Current mood:

amused

Hm, it has been a while...
I would like to thank cheesegirl33 for nudging me to post. *hugs you* As your reward, I'll tell you a story from my job...

We now have a little old lady who, when she desires attention (read: constantly) will call out “help! I don’t know where I am or what I’m supposed to be doing. Yoo hoo! Can you tell me what I’m supposed to be doing?”

She will go through this routine throughout EVERY MEAL. It gets really old, really fast. Imagine having to tell a woman to eat her lunch five times in a single minute. She clearly has short-term memory issues, which poses quite the challenge in daily interactions with her.

I’ve ended up developing a routine where, every time she asks for help, I tell her we're eating a meal and ask her to open her mouth. Then I pop in a large bite of food for her to spend a minute or two chewing. This seems to be working. Not only does it quiet her down (a little, anyway), but it also gets her through her meal faster.

For all that she can be a pain in the butt, this lady is also a kick. For one thing, she can play piano. I put her in front of the piano this morning before Bingo, and she just rattled off “Tea for Two,” without any trouble at all. I was impressed. Another thing I like about this lady is that, despite her confusion, she has a good sense of humor. This afternoon, when I asked her what she wanted to drink with lunch, she responded, “a glass of water or a shot of gin, whichever you can get.” *laughter!*

This lady must have been a force to reckon with before she developed Alzheimers. She demands a lot of patience, but I really enjoy working with her. She is becoming one of my favorites.