jmgoyder

wings and things

Jun 14

Still Anthony

by jmgoyder

A couple of years ago I read Lisa Genova’s novel, Still Alice and, over the last couple of days, Anthony and I watched the movie. For those who haven’t seen or read the story, Still Alice is about how a linguistics professor, Alice, is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 50 and how she and the family cope.

I suppose it was a strange choice of film to watch with a husband who has Parkinson’s disease dementia (and was probably a contributing factor in the grief I felt the other evening). But yesterday, as he and I watched the final scenes, he suddenly became quite engaged in Alice’s deterioration, and asked me what was wrong with her. I keep the dvd controller close so I can pause whatever we are watching whenever Anthony says anything.

Me: She has Alzheimer’s disease.
Anthony: It’s worse now, isn’t it.
Me: Yes.

I had paused the film at a particularly stark close-up of Alice’s confused expression (Julianne Moore is brilliant as the character Alice). Anthony and I both looked at her face for a few moments then I hit the play button again and we watched silently as the movie came to an end.

Unlike Alice, Anthony has not had to experience the creeping horror of knowing he has dementia. He still doesn’t know and I don’t tell him because I don’t want him to be afraid or embarrassed. So, when he asks where his mother is, or how she is (this is a frequent question) I just say that she is fine.

Anthony: Is she at home?
Me: Yes.
Anthony: Is Ming there too?
Me: Yes, and they’re both fine.
Anthony: So when are we going to Golden Valley?
Me: When the weather gets warmer, Ants. It’s too cold today.

Anthony’s mother died over 30 years ago and Golden Valley was his childhood home so the only ‘real’ aspect to these conversations is Ming.

I’ve recovered from my grief episode of the other evening and, since watching Still Alice, realise how lucky we are that Anthony has never had to go through that fear-of-dementia experience because it has just happened, insidiously, slowly, kindly even. He doesn’t know he has dementia; he still recognises all of us; there is still a lot of laughter and Anthony’s one-liners are hilarious.

Anthony: You need to brush your hair.
Me: I just did!
Anthony: Do it again, it’s not right.
Me: I’ll shave your head if you keep hassling me!
Anthony: Feisty!

Still Anthony.

IMG_4201

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Jun 12

Grief

by jmgoyder

Tonight I am in a state of such grief about Anthony that it is as if my eyes are inventing tears over and over again. I know he is cared for, and popular with staff, and I know he has gotten over his terrible fear of the hoist but of course I still worry.

Mostly I can manage the grief, but sometimes I just have to succumb to it by crying and crying and crying until I, once again, reach a point of acceptance, and the anticipation of tomorrow when I will see Anthony again.

Ming and I talked about it tonight – this grief thing – but we were unable to come to an agreement about how to cope. We both love Anthony so much; we both feel guilty to have placed him in the nursing home; but we are also happy that neither of us has the burden of care anymore.

We can just love Anthony now and that’s what I said to Ming tonight. But the grief is potent and present and debilitating.

I just hope that Anthony knows how much I love him, even when he forgets who I am.

Grief has gutted me lately, but it’s not going to win!

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Jun 7

Paperwork phobia

by jmgoyder

I have a bit of a paperwork phobia.

I don’t go to the post office anymore because it is too scary. Ming usually collects the mail on his way home and brings it to me in my writing room. I politely thank him or else say:

TAKE IT AWAY, TAKE IT AWAY, TAKE IT AWAY – JUST EAT IT!

I don’t quite know why I have this phobia because most of these letters are relatively harmless, even innocuous, and I pay most of the bills online because I don’t have an email phobia (luckily). It would be good to admit that my paperwork phobia was due to my objection to so many trees being cut down to create all of this mail but, even though I agree with myself here, it’s not that. It’s more to do with the envelopes and what might be inside them.

So the letter(s) sit on my desk briefly, threateningly, until I throw carefully place them, unopened, into the box of things-to-do.

Once the box is full, I take it to the nursing home and place it on Anthony’s bed. We hug and I explain it is a ‘paperwork day’ and that I need his moral support. It is only then that I have the courage to open all of the envelopes, file anything important and trash the rest. This usually takes about 10 minutes.

Okay so this is a bit tongue-in-cheek but also very true. I literally can’t seem to do the paperwork unless Anthony is by my side and, once it’s done, I am so happy that I get a bit frolicky and this gets a smile.

