I started watching Dad on the daddycams over at his place. Tuesday morning I see this person (looks like Dad? walks like Dad? but the clothes are not ones I recognize) going down the long hall with his physical therapist in front and the daughter of the man who lives in his room behind him with a chair (in case he suddenly collapses.) That's a good 30 feet! The hair is pretty unmistakable, but he's always got his face down. And the daughter is throwing me off a little bit (maybe it's her dad, but isn't her dad shorter than my dad? I've only caught a quick glimpse of him through the outside window to his room. These old skinny guys all look alike from any distance.) But I guess they've got a system down where she helps out in a pinch. And it IS my dad's usual therapy time. Finally I see that once he sits, they wheel him back to his room to start over and he did it again! They wouldn't have wheeled her dad to my dad's room, so I'm going to count it as a huge step for my dad and be done with it. That nose is pretty unmistakable, too.
Then they wheel him into the kitchen for standing practice against the sink. Poo! The camera is angled at the back of his head! So I watch him with the to ladies' help stand and sit holding onto the sink for some minutes. Then he goes to his room for a big nap until later. Well what do you know!
OK, I have some theories on why he rallied so well.
(1) He finally started sleeping at night. You know, if you're up all night and asleep all day, it's easy to say "I can't, I just can't" every time the physical therapist shows up. In fact it might be impossible to say anything else. She's there during the day only.
(2) He kicked the UTI. Of course, to make this happen you have to take the antibiotics and drink some fluids. Yes and yes to that.
(3) Vanity. I know this might be a surprise to many, but my dad is HIGH on the vanity scale. One reason he got so skinny was good old fashion vanity. He wanted to look good when he was dating the people he met online. (My pointing out back in the 1999 that the scarecrow look wasn't terribly fashionable that year had no effect at all. He got down to 130 before his abdominal surgery.) So on Sunday morning, I'm taking this movie of him, and it dawns on him as I'm rattling off names, "These people are going to see me on this video in a wheelchair." The daughter seeing him that way? Who gives a flying fart. But his brothers and his grandson?? I believe it went straight to his ego. And if that's what it took to get him out of the bed and onto his feet.....works for me.
(4) Now I didn't see this coming but it might have been the biggest motivation: There's a new blue hair in his midst. And she's more like a mauve or a periwinkle based on the camera. She power walks with her walker around the house for an hour (frequently sticking her head in Dad's room!!) I don't know if she's a new resident or just there for a Daughters Day Out as my mother would take when Granny needed to be watched for the day so she could have a day to herself. The rest of the Golden Girls crash on the couch or in their recliners all day watching movies (how many times can one watch "The King and I" before going insane? They had the song "Shall We Dance" on a loop the other day through lunch and after 45 minutes I was begging to have it changed to the football game!) So this little hottie actually has the energy to power walk, has the brain cells to know it's essential (unlike her counterparts or even 99% of my office mates, most of whom have a BMI in the overweight-obese range), and has enough interest in him to pop into his room as she makes her rounds through the halls. This is really life changing. Forget the camera. I know what motivates this dude!
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