A Shave and a Haircut...

A Shave and a Hair Cut…

Twice a week the hospice nurse’s aide will show up to help Red and Chris shower and take care of any other hygiene needs they may have (shaving, foot and leg massage, nails polished, etc). Chris get her treatments on Mondays and Thursdays and Red gets his on Tuesday and Fridays.

Last week, on Friday, Red got up and automatically went in and shaved and showered, forgetting that someone was coming over to help him. When the nurse’s aide arrived she was surprised to see a clean and dressed client sitting in his chair watching tv. Now, when she leaves after taking care of Chris, she will look over at Red and remind him to wait for her instead of heading to the shower on his own. Today, his day to shower, he is sitting there in his night shirt, knowing that he will have to wait until 8:30am before he can get dressed (after his shower and shave). He doesn't like waiting!

Last Friday I pulled out the hair clippers and set up a chair in Red’s living room. I asked the nurse’s aide if she would cut his hair. She said, “No.” Apparently they don’t do hair. I was surprised but understood why. On Monday I went ahead and gave Red a haircut. He enjoyed the attention, the sitting outside in the fresh air, the removal of those long hairs on the back of his neck and eye brows and especially the brushing off when my work was done (or should I say sweeping off?)

Chris is waking up each morning now calling for help getting dressed. Her energy level is low in the mornings but as the day goes on, she bounces back to her usual self. Yesterday I was glad to see her on her exercise bike (she used to do this at least twice a day).

We set up an intercom system with a unit in our living room, one in our bedroom, one between their chairs in their living room and one mounted on the wall between their beds. The one in their bedroom is VOX activated. They don’t have to push any buttons. All they need to do is call out (loud enough for the system to pick up their call) and their voice gets broadcasted to all of the other units. Red is technical minded so he gets the concept of how the system works. If they are in their living room, and want to call me, he knows to push the button, wait for the beep, say what he has to say and then release the button so I can reply. Chris on the other hand, gets a little confused. She will push the button, hold it down and call out, over and over again. I can hear Red (in the back ground) trying to get her to release the button so I can reply. At least she got the “hold-the-button” concept. Having the hands-free set up in their bedroom (VOX) makes it a no-brainer, if we are needed in the middle of the night.

One might ask, "Why not set up their living room unit on VOX (hands free) as well? The answer is ... That's not going to happen. They listen to their tv loud enough as it is. I can clearly hear their tv from my living room. A lot of tmes I have to close the doors between our part of the house and theirs, to muffle the sound. Some times I just ask them to turn their tv down and other times, if they are both sleeping while watching tv, I will just lower their volume myself. If we set their living room unit to VOX, the loud volumed program they are watching would be picked up by the intercom, broadcasting their tv show throughout the house.