Posted on 30 May 2005 @ 20:52 in Family
She fed herself this evening. Just a few spoonfuls, and often after much coaxing, but it’s a HUGE step for someone who was all stiff less than a month ago.
A week ago, she started curling her fingers around the handle of her yellow mug and lifting it to her mouth for little sips. Now, the mug’s never far from her on the dining table, she’s always drinking from it and then putting it back in exactly the same spot. This evening, she discovered it was empty and said as much. Independent observation not prompted by any question from us.
Yay!
*so happy*
She’s even walking and needing the wheelchair less and less.
She can even answer back in an intelligent, funny way. I was trying to coax one more spoonful into her mouth, and said, “You promised me you would have one more spoonful.”
Her reply?
“When did I promise you?”
*huge grin*
On Saturday, she’d read out father’s Chinese name when I showed it to her. It must’ve zapped whatever energy she had cuz she refused to read her children’s names after that. But when I showed her her own Chinese name, she looked at me as if to say “you mean you don’t know whose name this is?” I insisted she read it for me, and she did. Loud and clear.
*so so happy*
Yes, I’m quite sure her earlier Parkinson’s like stiffness was caused by a change in her medications. Now that she’s adjusting to the medications, she’s almost 100% her old self.
Unfortunately, there’s a downside to her recovery. The caregivers at the home had grown used to leaving her on her own, knowing she would not get up and walk about. Well, not anymore.
Yesterday afternoon, when the two caregivers on duty were busy, mother got up and made her way to the dining room. She didn’t make it there, cuz she fell.
She fell!
But the darn thing was no one called to let us know. It was only when I visited in the late afternoon that one of them told me.
Their excuse for not calling? Something about there being no blood.
You mean you have to see blood before you call us? I shot back.
Dang.
No blood, but there was a HUGE bump on the back of her head. Thanks to her dementia, she didn’t seem to remember falling or to feel any pain when I pressed lightly on the bump. It was only after dinner when we put her on one of the lazy chairs that she let out a little “ouch” when she leaned back on the headrest.
This evening, the bump had almost disappeared. I had wanted to take her to the clinic yesterday evening, but my sister, after consulting with her cook, said if mother did not faint or vomit, then it was okay.
I guess the cook was right.
The caregivers at GT Heritage will have to remember to restrain her whenever they’re busy and cannot watch over her. They have our permission to do so. Mother’s, too, since she doesn’t struggle when they wrap a long piece of cloth around her middle, tying it behind her back (so she can’t reach to untie the knot).
Amidst all these signs of recovery, I need to remind myself she will have good and bad days. Good days when she’s almost her old self, and bad days when she may slip into some stiffness (which I’d written about here) or in a world of her own.
But overall, I’m not complaining. In fact, I’m enjoying it. It’s like seeing a little child learning to walk, talk, feed herself and do all the things we take for granted.
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Posted on 26 May 2005 @ 12:06 in Ramblings
Yup, especially when in the hands of the wrong person!
Audrey from GT Heritage had called yesterday to say that she was a little worried about mother. Apparently, mother was showing the Parkinson’s like stiffness that we’d earlier managed to overcome with an adjustment in her medications.
I next called Dr R to let him know and he made a suggestion that I duly called to tell Audrey. I also asked her to keep monitoring mother, and that I might go over after work to see mother.
All well and good after those three phone calls. Or so I thought.
A while later, my handphone rang. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the caller ID.
GT Heritage.
Had something happened to mother since the earlier calls? I pressed the answer button.
Me: Hullo?
Unfamiliar voice: Apa? Siapa tu? (What? Who’s that?)
It was Grace, one of the residents who’d recently learned how to use the redial button on the cordless phone in the office. She’s forever using the phone to call her children.
*relieved*
I later called Audrey to tell her about the “surprise” call. She said they really have to put the phone somewhere higher where Grace cannot reach it.
A few Sundays back, while at GT Heritage, Betty’s handphone rang. She looked at the caller ID.
“GT Heritage? But I’m here.”
Yup, Grace again.
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Posted on 25 May 2005 @ 00:04 in Family, Memories
There’s an empty space in our driveway where a car used to be.
That car was my father’s Toyota Corolla. He used to let me park my Sunny Extra in the main space, which was straight in from the road. The Corolla had the space next to Sunny, which was a little difficult to drive into, as it meant driving it between the gate and the pillar.
Where we live in Bandar Utama, the houses have short driveways that would not accommodate two cars lengthwise. And while the houses are wider than the usual, standard-size houses, the gates are not. So, before we moved in, my father had the gate widened so that a second car could be driven in and parked next to the main space.
