Many Christmas Gifts
Grandma had a lot of visitors over the holiday weekend. Mom and I went out on Saturday, Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Larry were out on Sunday, plus during the week and last weekend my cousins were out there to visit too.
Her roomate, Selma, passed away last week. She just couldn't pull out of that flu bug that had hit Hillcrest over a month ago. Usually she would hang in there during an illness, but not this time. She was 99 years old.
When I got there Saturday Grandma was eyeing the sack that I brought her. I decided to put her gift in a gift bag instead of wrapping a box with paper so it would be easier for her to get into. She couldn't get the card out of the envelope, so I'm glad I did the gift bag. She knew that it was a present and was anxious to get at it. I was amazed at how she reacted. She knows what a present is.
The music box that I ordered with "White Christmas" on it was all of a sudden on back order as of last Tuesday, so I won't see it until January 6. I'm sure she will enjoy it nonetheless, Christmas season or not. In the meanitime, Mom found a Hallmark card with Bing Crosby singing "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas," when it opens. We played it for her a couple of times, and she clapped her hands after it finished.
She didn't eat a very good lunch. We found out later that the puree item was Chicken Fried Steak and Gravy, which I can see why she didn't want to eat. She also had mashed potatoes and tomato puree which weren't appetizing. I brought her a couple of chocolate chip cookies and after we took her tray away she munched on one for a good twenty minutes and drank her milk. I think she could probably just live on cookies.
Her roomate, Selma, passed away last week. She just couldn't pull out of that flu bug that had hit Hillcrest over a month ago. Usually she would hang in there during an illness, but not this time. She was 99 years old.
When I got there Saturday Grandma was eyeing the sack that I brought her. I decided to put her gift in a gift bag instead of wrapping a box with paper so it would be easier for her to get into. She couldn't get the card out of the envelope, so I'm glad I did the gift bag. She knew that it was a present and was anxious to get at it. I was amazed at how she reacted. She knows what a present is.
The music box that I ordered with "White Christmas" on it was all of a sudden on back order as of last Tuesday, so I won't see it until January 6. I'm sure she will enjoy it nonetheless, Christmas season or not. In the meanitime, Mom found a Hallmark card with Bing Crosby singing "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas," when it opens. We played it for her a couple of times, and she clapped her hands after it finished.
She didn't eat a very good lunch. We found out later that the puree item was Chicken Fried Steak and Gravy, which I can see why she didn't want to eat. She also had mashed potatoes and tomato puree which weren't appetizing. I brought her a couple of chocolate chip cookies and after we took her tray away she munched on one for a good twenty minutes and drank her milk. I think she could probably just live on cookies.
Labels: alzheimer's, assisted living, christmas
posted by H at 8:12 AM
2 Comments:
Did you talk to you grandmother about the death? I had to recently talk to my mother (who has Alzheimer's) about the death of her mother, and its something we really struggled with - figuring out how to do it just right.
I wrote this post about the question: http://jewexploringbuddhism.blogspot.com/2006/12/question-for-caretakers-how-to-talk-to.html.
Not an easy thing, but I'm glad that your Grandma had so many visitors and can still enjoy cookies.
I asked Grandma if she missed Selma and she said "yes." Truly, however, I don't think that Grandma looks at Selma's bed everyday and thinks "she died." She may know that a person was there, but it's not something that she dwells on. A couple of years ago when she was more coherent we had to remind her that Grandpa died (in 1991), but then after awhile when she kept talking about her days on the farm, and about "the girls" (my mom and her sisters) she was talking about him like he was still alive and I just stopped correcting her. I was a moot point.
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