Nursing Home Tales
We went out to the nursing home on Sunday to see Doug's mom and play a few games of Crazy Eights with her (and she kicked our butts and laughed about it). On our way to her room, we passed her new roommate in the hallway--a slight, white-haired woman, who was barreling down the corridor behind one of those walkers with the yellow tennis balls on the grips, to help them slide.
"Which way to the bar?" she was asking everyone as she passed.
In some ways, she's an improvement over the last roommate, who used to watch religious TV constantly, and at a very high volume. Every time you went in the room, her television was beaming forth images of old priests giving Mass. Fine for Sunday morning, or even every morning, but tiresome when it was all day long, every day.
Doug's mom said that finally she turned the volume up on her own TV quite high, so that she could hear it over the constant praying. (This is a Catholic nursing home, but Doug's mom is Lutheran.)
"And then one afternoon I turned it up to watch 'Wheel of Fortune,' and I looked over and there was my roommate, sitting by the end of my bed. She said, 'I'd rather watch your TV.
"She did the same thing for 'Jeopardy!' "
We're not entirely sure, but we figure that rather than being an incredibly devout Catholic, maybe the woman just didn't know how to change the channels.
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That's funny! I'm glad Doug's mom got a seemingly more open roommate...lol.
Heh. Sounds like my mom. The roommate, I mean.
So, do you think she found the bar?
That's hysterical.
I gave my mom a membership to Netflix for Christmas a year ago. Since she doesn't have a computer, I manage her queue. I signed her up for a bunch of TV series, thinking she'd enjoy that. But darned if she can understand how to choose different episodes. My brother and I have both explained, and written a cheat sheet, and she still can't do it.
That story ended much differently than I thought it might. Very funny, and I needed a good laugh.
this is the same roommate who wanted doug to dial her phone for her, but she only knew letters, not numbers. and she only had five of them.
ok, how are we going to tell you two amies apart?
the good news is: we think we can finally move his mom out of the nursing home (where she has been since before christmas) into a senior apartment. that makes us VERY happy.
the bad news is: she can't have her dog.
Oh my gosh that is hilarious! I can truly relate to this after many years of visiting my grandma (she raised me) in the nursing home. Oh the stories! When my grandmother was passing (she had Alzheimer's and had finally forgotten how to swallow her food), we just stayed at the nursing home with her and basically waited... I had one old man jump out from behind his door wearing nothing but a grin from ear to ear and motioning with his finger that he wanted me to come in his room... I ran the other way... FAST. LOL
You get the best stories from children and the elderly and both of them do it inadvertently.
I am so glad that she is doing better. Does that mean it will become the four dog blog?
I hope I'm still heading for the bar at that age - not so sure about Wheel of Fortune though.
May her drinking days be happy and numerous!
I hope with all the sincerity that is in my heart, that I will never end up in a nursing home, and that I will live in this apartment until my last day on this earth, and that I will grow old healthily, and that I will just pass away during the night some night, because my time is up.
I shudder at the thought of having to spend my last days on earth with a room mate who is a devout Christian of any denomination and I would forever mourn the loss of my privacy and independence.
I do not want to be institutionalized and I do not want to be looked after as if I am an old feeble thing who has lost her capacity of intelligent thought and reasoning powers.
When I am very old, and I can no longer care for myself, I hope there is a pill I can take to take me away from it all and die with dignity.
My God, have you noticed that I am feeling very strongly about things lately? I wonder what is going on? Have I reached some rebellious stage in my life?
Having recently found out my Gran has been put in a nursing home, I can only hope that at some point she regains enough lucidity to ask where the bar is. Of course, the strongest thing she'd ask for is a shandy, but I'd take what I can get.
And just what would they serve at a nursing home bar? A bottle of "Ensure" with whiskey chaser?
as you can well imagine, i have learned a lot about nursing homes since late november, when doug's mom got sick.
most nursing homes have two wings--short-term rehab, and long-term care. his mom has been in the rehab wing since late december, when she was released from the hospital, and she's been "rehabbing" ever since.
it takes a long time, especially when you're 78.
it's not as depressing as i had thought--they have a cafe where we can take her and have coffee, they have a big sunny room upstairs where we play cards and watch football on a big-screen TV, they have a salon where she gets her hair done.
still, i'm with you, irene, i don't want to live there. and she doesn't, either.
we're moving her soon--maybe within a week--into an apartment.
and no, we don't get her dog; doug's sister, who only has one dog, has taken that on....
Oh, I wonder if she ever found the bar. Hope she did.
And I'm glad Doug's Mom can move soon. Even if it's a good nursing home, it still is a nursing home. But shame about her dog. That's going to be tough.
How funny.
I guess there is no bar for the new room mate (based on my experience of Catholic nursing homes here)!
I hate the smell of nursing homes - makes me feel all woozy and dizzy...I hope Doug's mom gets out of there sooner than later.
That's funny but I worked in a nursing home for years. I could tell you some stories.
To save our own sanity we just have to keep finding the humor in either getting old and sick or caring for family members in that condition. I remember my mother's hospital roommate flipped over in bed and mooned the preacher who was visiting!
Praise the lord, and give me a vowel, that's funny!
This is so sweet and funny.
I hope that in the nursing home 3-4 decades from now, I can pick my own roommate.
It can't be easy getting old, and worse yet would be living with other old people.
Ahhhh bless, hee hee. Maybe she thought she'd be struck down for changing channels. (I'm allowed to say that as I was brought up catholic okay?)
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