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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Somehow I had not expected Clarence to be mentally incapacitated. I knew his physical condition would continue to deteriorate, but I had envisioned him as slowly becoming less physically able, while still retaining his mental faculties, or as much as was left after his strokes. But except for rare occasions now, he is unable to verbalize what he wants. This morning we had an hour-long miserably frustrating exchange in which he tried to tell me he wanted the air conditioning turned on. He kept bawling "Lei-sure! Lei-sure!" over and over, and pointing toward the door. I asked him the usual questions: did he want something to eat? To drink? To have the television moved? Where was the thing he wanted? In the bedroom? The kitchen? The bathroom? Was he too hot? Too cold? Sometimes he has known the word he wanted but just couldn't say it, and was able to spell it for me, but this time he couldn't even do that. We went around and around, both of us getting more aggravated and frustrated, until Nick asked him whether he wanted the air conditioning on. Yes! nodding his head furiously. I had asked him that earlier and he'd said no, but apparently that was indeed what he wanted, and his repeated pointing at the floor was an attempt to draw my attention to the floor vent.As a result of this extended attempt at communication, Nick was half an hour late for his art lesson, because Clarence did manage to say one coherent sentence: "I'll die if I don't have it before you leave." I was tempted to insist that he had everything he needed, but I could't take the chance that he knew something essential that I hadn't thought of.We came home to find the compressor running and the house just as hot as it had been when we left. The heat pump part of it has been working fine, so I don't know what the problem is and it will take at least two days to get a repairman here.Worst of all, Clarence will not be able to ride along with me on my inspection trips. After what really was an easy day Friday—driving up to his doctor's office and then another 40 miles to a store I inspected in Roanoke, he was so prostrate with exhaustion that if Nick had not been here, I would not have been able to get him out of the car and into the house. Since then he has fallen again, and had to be picked up off the floor and put to bed again by the volunteer rescue squad. He is effectively bed-ridden unless there are at least two adult-sized people in the house to assist him.Shelley's boy friend Mike will be here by the end of the month, living with us while he looks for a place of his own and a job. So I'll have at least a short respite. What I'm going to do between now and then I'm not sure, as I am about to be late with a large number of inspections. I've hired a local woman to stay with Clarence and Nick while I'm out of town on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, but I can't afford her for very long. Eight hours worth of her services could easily be more than my gross income some days, depending on how far I have to drive and how many stores I have to inspect in a given day.I don't want to think about nursing homes, but I may have no choice. posted by Liz @ 3:30 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
Somehow I had not expected Clarence to be mentally incapacitated. I knew his physical condition would continue to deteriorate, but I had envisioned him as slowly becoming less physically able, while still retaining his mental faculties, or as much as was left after his strokes. But except for rare occasions now, he is unable to verbalize what he wants. This morning we had an hour-long miserably frustrating exchange in which he tried to tell me he wanted the air conditioning turned on. He kept bawling "Lei-sure! Lei-sure!" over and over, and pointing toward the door. I asked him the usual questions: did he want something to eat? To drink? To have the television moved? Where was the thing he wanted? In the bedroom? The kitchen? The bathroom? Was he too hot? Too cold? Sometimes he has known the word he wanted but just couldn't say it, and was able to spell it for me, but this time he couldn't even do that. We went around and around, both of us getting more aggravated and frustrated, until Nick asked him whether he wanted the air conditioning on. Yes! nodding his head furiously. I had asked him that earlier and he'd said no, but apparently that was indeed what he wanted, and his repeated pointing at the floor was an attempt to draw my attention to the floor vent.As a result of this extended attempt at communication, Nick was half an hour late for his art lesson, because Clarence did manage to say one coherent sentence: "I'll die if I don't have it before you leave." I was tempted to insist that he had everything he needed, but I could't take the chance that he knew something essential that I hadn't thought of.We came home to find the compressor running and the house just as hot as it had been when we left. The heat pump part of it has been working fine, so I don't know what the problem is and it will take at least two days to get a repairman here.Worst of all, Clarence will not be able to ride along with me on my inspection trips. After what really was an easy day Friday—driving up to his doctor's office and then another 40 miles to a store I inspected in Roanoke, he was so prostrate with exhaustion that if Nick had not been here, I would not have been able to get him out of the car and into the house. Since then he has fallen again, and had to be picked up off the floor and put to bed again by the volunteer rescue squad. He is effectively bed-ridden unless there are at least two adult-sized people in the house to assist him.Shelley's boy friend Mike will be here by the end of the month, living with us while he looks for a place of his own and a job. So I'll have at least a short respite. What I'm going to do between now and then I'm not sure, as I am about to be late with a large number of inspections. I've hired a local woman to stay with Clarence and Nick while I'm out of town on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, but I can't afford her for very long. Eight hours worth of her services could easily be more than my gross income some days, depending on how far I have to drive and how many stores I have to inspect in a given day.I don't want to think about nursing homes, but I may have no choice.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
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PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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