Dotty at the Banana Boat -- Last Week
Dotty says,
Well here I am again on this so called blog. Trying to earn a potato chip or an egg. I'm hungry, I'm starving.
What the hell is a blog anyway? Can you eat it?
Bobby told me, blog leads to food. What the hell does that mean? There he goes again talking in code.
Bobby says,
Simple, if Dotty does a good job on the blog she gets one of her favorite foods.
Dotty says,
If that is the case I should be devouring a cheese steak soon.
Dotty says,
I am bored. I am thinking about going back to work. That would be better than sitting on my butt all day. Bobby says I can't write ass on the blog. Kiss my ass Bobby this is my article, you are just along for the ride.
Bobby says,
Yes Dotty wants to get a job. She has been telling me this for over a week. Five years ago when she said this, I asked her how long it had been since she last worked? When I told her almost ten years, she told me I was full of it (she didn't use the word it).
This time I laughed and asked her how she was going to get a job. She told me she would call the guy she always worked for and he would hire her in a minute. I laughed. I asked her, what guy? She said, you know that guy. Dotty also talks in code.
Let's put it this way -- that guy is no longer with us. Don't worry I didn't tell Dotty this time, but I did five years ago. That was before I discovered Alzheimer's World and learned that less is often more. Less words, less negative, less useless information -- less stress.
Dotty has outlived a lot of people in her long life.
Here is the best part. I actually find myself thinking, I wonder if I could get Dotty a job stuffing envelops? I wonder if she could do it for like say an hour or two? I wonder. I guess you could say, I still believe in Dotty.
While I am thinking about it, Dotty's cousin Anna will be turning 100 in October. I told Dotty this and she informed me she is going to live to be 104 years old. If so, I'll probably look 104.
All of a sudden Dotty has a lot of energy in the last week. This is a good thing, and its a bad thing.
She is talking more. Yesterday, she was all fascinated by an article on the front page of the newspaper about the reemergence of black bears in south Florida. This got her yaking away. She caught me off guard so I missed a good opportunity for a podcast. That is the good part.
On the other hand while I am taking a shower, Dotty was up to no good. Later that day I am looking all over the place for my mail. I look everywhere and I can't find it. I try and think, where did I put my mail? Finally, I think UH OH. I look in the trash and sure enough there it is.
Dotty is now moving things all over the place. It really is amazing. Dotty really can't walk without holding on to something. However, there are exceptions to the rule.
Yesterday she is carrying this big vase filled with flowers. Here she comes. She wants to put the flowers up with the nicknack's. She can't quite figure out how to do it because it is too big. She is stymied.
But that is not the point. She walked all the way from the kitchen to the living room, holding on to the vase, and stood there looking for a place to put the flowers. She wasn't holding on to anything.
Am I a going to be able to get Dotty back on the treadmill? I don't know.
Here is what I do know. You gotta challenge them in a positive way to do things. Because they can do more than you think they can.
I'll close by relating this. Dotty and I went out the last two Friday nights in a row. We also went out to dinner on a Tuesday night (with friends) and on Sunday night.
Is this why Dotty has so much energy? Is this why she is doing more at home? Is the socialization bringing her back?
This is what I think. We are back to living our life that way we always had.
I'll keep you posted.
Dotty fooling around with me. Nice hat?
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Original content Dorothy and Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room
