Take a seat

Whilst out working with another carer I visited a lady called Irene who I had never met before; The other carer knew her quite well, so she started to do the personal care, whilst I pottered around making breakfast and a cup of tea. Her bed is in the lounge, so as I finished first I thought I would sit down and fill in the record of care book whilst having a chat. As I went to sit, Irene imediately piped up 'Don't sit in that chair please dear. Can you sit in the other one please'

'Of course' I said as I wondered why? Perhaps it was her late husband's favourite chair and she cannot bare to see any one else sitting in it or maybe she's a bit OCD and doesn't want the cushions disturbed.
The other carer just gave me a knowing look and carried on with her work. Once Irene was dressed and ready to be moved, she smiled and said 'You can go into the other chair now you've warmed my one up thank you.

Strange coincidences

There are occasions when strange coincidences occur.

There are a couple that stick in  my head the first one occurred whist pulling up outside the house of one of my Gents called Donald, I smiled to myself as I realised Andy Stewart's 'Donald where's you troosers' was playing on the radio; I couldn't remember the last time I had heard that song and thought it a very strange coincidence.  Imagine my surprise, when I actually found Donald sitting in the lounge without his trousers on. Apparently, he had got too hot and decided to take them off.

The wind blows high... the wind blows low.......

For those of you too young to remember the song see link below: -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yw0bLHTOb0






The second coincidence occurred whilst visiting a lady on my round and we got talking about Scouting; She started telling me all about her father, who had started the first scout troop in the area and showed me with great pride, a newspaper clipping with a photograph of her father, in his scout uniform on his wedding day. The strange thing was that when we looked at the date on the top of the paper, it was 10th October, which happened to be the same date as I was paying this particular visit.

I then went on to visit another chap and started to relay the story to him, at which point he said. 'That man was my scout leader.'
I think someone was looking down on us that day don't you.

The Little Pink Pill

Dementia can manifest itself in many ways; there is the obvious one where people can’t remember what they did yesterday; then the ones who revert back to a happy place in their past; some people get panic stricken when confronted with anything new and then there are those who get fixated on the smallest of things and won‘t let them go.
Jean is one of those ladies. She is a sweet lady who lives all on her own in a large house in a remote village’ The only company she gets is from the carers and Meals on wheels, consequently she sits and watches the clock from one visit to the next; because of this it is often very difficult to leave at the end of the call, She will always try to find something to keep you there another five minutes and plead with you to stay.

As a rule, I have gentleman I visit before her that doesn’t really need much care other than to make a sandwich with a cup of tea and definitely does not want to be bothered with any idle chit chat, in fact he barely acknowledges your presence, so I usually finish with him early and spend a bit more time with Jean.

Jean’s fixation is her pills; from the moment I arrive I am harassed about her tablets and she physically shakes as she tells me that she needs them because they stop her shaking. She is right though because within a few seconds of taking the said tablets, the shaking stops; all psychological of course.
However that is not the end of the matter, from then on I get asked ‘ Have I taken my pills? Where are my night pills? What time is someone coming into do my morning pills? This will carry on throughout the thirty to forty minute call. The odd thing is her memory is not bad at all, she can talk about any subject you choose with absolute clarity, knows what happened yesterday and recalls telephone numbers for old friends without looking them up.

Recently I got a call from one of her other carers warning me that there is an extra pill to give Jean from now on, morning and night. So the next evening I enter jean's house and am immediately told about the little pink pill.

‘It’s alright Jean I know’

‘Oh good’

I put the pills in front of her and watch her swallow them with her jelly’

‘How many pills are in here?’

‘Three’

‘Including the little pink pill?’

‘Yes Jean’

‘Oh Good’

Five minutes later

‘Have I taken my pills?’

‘Yes Jean’

‘And the little pink one?’

‘Yes Jean’

‘What about in the morning?’

‘All the carers know about the new medication’

‘Oh Good’

Five minutes later

‘Did I take the little pink pill?’

‘Yes Jean’

And so on…….

After about the fourth time of going through this routine I ask

‘What is the little pink pill for anyway Jean?’

‘It’s supposed to stop me worrying’

‘I don’t think it’s working, do you Jean?’

‘No! I don’t think it is Dear’

 

 

Sour Milk

Katie greeted me with her usual smile this morning.  'The milk has gone sour. I don’t know why it has gone sour, I’m sure.’

‘Oh dear! Shall I pop up the road and get some more’

‘Oh that will be nice dear, Thank you’

Fortunately the shops were only round the corner so I hopped in the car and returned five minutes later with the milk. As I looked in the fridge I noticed a large four pint container.

‘I go back in and tell Katie this and she replies. ‘No I meant the milk in the jug that my daughter fills up for me’

‘Oh well never mind, I’ll take the milk home we can always use it up. Where do you keep your tea?

