Monday, April 1, 2013

The other "F" word: Part l



“Well!”, Miss Cathy said.

I could hear her voice as she walked closer to where I was working in my room from where she had been in the ‘Living’.

“I fucked up the TV again!”

And sure enough, upon closer inspection I could see that the TV screen was blue where there should have been the antiseptic smile of Bob Eubanks, Dick Clark or some other (g)host from the GameShow Network that she watched at that time of day.

She had somehow hit a combination of buttons on the remote that switched the TV to “Video” mode and had no idea how to get it back.

I’d been home just a day or two from a short trip to NYC when Miss Cathy first “forgot” how to use the remote. Then the next morning she had trouble disabling the security system and problems with the telephone; each day seemed to bring more memory lapse and confusion.

Part of me couldn’t help but note that she presented with these new challenges after I’d been gone for a while and before I was scheduled to go away again……..was…is there a connection?

Part of what keeps a person with Alzheimer’s stable (though there is no guarantee) is to feel safe in their surroundings, continuity and routine.

Had I triggered this step back to her future by going away? 

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