Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Date: Monday, June 29, 2015; 6:00-8:30 pm
 |
| Bodie was excited to see me |
I had received an email from Pearl saying that she was
leaving on Wednesday for independent living. I said that I was coming in and would stop by
to wish her well. I arrived to see that
Jim was here and asking the front desk attendant to make him coffee in her ‘Keurig’. Always the charmer. In the waiting area was Bodie, the
enthusiastic ‘Westie’ and he was all
over me. Also present was a ‘Bulldog’ girl and there seemed to be
some sort of a fight going on for my attention. Aah finally.
Bodie was giving my hands a licking that would have made a cat proud. Speaking of cats, Soldier's owner Rebecca was
the Volunteer leader tonight and so Soldier was here. He is a beautiful cat with beautiful eyes
and Rebecca was walking him like a dog.
There were plenty of dogs in attendance including a small
creature that weighed all of 4 lbs. We
went inside the Bingo room and I went to say hello to Jack who greeted me
saying it had been a long time. Emma was
here, looking cute in a yellow sweatshirt and with a yellow ribbon in her hair.
I asked how she was and as usual, “Nice”
was the response. We were called back in the
hallway and I was paired with the ‘Bulldog’
who was called Charta, which was some sort of a Mexican name. Since she had been adopted, her owners kept
the name. We started on the 3rd
floor and first stop was the gentleman who is blind. He petted her and we saw that his roommate was
interested as well, though he said that he preferred cats. I said that there was a cat around and I will
ask them to stop by. We went over to David’s
to get a massage for Charta and I asked how his photography was going. He showed us some of his prints that he had
posted around his bed and I said that it was refreshing to see prints since
nowadays everyone just showed pictures on their phone. I said that since he had
dogs visiting every week, he should consider taking their pictures and
assembling them in a book – an idea which he liked.
We stopped to see a woman in the corner room and she kept
saying how big Charta was - who has in fact lost 10 lbs. over the last year. The lady then she talked about her sister's ‘Pitbull’ and her brother-in-law who
talks to the dog in Spanish, and even plays Spanish songs and dances with the
dog. That was interesting to say the
least. Before we left, she did say that she
likes her dog’s small. We saw a
gentleman on a wheelchair in the corridor and chatted with him. He was wearing a shirt with dog website on it,
which fit with the theme for sure. Next
up was a visit with Polly and Dena. Both
of them were looking better than usual and I mentioned that Polly seemed to
have recovered from her illness. She
said yes and while Polly was insisting that Charta go and be petted by Dena,
Charta was in no mood to move. She seemed
lethargic, though her owner kept saying she was excited to see all the new people. It is interesting how Polly always seems to be looking out for
Dena and we wished them well and left.
 |
| Charta had been a good girl |
Next was Loritta and she was in a talkative mood this
evening. She said that this place was
like an open grave and she wanted to move back to her house, which based on her
description seemed big and nice. The
only reason that she was here was because she needed constant care. I told her that there are models where a “Resident Assistant” caregiver can stay
with her in exchange for room and board.
She said that she appreciated our visit every Monday, since there was
nothing much going on in her life besides that. Before leaving my partner said, will we see
you next week and Loritta responded, “Only
if I’m not dead”. “You’ll outlive us all”, I said. We stopped to see Hannah and she remembered
me. She asked about my “biking” tour and I said it wasn’t
biking. She said that she liked that I
was so adventurous and wished me luck. She
then said that she wished that she could leave and get her oatmeal and a porch
- with rocking chair I added. But she
said that she needs her treatment and her therapy here. I mentioned that I liked the fact that she
realizes what she needs and I told her to get better. She then asked me to open her drawer and gave
me her attorney’s card; who is doing work for her “pro bono”. She said that she
was finally free of being a “state’s
ward” and how she had to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to be rid if
it. But it was successfully in the end and that’s
all that matters.
Finally, I went to see Pearl and she said that she had pneumonia
like symptoms. She was hoping that she
could have stayed till she got better, but was happy to leave. I said that there’s always something wrong
with her and if she waited till everything was perfect, she would never be able
to leave. I said that if she felt that a
year from now staying here was going to improve her life, then she should stay. She agreed that it was time to go and asked
me to visit her new place. I agreed, and
then asked her to have a plan now that’s she’s leaving. Leaving was Step 1, getting better is Step
2. “What’s
Step 3”, I asked. She smiled and said
that she always appreciates me coming and talking with her. I told her that it was apt that she’s doing
it close to July 4th because being independent is the most important
thing in life. She then showed me her doctoral
thesis which someone had found for her and she talked about her work back in
70s. It was amazing when we discovered
she had been in Pune, the town where I was born. I said that she should find some professors
and should work with them in getting all of her knowledge from those days
dissipated, so that the current generation can benefit from it. She also talked about her ex-husband and
showed me his paintings, though she had lost most of them in a fire. I said that she should ask for some from him
for her new place. I left after telling
her that we should, and definitely would, stay in touch.
*All the client's names have been changed in
order to respect their privacy
No comments:
Post a Comment