Meh-Day

Grandma had a couple of visitors today, although she wasn't doing very well. Paul visited (I saw that on the sign-in sheet). I came between 3 and 4; since her meds were late her Parkinson's was acting up more, and she was drinking water to help spit the saliva out. Since she was preoccupied, I took this picture of her sock and blanket:

She was a bit diagonal on her bed, which enabled me to sit on it beside her. I saw with her for about 15-20 minutes after she got her meds; I think she was beginning to improve a little. When I had to leave, she asked me to ask the nurse to check on her every five minutes.

Elizabeth visited her tonight, and put some cream on Grandma's feet (as she often does). She said Grandma was asleep the entire time. Hopefully she can sleep through the night too, instead of waking up perky and ready for the day at midnight!

First Week in the New Place

Friday May 10th:

I visited Grandma in her new place for the first time! It was around 11 AM. She was awake and alert. I had a new dress just purchased from a local thrift store and said I'd model it for her. While I was changing, two of her friends, Bernice (Berenice?) and her daughter Zina, came in for a few minutes! They brought towel bibs they'd made for Grandma, since her clothes have a lot of food stains. They are brightly colored, have a loop to put over her head, and have hand-sewn pockets at the bottom to catch crumbs! That was a very thoughtful and practical gift. :) After her visitors left, lunch arrived, and then the aide brought food for me! I never took advantage of this service in the old home, but was very appreciative of it that day.

This evening, my dad was in town and after doing things with my older sibs and me, he and I went to visit Grandma. She'd slept between this visit and my visit of the morning, and was doing well yet. The last time my dad visited a couple of months ago, she was in a bad place and couldn't really talk; this night was a much, much better night for her. Elizabeth was also there. He gave her a card from my mother, with pictures of Grandma and some family members. We put them on the wall right then, and discussed when and where the pictures were taken. Dad, Elizabeth, and Grandma also discussed something that needed to be done, and all three agreed to work together to accomplish the goal. Eventually my younger sister and her friend arrived, so with the five of us in her room it was a party! This place is such an improvement; there was enough space for us all.

Picture time! Here is Grandma's room. I took these the next day, after Elizabeth and I made a few improvements. The folding chairs are stacked against the wall; there are nice tablecloths on two of the tables; we moved the table with the mini fridge and microwave to as different wall to better utilize space. I also put together my parents' main Mother's Day present to Grandma - an over-the-bed rolling table.

That's her closet on the left. She has at least 5 times more storage space in there than at the previous place!


Saturday May 11th:
(This is mostly copied from my journal.)

Then [around 2 in the afternoon] I went over to Grandma, with my laptop and other things, ready to put together her Mother’s Day present from my family (a rolling table that fits over her bed). However, when I peeked into her room, she was asleep! Well. What should I do now? I thought. I didn't want to go back home. I ended up playing around on the home’s [electric] piano a bit! No one was watching the TV [in the main common room, which the piano is also in] and I got sucked into it. Maybe I could keep a piano book or two with Grandma? 

Elizabeth arrived after like 10 minutes, and we went to look at Grandma again. She was just waking up, so in we went! I settled right down to assembling the table thing. An aide let me borrow a heftier screwdriver of the home’s.

Grandma went to dinner in the main dining room with Elizabeth. They ate with Grandma's longtime friends _____ and Iona – a married couple, living at the home, who also knew my paternal grandmother. He’s a chocoholic and she has chocolate, gluten and lactose intolerances. I guess he’s hard of hearing, too; he said like nothing but she was very chatty. 

Here's a picture of the four of them!

After dinner, while Aunt Elizabeth was making Grandma’s bed, I got my laptop out and brought up the Puzzletouch app for Grandma. She’s struggled with puzzles lately but still really likes them. I first took a picture of us [with the laptop camera] and made it into a 6-piece puzzle; she had a hard time with it. Then I went to a picture of a butterfly. She did better with that. And she did a picture of a daisy all on her own! The app cheers/claps when you’re done. I've found it annoying for me, but when Grandma finished a puzzle I wanted to cheer too! And I think she must've liked it. J I’ll definitely bring my comp more often. I hope Grandma, as she gets used to this place, can improve cognitively and get better at the puzzles, moving up to more pieces.

