A Good Visit Day in a Not So Good Week

This week has been a very challenging one for either Mom or Dad, depending on how you look at it. Apparently most of the regular staff at R Center are out on vacation or some kind of leave. In their place Mom has seen subs from an agency, and a host of new faces who appear to be newbies. In her opinion the subs are actually very good. They tend to be experienced, and many are trained in working with patients with Dementia. They announce themselves, and tell the patient what they are going to do before they do it. In contrast, the newbies tend to just start in on their task without so much as a howdy. This, as some of you may know, is extremely jarring to someone with Dementia, especially if their sight is not good. As a result Dad has been pretty tense all week.

Yesterday though, Mom came home after putting him to bed, looking quite happy. Apparently one of our pastors, Pastor J, went to see him. He had arrived shortly before Mom and sung, "Amazing Grace," to him. Well, it must've done something dramatic, because when Mom got there Dad's eyes were wide open and very bright, even though he wasn't wearing his glasses. Normally his eyes are closed until you call his name, and even when or if they open, it's pretty momentary. But Dad looked bright-eyed and much more interactive, which is a change from lately. He asked Mom, "Who is that?" Mom said, "It's Pastor J, Bok-Su (Pastor in Taiwanese)," and Dad nodded as if to say, "Ah." Later Pastor J prayed and just before he started Dad folded his hands.

This has been a bright spot in an otherwise aggravating week. In addition to staff issues, a lot of Dad's clothing have gone missing. After a couple of things accidentally got taken to the laundry, the director of nursing advised us to put nametags on all of Dad's clothing. This we did, and yesterday Mom took a pile of pants and shirts newly tagged, to Dad's room and put them in his dresser. This morning she came home and told me that two of his pants were missing. Also missing was a blanket he wears during the day, that she put away last night after putting Dad to bead.  I have a hard time wrapping my head around clothes that disappear even before they get worn, but I have heard this is a common problem in nursing facilities. Eventually they will probably turn up. But now I will be looking for iron-on or sew-on nametags so they won't fall as easily.