‘Oh I forgot to say, I have run out of tea as well’



Incidentally this jug of milk was key to another problem I had with Katie. On odd occasions she would have an upset stomach, often blaming it on her meals on wheels.
On one occasion I found her finishing her cereal off as I arrived, so I asked if she would like a cup of tea to wash it down.
‘Yes please’ came the usual reply.
The jug of milk she had used for her breakfast was sitting on the side, so I poured some into the cup. It was off and came out with the consistency of yoghurt. I guess she puts so much sugar on her cereal that she could not taste it.

Since then I have asked the evening carers to throw any milk left in the jug away before they leave at night.
No more tummy upsets.

Wrong number

Deidre always finds me something to sort out when I arrive at her house. I have shown her how to use her microwave oven because fish and chips seven days a week is not a particularly good diet; I have put a curtain back up; sorted out an extractor fan and brought some ‘Vanish' over to get rid of a carpet stain; but above all of these, the thing that needs sorting most of all is the television. About twice a week she has pressed a button and lost the picture, then greets me with ‘This television is no good, I’ll have to get a new one’ (It is brand new by the way)

One of the things she regularly does is to simply turn it off from the remote and because of this I wrote down a few simple instructions for her to follow.

So today, I enter her house and ask ‘How are you today?'
‘Not good, my telly’s broken again’ she retorts ‘it hasn’t worked since you left it yesterday.'
‘Really?’ Did you follow the instructions I wrote out for you?’
‘Yes. You watch’ she said as she picked up her telephone. ‘I am pressing the green button and then pressing 800’

Heaven only knows who she was ringing.

Ok Partner

As I was about to leave a chap with dementia, his wife says can you get him to drink his Movicol; he takes so long to drink it, it wears me out having to keep prompting him. So I poured his drink along with a glass of water for myself and sat opposite him at the table.

'Ok' I say in my best Texan accent ' Ok Partner, the first one to down the drink gets the girl'
He won! His wife stood there gob smacked.

Not quite sure what happened after I left.   

The power of suggestion

I am often called out to go outside of my area. It was on one such occasion I went to see Babs. When I arrived, she had swapped the keys round in her key safe. After spending five minutes trying to get the keys in the lock, I twigged that I possibly had the keys for the back door. So off I scramble through the garden which was in pitch darkness and into the house which was also in darkness. I always carry a torch with me and felt quite the intruder as I flashed my torch round trying to find a light switch, half expecting the police to knock on the door at any moment.






I eventually found Babs lying in bed upstairs and quite downhearted saying she had nothing to live for and so on.

‘Have you eaten’ I asked

‘No and I don’t really fancy anything thank you’

As I went back down the stairs I noticed a container at the foot of the stairs and whilst thanking my lucky stars I hadn’t trod on it on the way up, I realised that it was her 'meals on wheels' dinner from lunchtime, untouched. So I made a sandwich with a cup of tea and left it by her bedside just in case she was peckish later.

The next day I happened to be asked to go and see Babs again. This time the front door key was in the key safe and I found Babs downstairs watching television. Whilst I was pleased to see her up and about, I noticed with regret that another meal was sitting at the foot of the stairs and my sandwich from the night before was in the bin.

‘What would you like to eat’ I said,

Again I got a negative reply but this time I wanted to watch her eat, so I made a sandwich with a cup of tea and put it on her lap.

‘I don’t want anything to eat’ came the immediate response.

‘I know’ I replied, as I pulled up a chair in front of her and asked ‘How did you meet your husband?’

From that point on there was no stopping her as she talked about her family and past life whilst I sat and listened. Admittedly the conversation did go round in circles a bit, but every now and then I would let my eyes drift briefly towards the plate and she would take a bite from the sandwich; by the time I left thirty minutes later the plate was empty. The power of suggestion is a wonderful thing.


 

 

Singing for the brain

Whenever Artie goes out (My chap with dementia), I always make a point of asking if he enjoyed himself on the folowing day and  will always get a blank look or a comment such as 'Did I?' Yesterday, because he enjoys singing so much, I suggested that his wife took him to the Alzheimers society's 'Singing for the brain' group. Today I asked his wife if they enjoyed it and he immediately chirped up. 'Oh yes it was very good.'

The simple things

Katie is one of my favourite ladies although she is very hard of hearing Whenever you enter the house you know she is up because the television will be on at full volume. I often spend time having a chat with the use of a pen and notepad.. It was on one of these occasions that a thought struck me that she did not have subtitles on her television. So I spent five minutes fathoming out how to get them up on the screen and when she realised what I had done her face lit up. 

I went away quite chuffed with myself and could not think why I or anybody else had not thought of it before. I suspect that the neighbours probably appreciated the peace and quiet as well, because now she has no sound on at all.

Some time after I had done this good deed I was talking to one of her other carers about what I had done, 
‘Oh! that was you was it,' she said  'You gave me such a shock, I thought she had died when I went in the next day because it was so quiet’

That's no Gentleman

Enid is a small quietly spoken lady of about 90 years of age, who has dementia. On the whole she seems to know what is going on around her but on occasion, she slips into a past life. One a freezing cold winter's night Enid answered the door.

