She remembers :-(
As we chivvied Okaasan along to get ready for hula dance yesterday...there was an initial "didn't I quit Hula?" - which we easily overrode with reassurances...and then a few minutes later:
"I thought I was only doing this in winter, is it still continuing?".
We overrode THAT too, with "oh, but it's fun, you enjoy dance don't you?"....and she got ready to go. With help. Stuffing countless pairs of pants in the bag and trying to select a T-shirt with the coat in the other hand.
BUGGER.
We overrode her thoughts pretty easily this time, but I'm disappointed that the thought was there.
Of course, it doesn't matter really if she wants to stop going - but it would be SO much better if she continued dance and day care, and going somewhere and talking to people once a week.
In spring to autumn Okaasan goes out walking every day, so we aren't worried about the physical exercise, but of course the day care is the mental/social exercise too.
And if she quit now, it might be a struggle to get her going again next winter.
:-(
Hmm.. Hoping.
We got her ready and off she went for hula. Came home tired, but happy. Apparently.
Maybe it was just a knee-jerk negative response to being dug up out of early-morning snoozing. Maybe not a considered opinion.
Hope not.
Amanda, do you think that you could go one time with her (or your son for part of the day) and make a photo history. You could take photos of the staff and write their names too. Also the people she speaks with and their names. This way she could look at the photos later and tell you who she spoke with and what they talked about etc. My father is now in a senior living apartment and last year I was able to go and spend a week with him. I was able to meet a lot of the staff and the other residents. This makes it easy when I call now, because he'll tell me stories of the different people etc. I think that if I had no background knowledge of the place, it would be more difficult for him to talk about it. Just an idea. (it might help trigger her memory, so that she has the fun image in her head during the week... Just an idea, Nancy in Tokyo
ReplyDeleteHi Nancy - I can see that's a good idea...but at the moment I think Okaasan has way too much awareness of life to do that - she would think it VERY odd if we went with her and took photographs of everything/one....and I imagine there would be privacy issues at the day care center too...but I can see that in future, when her condition is worse - a good idea.
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