Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Date: Monday, August 03, 2015; 6:15-7:15 pm
I arrived to see that there were no dogs there yet, just our
Volunteer leader Veronica. But that
changed soon and the dogs arrived, including an excitable 11 year old and a
beautiful looking thing called Cena. I
went over to the activity room and saw that Jim was already there along with Larry
and some regulars like Kenny, Holly and Josie.
I was pleased to see that Emma was attending, though she looked frailer
than before. Plus her eyesight looked as
if it was deteriorating rapidly. I went
back to the waiting area for my project and saw that a few more dogs had
arrived, along with the kitty Soldier; though there was no sign of Bodie or
Charta.
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| Beautiful Cena |
Veronica paired us up and I was with Cena. We started on the 2nd floor and I
suggested that we stop over to see David, but he wasn't there. We then visited with the lady with the pearls
and she was enthusiastic as usual, though incomprehensible. I noticed that David was back and had a lady
visitor - who I later heard may have been his wife. He was excited to see us and in top spirits. He wanted to talk but the lady said "Thank you for visiting". Well, I guess we can take a hint! Many of the regulars didn't want us to visit
today, but in one of the rooms, we met a lady who wanted to chat. She talked about her dog that was a ‘Husky/Shepherd’ mix and about some of her
other dogs and a cat. It seemed that she
was also one of those who "saves"
lot of animals. She mentioned how she
took over a neighbor’s cat when they abandoned it, as well as some others that she
had adopted. She talked about having
fish, though I argued that since you are unable to “pet” a fish, you cannot call them "A Pet"! She told us how her cat used to look at fish hungrily
and so she got rid of them. I said that the
cat could have always blamed the dog! She
said that some of the dogs are prettier than humans, especially an “Albino Pitbull” that she had. We talked about cruelty and the people who
abandon dogs. I said why not abandon in
front of shelters like ‘PAWS’ rather
than under a bridge. That way at least
the puppies or kittens have a chance at survival.
We could have stayed and chatted with her for a long time,
but kept on moving and next stop was with the lady in the corner who likes smaller
dogs. One look at Cena and she said that she was bigger than her hand and so after a short stay we moved on. We went over to see Polly and she kept saying
that she remembered me and mentioned that I should come back. I said that I would soon. It was sad to see how much her health had
declined in just a few weeks. At this
stage Cena was whining and her owner felt that she may need to visit the
bathroom. So while she took Cena out, I
waited in the Bingo room and saw a Jim “explosion”.
Apparently one of the residents at the
table - not Larry or Jack – had made a lewd gesture, and that upset Jim and Jen, who is a regular volunteer. In fact Jen
left the table as Jim yelled at him saying one should not do it in the presence
of a lady.
Cena came back and so we went to the 3rd floor
and stopped at Jerry’s room. Cena was
more interested in the plants there rather than the treats. While she sat on the bed, she wouldn't take
the treats, at which I mentioned that she was watching her “girlish figure”. I learnt
that Cena was adopted as a puppy and was 4 years old. Before her current owner, she had already been
returned back to the shelter 3 times - once with her band embedded in her neck.
Looking at how kind and friendly she was;
one wouldn't have known that someone did not want her.
We went over to see Hannah and saw that Veronica and Fran
were with her. I asked her roommate Linda-
who loves reading - about the book that she was reading now. She asked me to
get it from her bedside stand and I saw that it was a thriller with short
stories. She said that they were good,
but too short to be satisfactory. The
book did have a nice quote on its dedication page "The heart has its reasons which reason does not know".
I asked Linda about the book that she
had been reading the last time that I was here and she said that she loved it. It was a story about this guy who was in love
with this woman, who was taking care of a “special
needs” person. The man makes an
effort to get to know her patient and then one day tells the woman to go on a
holiday wherein he would take care of this person. As the woman he loves leaves, she finds a new
life on the outside. I asked Linda how
the story ended and she said that in the end the man tells the woman to stay in
her new life and not come back unless she wants to. I said that she's not coming back whereas Linda
was hoping that she would. I chatted
with Hannah and she said that she was getting better. She said that her lawyer had said that August 18th
was when there would be some decision on her book and I said to Linda that soon
Hannah's book would be by her bedside.
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| Soldier was chillin |
We stopped to see Loritta and she was in good spirits, with
Soldier perched on her bed. Cena went
and sniffed him and to his credit he just sat still, feeling comfortable with having
Cena near him. There was a little girl
in the room and Cena was excitable around her. It seems that she does well with kids and Cena
and the kid moved to the outside while I chatted with Loritta. She asked how I was and I replied saying that
I had been traveling. Once again she
told me her travel stories, including how she had gone to the South and would
never visit again. I said that I would
visit soon and went out where the little girl claimed that she had trained
Cena. She was saying "sit" forcefully and Cena was
obeying. It was time to leave and so we
went downstairs wherein Cena and her owner left. Jim was still mad and we discussed the rude
guy. Jack asked me to drop him off and I
took him to his room on the 3rd floor. I left after chatting with Veronica and Fran.
*All the client's names have been changed in
order to respect their privacy
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