'What would you like for dinner?' I enquired.

'I don't need a dinner because I am going out tonight.'

‘Oh!’ I asked ‘Where you going? Anywhere nice?’


‘I’m off to visit my Mother’

Knowing that it would not be a good idea to tell her that her mother was no longer with us, I took another tack.

‘It’s a bitterly cold night this evening Enid, Why don’t you go tomorrow?'

‘That’s alright because my Mother in law is picking me up’

‘Oh I don’t think she will be round tonight, she spoke to me earlier and said she was under the weather, so she will ring you in the morning to arrange another date.’ I replied, feeling pleased with my quick thinking.

‘Never mind’ she says ‘I’ll walk’

And she did; she put her coat on and walked out of the door, with me chasing after her trying to contact her daughter for back up. No answer! So I am on my own and after thirty minutes of walking behind and trying to coax her back she was getting very agitated with my badgering.

'Come home Enid, I will make some soup to warm us up'

'Leave me alone'

'It's getting late, are you sure your mother will still be up?'
'Yes! Leave me alone'

'Why don't you let your Mother in law take you in the morning?'

 Eventually she looks at me and in an exasperated voice says ‘I will have to go home now because you have worn me out.’

obviously relieved we make the return journey

As we reached her house, a neighbor came out to check everything was ok,suggesting to Enid that she go back into the warm with the kind gentleman.

To which Enid firmly replies:-

'That's NO GENTLEMAN!’

lost glasses

Freda, a short busy little lady, was looking for her glasses upon my arrival with the television on in the background. After about five minutes of the pair of us wandering to and fro, a voice from the television coincidentally says

‘You won’t find them in there’

To which she looks up at me and replies. 

‘Well! Where the bloody hell are they then?’

No hearing No problem

I worked with a profoundly deaf Care Worker tonight who obviously found it hard to communicate; However, all of her regular ladies and gents seemed to really enjoy seeing her, which confirms my belief that a smiling face is one of the best ways of breaking down barriers and communicating. It was a challenge to work with her because obviously the only way she had to tell me what needed to be done was by pointing and making gestures but I would happily work with her again.

Lost hearing aid

On one occasion when visiting Katie, she tells me that she has lost her hearing aid.

‘Where did you last have it?’ I enquired

‘I know I had it last night’ she replied ’I think it has dropped down between the bedside cabinet and the bed.‘

So off I go in search for the lost hearing aid. First of all giving a cursory glance, pulling back bed sheets and looking under pillows, then on my hands and knees looking under the bed and eventually pulling out the bed and cabinet with no sign of the missing item.

Ten minutes later, I go back into Katie and say ‘Are you sure you lost it there?'

‘Oh no!’ she replies. ‘I've just remembered, my daughter put it in my ear this morning.’

Unlocking dementia with a song

Artiie suffers with terrible dementia but even though he cannot remember things that were said five minutes earlier, you can tell that he was true gentleman in every sense of the word. After I have finished getting him washed and dressed, he always shakes my hand and thanks me, even offering money on occasions, which I obviously decline. As I have became a familiar face he greets me with a smile and asks what we were going to do now. To which I say ‘Let's go upstairs to change out of your pyjamas’. and every day he looks down and chuckles ‘Oh I didn’t even know I still had them on’.

To overcome my nervousness of washing and dressing my people I always talk or sing. One day I was chatting and as a throw away comment said ‘I bet you were a bit of a rascal with the ladies.’
He looked at me for a few seconds whilst he tried to cast his mind back and then with a little twinkle in his eye said ‘ Yes, I suspect you’re right’.

It was whilst rehearsing to do an Old Time Music Hall show, I took it upon myself to practise my songs on Artie and as usual he smiled blankly down at me until one day I sang ‘Here we are again, happy as can be’ His face lit up and in he came with ‘All good friends and jolly good company’ By the time I went to walk out of the door, we had his wife joining in downstairs and it was a very happy household that I left behind me on that day. La di da di da La di da di di.

Since that day our repertoire has increased and the one we enjoy most is ‘Lets all go down the Strand’ to which Artie replies ‘Ave a banana’ The interesting thing is that I taught him that line, because he sang everything else but had to ask me what I was singing at that point. Within a couple of days he would add it in without prompting.

Artie always seems to enjoy the singing and at one point looked me in the eye and said ‘I don’t know who you are or why you come here, but I do enjoy your company? You're such a jolly chap and you always make me smile’

Since my experience with Artie I try to sing to all my dementia patients; it seems to me, that music unlocks a part of the memory that cannot normally be reached. I have since found out about the Alzheimers group 'Singing for the Brains' http://alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=760 which Artie now attends.

A few months later, I was working with another carer, who occasionally looks after Artie when I can't make it.
Whilst we were getting one of 'The Old Dears' ready for bed, I started singing to her, at which point the Carer turned round and said 'Oh So that's what Artie was singing when I was dressing him the other day'
It's nice to think that Artie remembers my songs whilst I am away, even if he doesn't know my name.