A Good Week
Another good eating week for Grandma - at least when I was out at Hillcrest. She inhaled her dinner last night (although spit out the cream of broccoli soup, which I take as a sign that it must really taste bad) and ate almost all of her meat "mixture" and green stuff (Lima Beans). I saved the brownie and cream for last, and knew that she appreciated every bite.
Alzheimers hasn't totally taken away her ability to communicate. She tried to tell me that she had had enough of her main entree, which is more action that she has done in awhile. Usually if she doesn't want something she'll spit it out after you put it into her mouth, but she came out with a pretty clear sentance of "I've had enough of that." I was shocked. I'm usually the one asking the questions and all I get are stares or a short "yes."
Then after dinner I was talking to her about stuff I think she would be interested in...family geneology and history of some things that my distant (twice removed maybe??) cousin Scott sent me. I located a book on the Shackleton family (Grandpa Glenn's mother Ethel is a Shackleton) and have been reading that and was telling her about it, then I switched gears and started talking about Grandpa's Great Grandpa Hugh McCann and when he came over from Ireland... and then all of a sudden she stopped fidgeting and put her hands up to her head and said "I don't remember that."
For some reason I laughed, and then said "Well of course you don't remember, it was before you were born!" But later I started thinking about how she said she doesn't remember and if it was because she knows she forgot, or that she can't remember. The fact that she knows she forgot has some meaning in and of itself.
I can't read too much into it, because there will be a day, maybe this week or next, when she'll be on a different time frame than the present, and it doesn't matter what you say to her because you'll be a complete stranger. But she didn't treat me like one yesterday. Even though she didn't know my name or who I was, at least I wasn't a stranger.
Alzheimers hasn't totally taken away her ability to communicate. She tried to tell me that she had had enough of her main entree, which is more action that she has done in awhile. Usually if she doesn't want something she'll spit it out after you put it into her mouth, but she came out with a pretty clear sentance of "I've had enough of that." I was shocked. I'm usually the one asking the questions and all I get are stares or a short "yes."
Then after dinner I was talking to her about stuff I think she would be interested in...family geneology and history of some things that my distant (twice removed maybe??) cousin Scott sent me. I located a book on the Shackleton family (Grandpa Glenn's mother Ethel is a Shackleton) and have been reading that and was telling her about it, then I switched gears and started talking about Grandpa's Great Grandpa Hugh McCann and when he came over from Ireland... and then all of a sudden she stopped fidgeting and put her hands up to her head and said "I don't remember that."
For some reason I laughed, and then said "Well of course you don't remember, it was before you were born!" But later I started thinking about how she said she doesn't remember and if it was because she knows she forgot, or that she can't remember. The fact that she knows she forgot has some meaning in and of itself.
I can't read too much into it, because there will be a day, maybe this week or next, when she'll be on a different time frame than the present, and it doesn't matter what you say to her because you'll be a complete stranger. But she didn't treat me like one yesterday. Even though she didn't know my name or who I was, at least I wasn't a stranger.
posted by H at 1:30 PM
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