Birthday Cards, Etc

Today (Saturday during Pesach) only Denny came for a visit. Margie was with Fay yesterday when she brought Wendy and Simon for a visit.

Fay was all dressed up in a velvet skirt. I'm not sure if it was because of Shabbat or the staff just find the skirt easy to put on. Anyway, another visitor or volunteer said that he saw Fay at services this morning. That's a fine activity for a rainy Saturday morning.

I signed Fay up for a special Medicare program that provides an LPN and drug coverage (like Plan D) for nursing home residents. The LPN had given Fay an examination earlier in the week and gave me a report on what she observed, some things she was going to adjust, etc. I mentioned the visit to Fay and she said she was looking forward to meeting this lady. (Events an hour or two in the past or often lost to her now, much less something that happened three days ago.)

I also found birthday cards from my good friend Mike Goldfinger (see post below about A Friend in Need) and Fay's sisters-in-law Lydia and Rosie. Fay wants me to tell everyone how happy she is to get the cards.

Visit from the Grinbergs

Here are a few pictures from Wendy, Misha and Simon's visit over Passover. They were excited to wish Fay a happy 89th birthday. The great grandson and his great grandmother thought one another were, well, great!





Simon wasn't too interested in the birds or the fish, but he had lots of fun throwing the camera case and then picking it up.



He also appreciated the toddler-level microwave that reminded him of the play kitchen.


Everyone liked listening to stories.





Grandma Fay especially liked Simon's shoes.


A favorite comment overheard in the sun room--
Clue for "giant" crossword: I think, therefore...
Best guess: I think they're five!

Well, we think you're swell, Grandma!

Settling Into A Routine

Saturday afternoons are starting to take on a comfortable routine. After Denny has his workout and Margie does her morning activities, we go to the nursing home for a visit with Fay. By the time we get the home it's about 1:30, which is just in time to do a little schmoozing in the room before we go to the dining room for the start of the ice-cream lady's program. We discovered that she has sugar fee ice cream, which apparently was better for Fay than the two scoops of chocolate that sent her blood sugar through the roof last week.

We don't stay for the trivia contest and story telling. We go next door to the solarium and read stories. Fay gets a free copy of the Baltimore Jewish Times, so we read some of the more interesting features, like the resumption of a kosher food stand at Orioles' games. (A favorite of Evan, when he lived in Baltimore, were the gigantic knishes that they served.) Margie has become quite a manicurist. It's a nice touch to have someone fix your nails and Margie has gotten very good at this skill.

You can see Fay displaying her manicure above.

Another fun touch is that we have met a young Orthodox woman and her two little girls who walk to the home every week to visit the residents. Fay gets a kick out of chatting with this family (plus a young friend who usually comes too). An interesting note is that this woman's grandmother lived in St. Louis and owned the Evergreen Nursing Home, which I think is where my Aunt Beckie lived for a while. The other link to Aunt Beckie is that Fay's room mate's name is Rebecca Wolfe, which was this same Aunt Beckie's name. I've tried to explain this several times, but I don't think there is any comprehension.

An Up and Down Week

Last Saturday (March 21) was a rather worrisome start to the week. We found Fay lying in bed, rather disheveled, in a poor mood. We got an aid to get her dressed and into her wheelchair and took her to the sun room (see "Krabby's" post with a picture of the sun room). By the time we left Fay was in a pretty good mood.

On Monday, the LPN called me to say that Fay was being abusive to the staff and her room mate (a sweet 94 year old woman who is hard of hearing; it's hard to see how Rebecca could bother anyone, but that's another story). I went to the JCNH on Tuesday and Fay was indeed acting very strange, complaining loudly about people she was interacting with. The LPN had scheduled a psych evaluation for Friday to see if there was anything going on with the attitude shift.

By Friday, however, Fay was back to her old self. The psych eval was post-poned. When Margie and I visited on Saturday (March 28) we found Fay talking to Rebecca. We went to the ice cream social (note to self: a smaller portion will probable not send the blood sugar through the roof), looked at some photo albums and had a grand old time. Fay remembered lots of people in the pictures whom she hadn't seen in quite a while. "That's Margie's mother" was an unexpected comment when looking at Wendy's photo album.

We hope the early part of the week was just part of the transition process. Right now, Fay's OK.

A Friend In Need

With all of the information about Fay's move from St. Louis to Baltimore, I forgot one of the most important parts of the transition. When our very good friend Mike Goldfinger learned about our plans, he immediately asked what he could do to help. Mike didn't take no for an answer and volunteered to take off from work on arrival day and meet us at the airport.

What a wonderful site it was to see Mike waiting at the baggage claim for us to help get the stuff loaded in the wheelchair van and take Margie and her stuff to our house while Denny rode with Fay to her new home. On one hand it seemed so natural to have Mike part of this day. On the other hand it made us grateful to have such a committed friend to count on.

Visiting Grandma Fay

The blog's namesake. A friend embroidered this sign for Grandma years ago and it is now hanging above her bed.

We were fortunate enough to see Grandma twice on our trip over Evan's spring break. Alice showed Grandma one of her favorite books, "Four Little Bunnies."

After some time in Grandma's room we went to the sun room, right down the hall, past a dining room where a volunteer was holding a trivia game (the host of the game later approached us, asking what kinds of activities Mrs. Rosen might enjoy). The sun room is bright and warm with a sweet birdcage. Alice had fun running around. Sarah had fun, but maybe slightly less fun than Alice, chasing her all around.

A major highlight for Alice: two volunteers in the dining room gave Alice some cookies.

What a great visit we had. Lots of smiles all around. Grandma really seemed comfortable and well cared for in her new digs.

First Visitors

The week after we moved Fay into her new home in Baltimore, grandson Evan, granddaughter Sarah, and great granddaughter Alice came for a visit. It was Professor Rapport's spring break, so the family came south from New York City to spend some times with Margie and Denny and to see Fay in her new home.

Evan and Sarah report that Fay is doing well and seems to like her new home. There are sure to be some rough days - Fay's health and mental state are rather fragile - but we'll take all the good days we can.