Communication Barriers

She was happy to see me yesterday. I’ve been so busy at work and then 5 inches of show on top of that, kept me away from Hillcrest this last week. She had plenty of Valentines so she didn’t entirely miss my cookie or chocolate, but when she saw me she reached out and grabbed me and gave me a smack on the cheek. I didn't even have the chance to tell her I brought her Valentine's.

The communicating is the hardest part. When I ask her straightforward questions she can answer “yes” or “no” or sometimes you’ll get an “I don’t think so” but when she starts babbling it’s hard to keep up. Yesterday she talked about the “others” and how they don’t notice her… so I start up with the questions: “Is it the nurses?” “No.” “Is it Bernice?” “No.” “What about the other residents here?” “No.” “Well then who?” “I don’t know, the other people!” The typical pattern is after a while she starts to get frustrated and then gets stuck on her words, so no words come out and then it’s all growling and mumbling.

Whatever she was thinking about yesterday she sure had a lot to say about it.

When lunch came around she was panting, and I couldn’t get the cover off the food fast enough before she started to poke her spoon around and shove food in her mouth. She fed herself, and mom said she hasn’t done that in awhile so I felt good about the day, in that she was chit-chatty and feeding herself. Also got a few stories from the nurses about her busy-butt going around in other people's rooms and getting into things. I'm continually amazed at how well she gets around in her wheelchair. She's got very strong arms.