I also have a bit of a phone phobia ….

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May 29

Just being there

by jmgoyder

One of the things I’ve learned over the last year or so is that I don’t need to do anything, go somewhere, think of an activity, plan an event, force Anthony to converse, figure out how to get loved ones to visit him more, stress myself wretched with ideas of how to make his life better … I just have to be there.

So that is what I do now – an undoing really – a breath-saving realisation of how simple it is. I sit next to this beautiful husband of mine, with my hand on his shoulder, or stroking his head, watching television, talking about the past, sharing secrets, rejoicing in our son, Ming, smiling at each other, joking about silly things ….

We are so conditioned to do, do, do! It is such a great relief to simply be there, to embrace the long stretches of silence when Anthony is dozing, to quietly rejoice in the fact that our love has not been diminished by his disease, to just be.

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May 24

Making friends with dementia

by jmgoyder

It is inevitable: one of these days, I will rush into Anthony’s room, plonk a kiss on his lips, sit down next to him with a grin, put my arm around his shoulder, and he will not know who I am.

In my PhD research and subsequent book about dementia – eons ago – I talked about how, no matter how nonsensical or confusing the person with dementia’s stories were, it was still beneficial to have those conversations, to participate in what I called ‘storying’.

Fast forward to now and working in the dementia cottage has been an absolute gift. I have a job, albeit part-time, in which my role is that of “Lifestyle Assistant”.

Over the last several months, as both a volunteer and employee at the nursing home where Anthony resides, I have become more and more enriched by the relationships I’ve formed with the residents in the dementia cottage. Partly this is due to putting into practice much of what I learned and believed all those years ago when I simultaneously worked as a nurse in a nursing home and embarked on my thesis.

This job has taught me so much, not just about dementia itself and how it affects people differently, but about how vital friendship is to those who have dementia. Common sense really but it is often assumed that if the person with dementia doesn’t recognise you, you may as well not bother visiting, conversing, relating to them. But why? That person with dementia still needs your friendship even if she or he doesn’t know who you are anymore.

On entering the dementia cottage, I am mostly unrecognised as someone any of these ten women have met before (every yesterday has usually been forgotten), but I am still made to feel welcome, and warmly greeted by those who can still speak. The first thing I have begun to do, during my 3-7pm shift, is to greet each of the ten women individually, either with words, or a hug, or a joke, or the offer of a wheelchair walk.

I realised the other day that the reason I love the job so much is simply due to the fact that these women have become my friends, so much so that I have begun to miss seeing them on my days off. Since I only work six four-hour shifts per fortnight, that’s a lot of missing! I love these women (despite the fact that Anthony has often told me that I throw the word “love” around a bit too freely!)

The point is this: my ten friends with dementia may not know who I am, but I know who they are. I’ve read their histories, learned their personalities, and have now figured out which activities individual people most enjoy.

Dementia can be a cruel, debilitating disease which renders the victim helpless in so many ways. People with dementia need friendship but those of us without dementia should consider the possibility that we also need their friendship.

It is inevitable: one of these days, I will rush into Anthony’s room, plonk a kiss on his lips, sit down next to him with a grin, put my arm around his shoulder, and he will not know who I am.

But I will know who he is and, if he asks, I will simply say, “I’m your best friend.”

Family Friendship Grief Happiness Humour joy LOVE STORY Marriage My published writing Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease dementia

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May 22

A way with words

by jmgoyder

Despite the fact that Ming always loathed anything to do with literacy when he was at school, he has a wonderful way with words and, like Anthony, often comes up with the funniest phrasing.

The other morning I was about to go in to see Anthony and, wanting to add a bit of colour to the day, now that the weather is wintery, I’d dressed in an orange shirt and a multi-coloured jacket that had a bit of orange in it. As I was about to leave the house, I had this brief conversation with Ming:

Me: Do you think this shirt clashes with the jacket, Ming?

There was a long pause as he looked at me, his brow furrowing in exactly the same way Anthony’s is furrowed.

Ming: I have a bit of a problem with the jacket, Mum.

Me: What? But it’s my favourite jacket!

Ming: Well it makes you look a bit like a hippy.

Me: I’ll have you know it was a very expensive jacket and everyone else loves it!

Ming: They must have very poor taste then.

