when you're living life as "the guy on the couch" the days kinda run together. i know it was march the 7th the morning when i went to parkland for another ct-scan. (select portions from the cd may be available for your viewing pleasure on youtube soon.) (photo by zach perkins. cachoeria street, rio, brazil. 2008)
the creepy lookin' x-ray they'd taken a couple days before didn't quite jive with the ct-scan taken 5 weeks before that. it seems vertabrae #6 has moved around since then. so they figured it'd be a good idea to wrench me in position for an apples to apples view of what's really goin' on with my neck. in a couple of weeks i'll go back and the doc will hopefully have figured it out and let me know. in the meantime i try not to worry about it.
afterward, i went and hung out with mom. it was about 2:30 in the afternoon when i realized it must be a friday. that's when we heard some commotion in the hallway and discovered the residents were gathering for happy hour. yep. must be friday...
a couple in their 50s were playing easy listening/elevator music. he with electric guitar, she on electric keyboard and a silky smooth voice, their 4 year old daughter waving pom poms and eliciting oohs and smiles from the geezers with her cute-as-a-button-ness.
here's part of the set list from the event:
"you are my sunshine" (a *rousing* sing-along. the room divided to compete for loudest. it sounded like a hundred people whispering.)
"hey good lookin'" (sung to each and every resident, to be sure. big smiles all around.)
"will the circle be unbroken" (an impromptu sing-along with much hand clapping and toe tapping.)
"proud mary" (complete with rolling hand motions practiced by the crowd beforehand.)
"when tear drops fall" (imagine the sappiest version ever...)
"do you want to dance?" **
"my little run away" (linda and joyce danced to this one. linda's the 30 year old boss of the alzheimer's residents. joyce is an 80 year old alz woman. they were really Good!)
** at this point linda asked mom if she wanted to dance. she did. it was awesome. linda kept saying, "quit looking at your feet." they did turns and twirls. mom got the rhythm. mom grinned and stopped looking at her feet. everyone hooted and hollered for her.
mom's much worse off than the last time i saw her just 2 weeks ago. she's lost much more of her memory. it's sad, but this was a moment to cherish. and we did. it's a thin line between blessing and misfortune.
it's at moments like that we find out how much we have to be thankful for.
in the locker room, each team will enevitably invoke the name of god to harbor the skill, luck and heroics to insure success. after the game there is always a winner and a loser.
i can only wonder at the thin line dividing their fortunes.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
what day is it?
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13 comments:
hi daddy
sorry to hear about gmommy's progession into alz... but glad to hear she's got the rhythm.
also sad to hear that you are in dallas? well, selfishly. i'm glad you're there with gmommy but sad bc i'm here in austin with chris and clem. be here til friday but won't get my feelers hurt if i don't see ya. i'll just pretend i did.
lllllllj
i'm sorry to miss you, too. i'll be there next friday. for reen's chemo. say hi to chris and clementine for me. and make sure clem see's the picture of the dog cleaning up his mess - maybe y'all can teach her to do that. hahahahaha.
i thought of you when they played "hey good lookin'" at VT.
ld
I want an undo button for my life. And zoom. And maybe blur. Or at least soft focus.
Sorry to hear about your mom, but glad you were there to cherish the moment.
I wish my dogs (and llamas and chickens) did that.
annie, i thought of your "how?" post from a few days ago when i saw that cartoon about undo and zoom buttons.
wouldn't it be nice...
sometimes i think we have blogs instead, so we can laugh at ourselves.
Hope things turn out okay with your neck. I was in a car accident in 2003 and had surgery on C 5 & 6 discs. They were replaced with titanium steel discs. If it comes to surgery, Rick, make them use the flexible new stuff they have out now. :)
Sorry to hear about your mom's progression. Hang onto those wonderful memories.
every day includes a wonderful memory. and for that i'm so grateful, joanne.
today i was having a little trouble getting my over-shirt up over my shoulders and mom asked if she could help. then she kept pulling down on my tee-shirt that was already on under the brace. her *help* was a little discomforting, but funny as all getout. in the end, we both had a good laugh.
- "no mom, the blue one. pull on the blue one, the one with the collar..."
and she kept pulling on the gray undershirt.
i swear it was funny at the time. maybe you had to be there. (it still makes me smile to think about it, though.)
as for surgery?... i'm in wait and see mode right now. if that's the final verdict, i'm inclined to say, "no thanks."
Do you think yelling undo! Undo! or back, back! would have helped? ;)
I'm going to show my language geekness here. In language learning, there is a term called circumlocution. It just means if you don't know the word you are trying to say, you say something else with words you do know to convey the same meaning.
I have found myself doing it a lot dealing with Mom, and you did it too. "The blue one, the blue one" obviously wasn't getting through, so you switched to "the one with the collar". Good job, Rick. If you were being tested for language fluency, you would have scored higher for that ability.
I am such a geek.
Rick,
I hope that your neck gets better. I'm so sorry to hear about your Mom. I think that my Momma is getting worse also. So Friday's is happy hour for the resident's? When Mom was in the NH there was so days that they done things with them. We live in a small community and there is a business owner that takes the residents' of the home to a steak house for dinner every 2 weeks. This is something that the resident's look forward to. Mom is not longer in the home. We have skilled nurses that come into the home to help us with her during the day. We are fortune the we can take care of her at this point. Take care of yourself and your neck. Have a good week...
Rick,
I wish that I could get my dogs to do that....LOL!!!!!
annie, you are such a geek. :)
rainbowheart, i love the idea of the person who takes them all out for dinner. that's so awesome. does he/she have a parent there or is it just some angel?
i tried teaching a cat to do what that dog is doing and he laughed at me. said, "i could...but WHY?!?! why would i? dogs are just so Stoopid."
damn arrogant cat.
Hey Rick, my brother had neck surgery and he said it was the best thing he ever did. Considering he was the one who picked me out at the orphanage when I was born, I had to argue that point. But I digress....
I can't help but wonder if the dog in the photo is cleaning up after himself or helping out a friend.
Twisted humor = my survival
So glad that I found your blog, Rick!
I too hope that things improve with your neck - And soon!
You've sure got a great attitude with your Mom and this ugly disease. You're doing the right thing as you forge ahead and enjoy every moment. Be happy that you still have her to MAKE those memories with. ((hugs))
Of course the cats know how to do that, Rick. But they wouldn't dare work up a sweat when they have us humans around as servants. I sure wish I could teach my dog, though. Now that the snow is melting, the yard is full of practice piles from her.
Take care of that neck.
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