Miss Cathy’s recovery has been a slow and interesting process to watch unfold. The fact that her cognitive and problems solving skills are impaired never seems consistent. She’s confused by some things and re-masters others without a problem. For example, it took her several attempts but she’s mastered the ability to disarm the security system (a new skill set) but she still fumbles with unlocking the front door (something she’s been doing for decades). She no longer confuses how to operate the washer and dryer but recently she broke two can openers (one electric and the other hand-held) because (I’m convinced) she just didn’t know how to use them properly.
She tells me that she’s doing her leg exercises (in her room) but she’s only been outside to walk twice in two months. The doctor’s said that it could take up to six months for her to walk properly after her knee replacement surgery but I see her toddling around four months later, still holding onto the wall, a door or something to help her balance as she moves from place to place as if she just left rehab. But, to be fair, she is on her feet for longer periods of time before she’s exhausted and has to sit down. I don’t know, it just seemed to me she’d be stronger and capable of more by now.
Actually, it’s not that-I thought SHE’D have wanted more for herself by now, that she would have worked harder to be more independent. I mean, hell, Liza Minnelli had a hip replaced and Lord knows she’s had a rougher go of it physically than Miss Cathy and she was on Oprah the other day singing (badly) and moving around the stage trying to kick up her heels like the old days when she was "Liza with a "Z". Granted, Liza claims to be sixty-three which is almost ten years younger than Miss Cathy and Liza’s a rich, pampered entertainer……..but still.
Hey, Miss Cathy’s no slouch, she may not be rich but like others of her generation she’s got great insurance. She was in two top-notch rehab centers for a month each but she was so hell-bent on leaving that she NEVER fully co-operated or took advantage of the physical or occupational therapy. I remember people in the rehab that were older than her that were recovering from knee replacement or WORSE and they didn’t complain half as much. And believe, me nobody cried or complained as much during physical therapy sessions as she did. Something in her (other than the Alzheimer’s, I think) just gave up. My brother wonders if we were seeing her for who she is for the first time and not who she’s always told us she was-I don’t know.
Now, it’s hard to tell what’s dementia and what’s her-maybe it’s all the same?
But, she taking her shower without my aid and she hasn’t had any falls or accidents while I’ve been out of the apartment lately. I started teaching at the School of Art + Design at Montgomery College last Friday so I’m away for four hours during the day and I was concerned at first but now I’ve got my fingers crossed that she’ll be okay alone while I teach.
We’ll just take it day by day, a week at a time and if something does happen I’ll have to make arrangements for someone to be here with her, maybe her girlfriend, Adele can come visit on Fridays.
In other areas she’s great, she’s talking to friends on the phone and several people have come by to visit her. She has her “projects” to keep her busy and she’s usually cooking up a storm. There have been times lately when she’s so much her old self that I wonder if I made a mistake leaving my life to be here. Maybe Dr Granite was right and it’s delirium (a temporary condition) that she suffered from and NOT dementia, which we all know just progresses.
I don’t know, what I do know is that when I ran this theory by my brother,Tony he vehemently disagreed. I’m not sure if he was just trying to reassure me that the situation is real or if he was panicked that he’d saddled with Miss Cathy. Bottom line, no matter how high functioning she appears one day, there’s always tomorrow and the doctor’s all agree that her days of living alone are over.
So, it’s a mixed bag….progress, not perfection.
No comments:
Post a Comment