I have now been living with Dot for 8 weeks and it has been a serious roller coaster ride. I have had days when I have been thrilled to be living with her and making some kind of "difference" in someone else's life, and days when I have been at my absolute wits end. I though I would do a round up of some of the things that have happened over the last couple weeks.
Getting locked out of the house
Dorothy has a habit of locking all the doors and windows etc before going to bed...which is a good habit, unless I have not come home yet. I come home at least once a week to a locked front door and the key still in the lock on the inside. So I have no way of getting into the house. I ring the doorbell incessantly to no avail before giving in a calling her son to get her to open the door. She often opens the door with a cheeky smile on her face which makes me suspect she knows I'm out there and is enjoying seeing me freezing my butt off!
Missing teeth
A couple mornings Dot has decided to hide her teeth. The first time was quite a shock as I hadn't realised she has falsies! The fact that they were perfectly white and straight should have been a give away but I like to think the best of people! Anyway as she whistled good morning to me I realised I would have to locate the damn teeth or else should would have some trouble eating her breakfast so began a house wide search eventually finding them on the far side of the bath.....which is a perfectly logical place to keep them????
Midnight raids
A couple nights a week Dot gets up at 10 or 11 thinking it is morning time and gets dressed. I try persuade her to get back into bed as the thought of her sleeping on the couch all night breaks my heart, however this usually turns into another hour affair and she come to check ever 5/10 minutes that it is night time and she must go to bed. Even if I lock my door she will stand there and rattle to door knob till I open the door and confirm that it is in fact night time!
Thursday the fourth of June
I spent the day trying to convince Dot that the only place in the TV guide where you can find the words Thursday 4 June was along the side of the page and not in the actual TV listing. I was like her brain was on loop and all she could think about was finding these words. I actually didn't know whether to laugh or cry!
On the whole I'm happy with Dot. I get comfort from the fact that she would be so lonely if she was on her own and I know she enjoys having me there (most evident by the fact that she will not go to bed if I am still up no matter how tired she is!!!!!!!) My friends have had some laugh at my expense so they're loving the experience and the hard days soon pass. I guess I have many more months of craziness to look forward to!
Monday, June 08, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Day Dot
Today I moved in with Dorothy, an 85 year old women who is deaf and has a spot of Alzheimer's. I am hoping to live with her for the next year to 18 months and, in an effort to maintain my own sanity, and to record my time with her, I have decided to start blogging again.
So day one has come and gone. Dorothy's son was here when I arrived to settle me in and explain the ins and outs to me. I spent the afternoon unpacking some of my stuff - trying to ram my clothes into the tiny cupboard - but eventually I had to go downstairs and chat to old Dot. Turns out I have no idea what to chat to an old lady about. So after about 5 mins I popped upstairs to google "talking to people with Alzheimer's". Needless to say google was less than helpful but armed with such tips as speak slowly and clearly (a real gem that one, don't think I could have figured that out on my own)I headed back down. Turns out if I just sit quietly next to her the conversation will come to me - one specific conversation - what was my name again? And what time am I going to work? and what time will I be back? I must have answered each of these at least 10 times over a 2 hour period. At one point while trying to help her take her evening pills she handed me the HUGE pill box and asked me if there was anything in there I wanted.
The slight downside to living with Dot is when she does something crazy, like put 1p coins in her hot chocolate, she doesn't remember doing it and I am the only other person around so all suspicion immediately falls on me. I had to smile sweetly and tell her I had no idea where the coins could have come from. Luckily the interrogation doesn't last too long.
So day one is safely behind me and tomorrow I will navigate my way to work through Southall. I am sure I am going to have many more surreal evenings like the one that just passed - if I start repeating myself constantly you all know why!!
P.S in the course of writing this post Dot has tried to put me to bed twice. Scratch that 3 times.
So day one has come and gone. Dorothy's son was here when I arrived to settle me in and explain the ins and outs to me. I spent the afternoon unpacking some of my stuff - trying to ram my clothes into the tiny cupboard - but eventually I had to go downstairs and chat to old Dot. Turns out I have no idea what to chat to an old lady about. So after about 5 mins I popped upstairs to google "talking to people with Alzheimer's". Needless to say google was less than helpful but armed with such tips as speak slowly and clearly (a real gem that one, don't think I could have figured that out on my own)I headed back down. Turns out if I just sit quietly next to her the conversation will come to me - one specific conversation - what was my name again? And what time am I going to work? and what time will I be back? I must have answered each of these at least 10 times over a 2 hour period. At one point while trying to help her take her evening pills she handed me the HUGE pill box and asked me if there was anything in there I wanted.
The slight downside to living with Dot is when she does something crazy, like put 1p coins in her hot chocolate, she doesn't remember doing it and I am the only other person around so all suspicion immediately falls on me. I had to smile sweetly and tell her I had no idea where the coins could have come from. Luckily the interrogation doesn't last too long.
So day one is safely behind me and tomorrow I will navigate my way to work through Southall. I am sure I am going to have many more surreal evenings like the one that just passed - if I start repeating myself constantly you all know why!!
P.S in the course of writing this post Dot has tried to put me to bed twice. Scratch that 3 times.
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