Tuesday, April 7, 2009

New Plans

Previous post, From Parent to Friend - hhmm, maybe in my dreams; just to let you know that hasn't happened so far.

My latest venture was asking Chrissy who she would like to visit with or do some act of kindness for. Almost immediately she named a person. requesting her friend come visit and they have cheesecake and coffee. That day was a bit stressful though Ms. Chrissy really did manage the conversation and visit well. Of all things, she pulled out a white linen table cloth to use on the kitchen table! Several times I went out of the room and she called me back in. I'm sticking with that idea and do plan to arrange such again, maybe monthly.

Chrissy has a red patent leather bag she uses to pack overnight items in when she spends the night with me. Thursday evening when I returned from work I noticed the red bag packed sitting by the door! Yes, she was spending the night, nothing wrong she says, just spending the night with us. My sweet husband is so kind to watch Driving Miss Daisy, one of her favorite movies. Plans were Friday morning a trip to Target, lunch at IHOP, a couple hours for her to rest, and that afternoon - a visit with her friend.

Lesson learned: too much activity in one day for Chrissy and for me, way too many consecutive hours.

On Saturday I was out of town for five hours or so (husband nearby and sister-in-law stopped in) - when I returned Ms. Chrissy had a list of "things" she needed done! One of which was filling up the bird feeder. Even though I repeatedly said filling the bird feeder is a task for someone else, she continued to focus on me doing so. Now, that metal contraption, designed to keep out squirrels is heavy, rough on my hands, must line up perfectly - essentially, I just don't like fooling with it. Note my frustration with "repeatedly and continued to" - that's right Judy, behavior consistent with Alzheimer's! Why I didn't just fill the #%$@ bird feeder the first time - I'll never know.

Lesson learned: composed a weekly to-do list for Chrissy's companion that includes filling up the bird feeder! I later spoke with Home Helpers to make sure there was not an added charge for light housekeeping tasks - there's not! Then I called our sweet lady to get her input and she was most receptive to helping out.

Geez.