“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 […]
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 […]
I see a new face or two in the dining room almost every week, some happy, some sad. They hesitate at the entrance, unsure of where to sit. It is true that there is no assigned seating, but Heaven forfend, that someone should sit in a seat occupied by one of the long-timers. It is […]
“You really should have someone else doing all the daily care,” one of my mother’s table mates suggested yesterday. “Nursing homes have people who can care for your mother all the time. You shouldn’t have to come for every meal.” She is right, of course. A nursing home does provide daily care and often very […]