Innovations in Momcare

Dove bar dissection

My most recent innovation in Momcare was yesterday's Dove bar. I pulled the hard exterior chocolate off, chopped it up, and gave bits of it to her with spoonfuls of ice cream. She ate almost the whole thing, closing her eyes in quiet ecstasy with little each bite.

Today, after church, I went for two in a row. I got her a brownie with custard swirls in it, cut it up in small pieces and soaked it all in coffee. She liked that, too. You take your satisfaction where you find it.

When I arrived for church today she was unusually -- peppy is too strong a word -- alert, I guess. Jackie the aide said, "She's having a great day."

Of course that's a good thing, but it is accompanied by an unusual amount of energy poured into her difficult habits -- working her feet free, trying to stand, grabbing passing pews and handrails, and, except in church, talking out one anxiety after another: "Did you get the tickets?"; we have to greet the pastor (we had just done that); we should return to the Bistro "where the people were standing" (we'd just been there), "we don't have a spoon" (we did have a spoon), and so on.

But one moment made me feel of use. Pushing her in the chair she called back, "Jon, come with me, come with me!" not able to see me, not knowing I was pushing.

We had to return to her room at one point to get her attachable coffee-cup holder.

"Well, where is it?" she asks.

"It's in your room."

"Well, we're spending the whole while on one part of our problem."

It was a way to be with her.

*

She has a new wheelchair, as maybe the pictures show. It's got a high back with a pillow, so she can rest without folding in half, and a board between the foot rests, to keep her feet off the floor. She was determined today, and still reached the floor.

The new wheelchair.

One foot on the floor.