She was very childlike today: very meek and cute.

Aunt Elizabeth and I did a little rearranging of Grandma’s room! I don’t know yet what Grandpa thinks of it; he was in Salt Lake all afternoon.

Sunday May 12th: Mother's Day

When I arrived around 3 PM, Grandma was asleep. The aide said she'd been in and out of it all day. I arrived a few minutes after Grandpa left. I went and played the piano a little more, then returned and just quietly watched the TV (which was going) while organizing some things on my laptop. I sat against the wall on the ground and made myself comfortable with one of her quilts and a big pillow I'd brought.

After a bit, I left to make a phone call. Grandma was waking up when I walked back in at 5. The pictures on the wall immediately drew her eyes; it was cute. She asked what time it was; I said 5. "Why are you here so early?" she asked. Whoops. I told her it was in the afternoon, and turned the lights on. :)

She was hungry! I got her a snack and told her there would be dinner at Elizabeth's in less than an hour, and we should get ready. She used the bathroom by herself. An aide came in with her dinner and expressed preference that we give notice when Grandma would eat out. There was ice cream on the dinner tray, and Grandma pounced on it! The aides were trying to help her dress, but she was more interested in the ice cream. Grandpa came and eventually we were on our way to Elizabeth's.

When she came in, Elizabeth was on the phone with her grandson Jeremy, and gave the phone to Grandma. Grandma talked in a louder voice than I've heard from her in days! That was fantastic. She slowly spiraled downward from there until we took her home for her usual meds. But in between she had dinner and we were able (after a lot of finagling) to arrange a video chat with two of her children (with all three parties - David, my mother, and Grandma) being able to hear and see each other. She didn't say much, but did do the parade wave to her kids at the end. That's my grandma!

Dinner and the Move

Sunday Dinner:
Grandma was doing great, physically! Grandpa had her doing a lot more walking. She seemed less tired and more complacent. Her countenance was cheerful; her eyes, bright. She had a hard time understanding a couple of things after dinner though; two people had to try to answer a question more than once before she really understood the idea.

The Move:
It happened yesterday. I was on call most of the day, but Grandpa ended up not needing me. Apparently Grandma wasn't doing well at all for most of the day. Elizabeth helped during the afternoon and evening, and Emily and Joe helped out in the evening as well. We're all crossing our fingers that this new place works well.

Impromptu Canyon Drive

A couple of days ago, I was at Walmart and decided to get Grandma some flowers! After talking with my mom, I chose pink tulips. Once at home, I put them in a vase and Grace helped keep it steady on the drive over to Grandma's. When I got there, Grandma was in her wheelchair and wanted to take a walk! So I said, "Let's go visit Grace in the car, and then back." Because Grace was tired and was just off work. However, once we got to the car, Grandma wanted to get in! I couldn't say no. So Grace and I helped her into the backseat, and I put her wheelchair by the front desk. We dropped Grace off at home and then drove up into the canyon. It was beautiful. I didn't notice many flowers along the way, but the layers of scenery were beautiful. Up top, there was the gray stone of the mountains. Then, there were the deep evergreens, and at the bottom were the light green trees, just budding. It was beautiful. :)

We drove up to Sundance resort, and then around the parking lot. (I asked Grandma what she wanted and what her limits were. The canyon was my idea, but everything else was her idea.) Then we raced back to the rehab center, where she took a dip. I had to leave before her meds kicked in, but Grandpa was going to be there soon so I knew she'd be in good hands. I just hope she was able to rest up and recover well from our little outing.

