Dementia-World

Took some pictures in to show mom yesterday. My sister left me several choices, and I went with the iris and cat pictures. The iris picture was a big hit - sunlight on deep purple iris - she loved looking at it, and I left it with her because she didn't want to part with it.

One cat picture showed Mittens on top of the kitchen cabinets (over the refrigerator). Cute. "She seems like she is angry," mom said, reading human emotions into cats as she always does. "No, she's just watching everything that is happening in the kitchen," I told her. She accepted the verdict.

The other cat picture was a closeup of Mittens' face. She seemed frightened, and said, "I don't like this one." The Activities Lady was there, and told me that it was because the face was too big - it filled the whole photo. Mom was genuinely uneasy about it.

How long does it take for an Activities Lady to learn all this stuff about people with dementia? Where does she get the patience to go back there every day?

While I was there, Julie was being weird again, asking about her keys - "Where are my keys?" She was going into other people's rooms and asking, "Have you seen my keys?" Julie has no keys. Nobody up there has any keys. They are all way past being able to drive, or have a key to the door on their own room. They are "kept" people - the staff are the only ones who have keys. Julie hasn't settled in to her new world of dementia yet, and the Activities Ladies are still having to do a lot of Julie-maintenance.

I could barely stay there for 30 minutes before I had to come up with my excuse for leaving. "I have to go to a meeting," I told them. It was true, but I would have said it even if it wasn't.