Me: Well thanks a lot, Ming, for the vote of confidence! I had wanted to be like a kind of rainbow today for Anthony’s sake.

Ming: Oh! Sorry, Mum. In that case your outfit makes perfect sense but it is TOXIC to the fashion industry, just so you know.

I couldn’t stop laughing on my way into the nursing home and wondered if Ants would have the same reaction. So, on entering his room, I asked him how I looked.

Anthony: Messy.

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Apr 23

‘The doll thing’

by jmgoyder

In yesterday’s post I rather clumsily referred to “doll therapy” as ‘the doll thing’ so here is a short explanation: it is simply the provision of life-like baby dolls for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Doll therapy, sometimes called “baby doll therapy”, has been used in the care of people with dementia for over 20 years but is still controversial. http://www.dementiacareaustralia.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=81 This morning I did some online research in the hope that I would find some life-like dolls that were less than hundreds of dollars each; alas, they are very expensive. In the dementia house where I work there are two baby dolls that are semi-life-like but, as there are more than two women who love these dolls, we need a few more. Pros and cons: In my opinion, the pros far outweigh the cons of this kind of therapy because I have seen how comforting it is for someone to have a doll in her arms that she sees as a very real baby. However, it can be quite confronting for relatives and even new care-givers to see this kind of simulation unfold and the most common complaint is that it is demeaning and undignified. Now that I have formed a very strong opinion on the pro side, I would ask the person who said the other day, “What’s with the doll?” in front of the woman holding her ‘baby’ in the wheelchair I was pushing, to justify this insensitive comment. But now I get it – I get how ‘the doll thing’ upsets people; it is a sight (mother and baby) that hits the core of the beginning of uncertainty. If Doll Therapy comforts your mother, grandmother, friend, then why do you criticise it? And if you do, at least have the decency to dignify your criticism with a more than once-a-month visit to her. The dolls are more reliable.

Parkinson's disease dementia

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Apr 9

So much for the autumn hiatus!

by jmgoyder

Well my autumn hiatus didn’t last long did it! Neither did my ambitiousness haha! I had another look at the full-time behaviour consultant job description and realised that although it seemed a perfect fit for me, there is no way I could do it and keep my job at the nursing home. More importantly, there is no way I could do it and spend enough time with Ants. I did email the association asking if it might be possible to job-share the position but I haven’t heard back yet. There was a public speaking/teaching component to the job but there were also a lot of administrative duties (of people and paperwork and policies) and the latter does not appeal to me in the least! I’m much better at being bossed than being a boss.

So that’s that for the time being – maybe down the track I will do something like that but in the meantime it’s back to writing, including blogging, for me. And I discovered a wonderful program yesterday that will convert your blog into a PDF document and it’s called blog2print. In just an hour or so and for less than $100 I was able to convert 2000 pages of blogging, from 2011 to now, into seven PDF documents inclusive of photos. For more money the program will also convert your blog into a hard cover book, or books, but I didn’t want that because I want to be able to edit and revise and rewrite all those blog entries into a book about our personal experience with Parkinson’s disease and dementia. I had already begun the tedious job of copy/pasting bits into a word document but it was taking forever partly because of having to read the blog backwards and getting confused with dates etc. It wasn’t until I googled “how to turn a blog into a book” that I discovered blog2print and other programs that will do what would take hours and hours manually in just a few clicks – extraordinary!

Anyway this discovery also reminded me of how much blogging has become a part of my life. Not only is the camaraderie between bloggers a fantastic source of joy, but if I hadn’t written all of those posts I never would have remembered the chain of events of the past few years. I guess what I’ll do now is to print it out in 50-page sections and do the hand-written editing in the nursing home with Ants, then come home and finish the job on the computer. That way I can add material retrospectively.

Also, in anticipation of a blog break, I suddenly felt quite bereft! It is such a great way of keeping a record of things that can easily be forgotten – especially conversations both with Anthony, the women in the dementia house, and with the Ming.

For example, he rather reluctantly came to find me at work the other day and I let him into the dementia house and introduced him to the ten women who he proceeded to charm easily, simply because he is a male, and young! Oh I am so relieved not to be going for that behaviour consultant job. I work this afternoon and I can’t wait! I have never felt like this about any other job and I am very much ‘at home’ in my OT role now. Even though none of the women remember me, I am greeted with welcome smiles and the oft-repeated “Oh you look so familiar. Have we met before?”

