mean I can actually take a nap? In the middle of the day?” I have wonderful friends who occasionally visit my 98-year-old mother at her Residential Facility @CarriageInn for an hour or two. Visiting dignitaries who actually stay for three days, however, are a welcome relief. They also learn what it is really like […]
“She didn’t come to supper yesterday!” The litany of comments hit me from all sides as I entered the dining room. I had gone to San Antonio over the weekend to do a presentation for the Battle of Medina gathering. I go every year and this was no exception. But, I had left Mom alone […]
My 98 year-old mother laughs, or perhaps sneers, at the chair exercises offered for the elderly @CarriageInn. She hardly considers them exercise, but she is doing them now. Her Physical Therapist said she had to. Nathan, the young (42), good-looking Physical Therapist came yesterday. Medicare may not pay for much but, thank goodness, it does […]
Don’t kid yourself. They may be gray and wrinkled and old but sparks can still flare in their aged hearts. “He dumped me,” Mom says. “He was dancing with me and then he just left to dance with her.” I learned of the unintended slight when I returned to Mom’s Residential Facility during one of […]
Recently my brother sent an excellent article called “Medicine has become a service industry, and it’s making doctors unable to confront death” by Seamus Mahoney in Pulse on Linked-In. Mahoney is the author of The View from Medicine’s Front Line: The Way We Die Now. In it, and in this article, he argues that doctors […]
A neat, hand-lettered welcome sign written in colored chalk on a small blackboard stood on the front desk. Three brightly colored balloons floated above it. Lady H, followed by half a dozen family members, entered the Residential Facility. She walked cautiously, smiling on being introduced, but not particularly happy to be there. She has one […]
We need a seating chart to designate the participants. Perhaps the seating is based on their faculties. And new arrivals need to know. I whispered the advice over and over as Mom and I approached the table “Don’t sit there! Don’t sit there! Please don’t sit there!” Lady O, a new arrival, was about to […]
Mom stared at the thin, stiff paint brush in her hand without comprehension. She turned to me and giggled as though we were sharing a secret. A terrifying one for me. My 98 year-old mother and I were sitting at a plastic-drop cloth covered round table in the activity room @CarriageInn. We had joined two […]
I attribute her attitude to arrogance. Sunday after breakfast I decided Mom needed to get out of her room more. She has remained cooped up in her apartment getting out only for meals and an occasional 2 pm Ice Cream Social in the parlor. I suggested, perhaps a trifle forcefully, that she should go to […]