Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Well my life goes on in the Dementia lane, I'm still visiting Alma, as I mentioned in my last blog.  I'm noticing that she is still reading, but she finding writing her name now a little more challenging.   Our painting class was more of the same, which was painting on tile dropping alcohol on the work holding the tile sideways thereby  letting the colours mix into an abstract design.. Actually our first bit that we did last week looked great to me, but when I showed it to Alma to see how it looked with spray (a kind of shiny wax) on it, she said "I did that, well I must have been drunk" How hilarious, I laughed so much...she didn't find it funny in fact she was serious.

Anyway, our next attempt was beautiful, I thought..but Alma continues to try and make sense of it, by trying to move the tile around to see if she can see a figure or something that is appealing.  I said ' think that looks a little like a flying goose in the corner, she said "could be a flying anything"  ...Well abstract painting is not for everyone, and it certainly isn't for Alma.  But, what was for Alma was and still is looking out at the scenery from the window...while we were looking we noticed a beautiful carnation flower in a vase on the window sill..next to it was a tiny little bag with some polished stones.  I took them out to show Alma, and she said, hmmm let me see that.  So I passed the little bag to her and before I knew it she put a couple of the stones in her mouth.

Alma, I said, take those stones out of your mouth..you will break your teeth if you bite on them, She said "no I do not bite hard candies, I just suck on them"//Well it took some time to get her to realize they were really not hard candy..she tried to convince me that they were, by saying it is just hard sugar candy dear...well life got a little bit hairy there, thankfully I managed to get them away from her, although when I left I noticed they were not on the window sill..Hopefully she didn't secret them in her pocket..if she did, I'm sure she will forget they are there..

It is such a terrible and sad thing to see this disease among so many here at the residence that I live in as each month one sees how much each of the ones I know have gone down in mind and body.  Not to mention how sad it is even among those who were o.k. but in getting old are losing physical abilities. Saturday one of the really "up" residents who always had a smile and enjoyed her outdoor as well as indoor activities, Collette; one who had all her marbles but suffered from Emphesema but still was able to go out,as well as enjoy the activities inside had died at 75 years old..  The family had a kind of wake right in our recreation room..it was RIP Collette,.

Our good old table mate when Mac was still living, Alice,   is now also no longer with us.  I found out she had died 3 weeks ago, both her son and  daughter lived out west and in the time (over 3 years now) they have never visited,  Although I cried when I found out this sad news, I know she really wanted to go...her life was just one big misery.

My friend Hazel (age 91) and myself were talking abut Alice, and how Alice really wanted to die ..and so it was in a way a blessing...though I really couldn't stop crying for a bit there.  When a lady came and sat across from us...by this time we were sitting in the big area in the lobby...this lady almost convinced us she was living here in a hotel kind of way, here about 3 weeks then back to Montreal to her other home.  Her husband was working and they took breaks and now she was in a warm place, a change for her and husband,  with some items from her home in her rental apartment here. I was just trying to figure out if she was thinking she was in a hotel or just what, when Jackie (on duty ) came over quickly, breathed a big sigh of relief when she saw the lady..  Then we kind of realized o.k. all this talk by her was fabricated...she was an INMATE.  Had a bracelet and could not go in and out without a companion.  And so it goes...getting old is as they say, for sure not for sissies.