Fight night
You probably didn't know, but Thursday night we always have a fight. There are several reasons for it. One reason is that we're both tired. The staff does case conferences on Thursday, so her therapists always have lots of new ideas to try on Thursday. Today Linda tried walking sideways and backwards, for example. She said both were disappointing failures. I'm always coming back from Kirksville, so I am tired also.
Many of Linda's problems today revolved around speech. She said no one understands her when I am not around to interpret, and she can't always get what she needs. For example, her dinner came tonight without a drink and she couldn't ask for them to bring up a Mountain Dew from the fountain. She said her nurse was Asian (i.e. accent was also an issue) and it wasn't even worth the effort of trying. One of the other nurses grabbed a drink from our room. They should not have had to do that. Linda's meals are provided. I suppose I'll steal my drink tomorrow to create parity. The fountain is sort of on an honor system, but I have always honored it.
She also had a lot of labile crying today, i.e. crying at nothing. Unfortunately, her therapists and nurses generally misunderstood it, so she had to endure a lot of comforting that she didn't need. She cried at the same time she dropped her sandwich, so that must of been it. Then one of the other patients said something, so that must of been it (Linda says she didn't even hear what was said). Thank goodness one of the evening nurses, Denise, came in and fed Linda her dinner. I think they might still be in the meal room trying to comfort her otherwise.
It's too bad that a day of being comforted for feelings you don't have is really something that will make you cry.
And we always have to fight about when we are going home. Every time Linda has a release date, she decides that it will be her final going home date, and they choose the dates on Thursdays so it is relevant all over again every week. I want to wait and see how we feel when it gets closer. Her original date was Apr 15th, but she clearly isn't ready to go home even now. Then it was Apr 29, and now May 19. She insists that she will have the skills she needs in 4 weeks (although she insisted about the other dates too), and I always tell her that I'd like to wait and see how they are shaping up when we get there. The more skills she has before she leaves, the less care she's going to need later.
I don't know how she baits me into these dumb fights. It doesn't make sense worrying about it now anyway; there are plenty of things to work on and spend energy on. It's like fighting about whether you are going to have a fight in 4 weeks.
You probably didn't know, but Thursday night we always have a fight. There are several reasons for it. One reason is that we're both tired. The staff does case conferences on Thursday, so her therapists always have lots of new ideas to try on Thursday. Today Linda tried walking sideways and backwards, for example. She said both were disappointing failures. I'm always coming back from Kirksville, so I am tired also.
Many of Linda's problems today revolved around speech. She said no one understands her when I am not around to interpret, and she can't always get what she needs. For example, her dinner came tonight without a drink and she couldn't ask for them to bring up a Mountain Dew from the fountain. She said her nurse was Asian (i.e. accent was also an issue) and it wasn't even worth the effort of trying. One of the other nurses grabbed a drink from our room. They should not have had to do that. Linda's meals are provided. I suppose I'll steal my drink tomorrow to create parity. The fountain is sort of on an honor system, but I have always honored it.
She also had a lot of labile crying today, i.e. crying at nothing. Unfortunately, her therapists and nurses generally misunderstood it, so she had to endure a lot of comforting that she didn't need. She cried at the same time she dropped her sandwich, so that must of been it. Then one of the other patients said something, so that must of been it (Linda says she didn't even hear what was said). Thank goodness one of the evening nurses, Denise, came in and fed Linda her dinner. I think they might still be in the meal room trying to comfort her otherwise.
It's too bad that a day of being comforted for feelings you don't have is really something that will make you cry.
And we always have to fight about when we are going home. Every time Linda has a release date, she decides that it will be her final going home date, and they choose the dates on Thursdays so it is relevant all over again every week. I want to wait and see how we feel when it gets closer. Her original date was Apr 15th, but she clearly isn't ready to go home even now. Then it was Apr 29, and now May 19. She insists that she will have the skills she needs in 4 weeks (although she insisted about the other dates too), and I always tell her that I'd like to wait and see how they are shaping up when we get there. The more skills she has before she leaves, the less care she's going to need later.
I don't know how she baits me into these dumb fights. It doesn't make sense worrying about it now anyway; there are plenty of things to work on and spend energy on. It's like fighting about whether you are going to have a fight in 4 weeks.
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