A couple of conversational bits I remember:

• On the way back, she told me that when she first saw the red-topped poles marking the side of the road they looked like flowers! But then she realized what they were. 
• At one point, sort of by the canyon exit, she said her mother's family used to have a cabin "up there."
• On the way there, I told her about how I love hearing President Monson talk about Provo Canyon, and recounted the two stories I remember - about the handmade boats, and about his stint as a pyromaniac. On the way back, she started talking about how she likes it when President Monson talks about Provo Canyon! I guess there was a subconscious mental echo there. :)

Update!

It's been busy with school, although I have been still visiting. Here are some standout moment from the last couple of months.

• A couple of Sundays ago, she came over and was talking pretty well. It seemed like a good time to record her singing a couple of her songs! She faded fast, but Robyn, Kevin, Grace, and I still got to hear/sing a couple of rounds of "When I was born, my ma and pa..." and "The Old Man from Japan." We remembered more of the latter one than she did! She said that she grew up singing the first song, and that it came from her mother's family/John Taylor's family. I looked the lyrics up online and found that the song had been published in 1911.
• There were a couple of Sunday dinners when she didn't even come in to the kitchen. We just had her lie on the couch. Elizabeth would help her eat. On one day, we took her home in my car because she needed her meds; Grandpa was at a meeting and they had somehow slipped his mind. After we got her settled in back at the nursing home, we watched some of Antiques Roadshow.
• A week or two ago, I dropped in for ten minutes and she was in her wheelchair about to go to the shower! The aid very nicely said she'd come back in ten minutes (I had to go get someone, so I had a time limit). I told her about Matthew's foot, and she told me about she she ran into some barbed wire in the second or third grade. As I recall, she and her brother were walking, maybe with a dog. The dog and/or her brother ran into a field and she ran after them, right into some rusty barbed wire! She "yelled" all the way home. Eventually they had to go see the doctor up in Preston, ID, ten miles away, which was probably a big deal. She still has a scar from it, and she showed me! It's on the top of her leg, a few inches above her thigh. It was amazing to me to think that this scar was older than World War II, and still there. It was a little paler than the rest of her skin. I don't think it was raised. (If you were interested.)
• I visited a couple of nights ago, and sat with her and Grandpa for the end of one show and the beginning of Perry Mason. Grandpa didn't know what the first show was called, although he knew Fred Macmurray was the lead actor. Grandma knew, and she told me! It was The Three Sons, or The Three Brothers - something like that. I told them I'd just watched an Abbott and Costello film the previous night (Dance with Me, Henry), and told her a little about the plot. If she could have talked better I'm sure we would have chatted longer.
• There was a day when I was tired. When I came in, she was pretty tired too. Her bed was lower than usual and there was a pad on the floor by the side, so I sat on it and laid my bed on her mattress. She held my hand, and there we dozed together! I've wanted to do something like that for ages.

24 February 2013: She was Asleep

Yep. She didn't feel well enough to come to dinner, and when Grandpa and David and I went to see her after, and watch the Oscars with her, she was sound asleep.

In other news, at dinner Emily brought a video of Grandpa's mother talking about her maternal grandfather. She tells a couple of stories, and says that his beard was the softest she's ever felt, like a baby. And that he always had peppermints in one pocket, and horehound candy in the other, and the grandkids had to blindly pick one pocket and they got a piece of whatever was in that pocket, even if they didn't like it. She didn't like horehound, but she liked peppermints. The video was taken around 1994. I've got to get a copy of that!

23 February 2013: Primping for the Oscars

Last night Grandma was doing pretty well. Elizabeth visited her around dinnertime. All of her food is pureed now, because it’s SO much easier for her to swallow it. The staff are very strict about it, but also try to be really nice. She misses “real food”, but since the change she’s generally eating more. David brings oranges and bananas sometimes. Elizabeth and Grandma watched a program on Abraham Lincoln, and Elizabeth washed and put some cream on Grandma’s feet.