Shortly after father passed away, my sister asked me to take over the 5-year-old Corolla and sell the 13-year-old Sunny. I started driving the Corolla about three weeks ago, after I got my nephew to swap the two cars so that the Corolla now occupies the Sunny’s space and vice versa.
Well, no more.
I’ve sold the Sunny and its new owner came and fetched it earlier this evening.
How do I feel?
Sad.
It was the first car I owned. My brother helped with the downpayment, after which I made the monthly repayments out of my own salary.
Why the Nissan Sunny Extra?
I used to work for the Malaysian distributor of Nissan cars. So I knew all about the Sunny Extra’s legendary bumpers.
I got retrenched from the company in the mid 80s. But instead of simply settling for another job, I went overseas to fulfil a lifelong dream of studying both in England and the States. I was able to do that, thanks to my sister. But that’s another story, and yes, I am digressing.
When I came back after dropping out of grad school in the States, I got my driving licence and set about getting a car. The Sunny Extra came to mind, I called up the sales department, told them I used to work for the company, so could I have an extra discount “for old times’ sake”? And what do you know? I got that extra discount. Every little bit helped.
When I got the Sunny Extra, I told my father to let me drive the Langley. I was still a fairly new driver at the time, and did not want to dent or scratch a new car (but felt no qualms about doing likewise on the older Langley). I drove the Langley for about a year, before one fine day when my father literally ordered me to drive the Sunny from that day onwards as neighbours were wondering why he was driving my new car, etc. That was my father for you.
I’ve driven the Sunny for about a dozen years now. I’ve had my share of “accidents” with it. Not major ones involving another vehicle, but usually “solo” mishaps involving me, myself, I. The funniest one was the morning I turned a corner too close to the curb and hit it. I remember seeing a wheel cover fly across the front of the car and wondering which car it belonged to. It was only after I arrived at work and parked that I noticed a missing wheel cover and realised the earlier flying cover was mine. After work that evening, I went back to the same spot and found the cover lying on the side of the road. A little scratched, but I retrieved it, just in case it could be used again.
Yes, for old times’ sake, I did take some pictures of the Sunny in its “new” , and as it turned out temporary, space in the driveway. Here are two, showing the front and the “backside” :
I think the two pictures give a fairly good idea what a tight space it was, too.
Bye, dear old Sunny.
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Posted on 24 May 2005 @ 11:50 in Health, News
This is why I’ve yet to sign a donor card:
Transplant patients die from rodent virus
Dunno what I’ve exposed my body to all these years, and wouldn’t want to pass it on to anyone.
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Posted on 23 May 2005 @ 12:13 in Family, Gadgets
So the three of us (sister, brother and I), together with my nephew, spent part of yesterday going through the stuff in the house. I guess I suspected it all along (or maybe I didn’t want to admit it), but it was confirmed yesterday – I’m a hoarder, like my father!
We found stuff older than the 10 odd years that we’ve lived in this house. In fact, we found stuff older than me! There was a package dated 8-8-1958 (a few months before I was born), with Chinese characters, and another dated 9-7-1967, with similar Chinese characters, both of which I think contain Chinese herbs.
There was also a flat metal box containing various sizes of Chinese scales using katis and tahils that were “retired” when the Chinese medical industry in Malaysia went metric.
I wanted to keep all three items – he’d carried them from the shop to the previous house to this current house, so there must be some value to them, right? – but was voted out 2 against 1. But since the various bags of “rubbish” are still here waiting to be taken away, and I’m here, too, I’ve rescued all three of them from being thrown out (shh, don’t tell …). I don’t know about the two packages, but I do find the various scales interesting, and for that reason, want to keep them.
Here’s a picture of father using one of these Chinese scales:
There was something else I found during the clean-up yesterday:
Anyone seen it before? As soon as I laid eyes on it, I recognised it as a keychain from my childhood. However, when I read the inscription, I was surprised to learn after all these years that this keychain is also a pocket screwdriver that fits most screws. True enough, the four points jutting out of the otherwise round metal piece are four different sizes of screwdriver heads.
The inscription also notes that the name of the manufacturing company – The H.C. Cook Co., Ansonia, Conn.
Of course, I googled for it, but could not find anything about “Powerful Pete” , although there were some stuff about the company itself. (Does this mean this is the Internet pictorial debut of “Powerful Pete” ?)
The back of the keychain shows the outline of a four-leaf clover and the words, “Made in U.S.A.” :
What I find interesting about “Powerful Pete” is its space-saving (flat), dual-purpose (screwdriver and keychain), four-in-one design. No losing one or more of the screwdrivers in the set cuz they’re all connected to one another.
Most of all, the screwdriver’s flat and round “handle” promises to be kind to my arthritic fingers.
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