Anthony doesn’t remember who any of the staff are either and the other day introduced me to one of the carers by saying to her: “Have you met my wife?” She and I exchanged a grin and a ‘yes’; after all, we have known each other now for over three years.

Blogging helps me to remember and record these tidbit gems, these moments of pleasure and humour in amongst the pain of illness and age. And autumn is a good time to write and be because it is too rainy to go for a bike ride, Mr Tootlepedal!

It might also be a good time to convince Ming to get himself some new shoes. IMG_4473

blogging Embarrassing moments Family Friendship Grief Happiness Humour joy LOVE STORY Marriage My published writing Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease dementia Teenagers Western Australia

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Apr 7

Autumn

by jmgoyder

My clouds hug the sky

cockatoos caw out their joy

and the rain giggles.

Just a little haiku to celebrate our autumn. Every evening when I leave the nursing home, I drive past a spot on the edge of town where hundreds of white cockatoos fill the trees like giant snowflakes, and create a raucous cacophony. They are so loud, it can be alarming if you don’t know what the noise is but I love it! I am not quite sure why there are so many in that particular spot as there are none on the farm; there are plenty of other parrots here but not the white ones. Interesting. Well it is finally raining and the brown paddocks will soon be green again! The faltering wormwood will come back to life, the five acres of lawn will need mowing around the house and everything that looked dead will be reborn (okay, except for most of the roses!) IMG_4307 IMG_4505 The wormwood hedge stretches from where the house is right back to where Ming’s shed is. I remember the days when Anthony trimmed it, then the days when Arthur trimmed it, then the days when Ming said he would trim it, and the days when I thought about trimming it, but, alas, all of those days are gone. Autumn seems a good time to take another blog break so that I can concentrate on some other projects including applying for a job as a behaviour consultant with a local Alzheimer’s Disease organisation. It might happen and it might not but it would be a wonderful opportunity to share some of the lessons I have learned about dementia and communication over the years, including what is happening right now with Anthony and me. It is very hard to see someone who used to be the life of the party reclined crookedly in an armchair in a nursing home. It is also very hard for me to find the words to adequately express how much I love this man, my husband, Anthony, without resorting to cliches. Hence the concluding haiku:

My sky hugs your clouds.

The birds are oblivious.

You hold my small hand.

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Mar 31

Going, going … gone!

by jmgoyder

Here are some ‘before and after’ photos of the inside of the two sheds that Dina, her assistant and I cleared the other day:

Shed 1:

Untitled    Untitled 2

Untitled 3      Untitled 4

Shed 2:

Untitled Untitled 2

Untitled 3   Untitled 4

I asked the lovely woman who runs a local heritage park/museum to come out this morning to see if any of the bits and pieces were of interest. She arrived with the man who helps manage the park and they inspected the ‘goods’:

IMG_4454

After some mulling and very interesting chats about what some of the once-upon-a-time objects were, the heritage park people picked out a few items of interest for which they were willing to pay, then, with the Ming’s permission (of course!) took most of what you see in the photo away and gave us double the price we would have received from a salvage yard. Brilliant!

At the same time, Dina was here for her last big job with us which was to finish decluttering Ming’s shed/home. Unlike the other day, with the filthy-old-sheds-job, she didn’t have to wear her astronaut costume.

IMG_1451_2

At the conclusion of Dina’s work with Ming today, we chatted over coffee and were all a bit sad that this massive job had more or less come to an end. Now that she’s finished, I feel a bit lost in the ghostly space of things gone, not because I miss the things but because I am going to miss Dina’s regular visits and the euphoria of getting so much done!

One of the most interesting aspects of her service is her summaries and here is an example:

Goyder Services Summary Veranda & Kitchen PDF

I now have several of these summaries that span the two mornings per week, over two months, in which Dina has helped me to move forward. The ‘before and after’ photos in these summaries, and the summaries themselves, are a unique part of her service and a source of joy to me!

Going = rubbish tip (around ten ute/truck-loads now!);

Going = given/sold to interested people/family;

Gone = the feeling of being overwhelmed!

Thank you Dina – ps. Can you help me with the odds and ends left from our work so far?

Animal Australia blogging Embarrassing moments Friendship Grief Happiness Humour joy LOVE STORY Marriage My published writing Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease dementia Teenagers Western Australia Wings

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