In doing her laundry last night I wondered as I pulled out her pairs of underwear and big robe...do incontinent people get to put on underwear ? Will they try and retrain her to go little and big? (the social services liaison's answer today: That might come back once she gets used to us.)
When my kids were potty training they would regress if we were traveling, or they got sick . But then , they had lots of synapses firing; ready to re-learn or learn anew. Her synapses are done firing. What about a robe? Will she be wearing it again? Likely not if she's got people getting her dressed. This is some f-ed up line of pondering, for sure.
Last night the kids and I went for visiting hour on her last night at the local mental holding center. She had stuff in her teeth, recognized the children but scuffled around in small steps and five times got up from the industrial table (that serves as a craft and dinner table, as well as a hospitality table) and got up to check out those damn Easter egg cutouts. My daughters had been counting them ( then got scolded for hitting the wall because of the loud sound; never know what will activate the schizophrenics) Anyway, she just followed them with her finger. She also scuffled, which is apparently common among dementia patients. The scuffling was further complicated by what appeared to be a grownup diaper under her sweatsuit. She didn't know the girls' names, but here's the beauty: in the car I asked my daughters (I'd asked how the visit was for Alex already. His answer: 'Absolute Hell.') : "Well, what did you notice about grandma? Is she very different than the last time you saw her?"Yeah, she had a pony in her hair. She usually wears her hair long."
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