Saturday I took her downtown in the car. Released her in the city center in a familiar place. Let her roam free. Checked on her a few hours later and found she'd already safely made her way home by subway. Successful outing.
Getting her ready was the usual run-around-of-confusion...
Couldn't find her purse at all. Hunted for about 30 minutes among piles of clothes, multiple bags, newspapers and stuff. Couldn't locate it.
Finally I gave her shopping money in a different little plastic pouch. But - of course - she wasn't able to remember from minute to minute that today her money was IN this pouch...so lots of confusion.
On the drive downtown I stopped at the bank to use the ATM.
"Shall I walk from here?".
Stopped at a convenience store to buy something and get change.
"Why am I here? Shall I walk from here? Do I have any money? What did I buy here? Shall I walk from here?"
Endless...endless little checking questions. It makes me realize that increasingly Okaasan needs reassurance about the immediate world around her and what her place is in it.
At home too...the little questions we notice more and more....
"Is this tomorrow's rice?"
"Why?"
"Because we are going to eat ramen? That is the ramen bowl?"
....it was actually a ramen bowl, but being used to mix salad in on the table.....
...oh...and the Japanese tea....expensive Japanese tea that we can only buy in one shop in Sapporo.
Okaasan is having a harder and harder time making the tea for herself. Almost every day now there are cups of water/cups of tea powder/cold water/forgotten tea around the kitchen.
She probably drinks only 50% of the tea we buy for her. The rest is wasted and thrown away.
The correct tea making order: heat water/put powder in cup/wait/put hot water on powder/whisk with bamboo whisk/wait/drink - all of that is getting more and more confusing for Okaasan.
It's a basic series of actions she has seen/done all her life. Now, getting it done in the correct order is getting harder.
But!
Spring is a-coming and today will be the last day helper visit day for this winter season (must leave note about the missing/substitute purse). From now on we hope Okaasan can go out and walk on her own. Have freeeeeeedom. And get more mentally alert.
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| SPRING!!!! |
Is it possible for her to use a teabag ? This would only require hot water and putting the bag in the cup? (Maybe teabag is a western thing?)
ReplyDeleteLoved picture of Kitties.
She is so lucky to have you in her life.
Marilyn in Seattle
Marilyn in Seattle
Hi Marilyn, Thankyou for reading. There are green tea tea bags in Japan, but considered very low quality etc.Only to be used in a hotel room or on an airplane.....she really likes this very high quality powder tea....we use tea bags if we run out of the powder..and she is constantly complaining that we didn't get the good stuff yet :-) so I think that would be an unpopular transition now. DS hopes he can start buying cheaper tea soon...but I think she would notice.....
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