The Blame Game…
This morning, while Red (Kerry’s dad) still slept, Kerry
served her mom (Chris) her breakfast. Once the call came that she was done and
she wanted her tray removed, I went into their living room to get the tray. I also
brought in Red’s breakfast tray so it would be there waiting for him once he
wakes up. So far so good. I headed back to my seat next to Kerry.
While sitting with Kerry in our own living room, I heard a
sound (not a normal sound) and immediately knew something was wrong. As I
headed into Kerry’s parents living room I called for Kerry to join me. She did.
As we arrived the first thing we saw was Chris in her porta potty, slumped to
one side. Don’t worry, she wasn’t passed out or anything like that. Apparently,
as she was sitting down to use her potty, she slipped and sort of fell into her
porta potty, landing in a somewhat awkward position.
Yesterday, we changed the room around a bit. She used to sit
on the left side with a table between her and Red’s recliner. On the right hand
side of Red’s recliner was another table (just to give him a place to put his
stuff since Chris took over the middle table with all of her stuff). The problem with this set up was that Chris
was sitting right in the line of the AC air flow and was constantly complaining
about the temp being either too cold or too warm. Her continual pestering to
her husband to turn on or off the AC unit was getting to him. She didn’t like
the temp in the room, no matter where it was set and he didn’t like being constantly
disturbed to try and satisfy her comfort needs. So, I came up with the idea of
flipping the seats around, putting her out of the airflow all together. We also
gave her the remote for the AC unit so she can now be the one to control the
temp in the room. So far so good.
Now, her issue is having her drinking water on the left side
of her instead of the right. My feeling is that she can and should adapt to the
change. After all, what is worse, having to use her other had to reach for
something or feeling too cold or warm all the time?
So, when she had her fall into the potty seat today the
first thing she did was complain about everything being on the wrong side and
that was why she slipped and fell. And if one didn’t know her, they would
easily see her point and assume it to be reasonable. Here are the facts; the
old way…her porta potty was right next to her chair with nothing behind it. She
has fallen into it before only to have it slide along the floor. Now, the porta
potty is up against a wall (it isn’t going anywhere and because of its position
today, her slip this morning resulted in her not being seriously injured).
Other than that, the main contributor to her slipping today was this; as she
went to sit on her porta potty, she didn’t
set the brakes on her walker. As she started sitting down her walker simply
rolled away from her leaving her with nothing to lean on – thus, she fell,
luckily into a porta potty that was positioned up against a wall. She did have
a little bleeder on her right leg causing blood to run down her leg pooling
onto the floor beneath her feet. She was complaining that her feet were
slipping (of course they were, she was spreading her blood all over the floor).
It seemed worse than it actually was…she is on asprin for blood thinning and so
when she gets a cut, regardless how small, she bleeds well. No matter how many
times I asked her to just sit there and not to move so we could dress her
wound, she continued to try and stand up. I positioned myself in front of her –
she wasn’t going anywhere until we were ready for her to move. Safety first!
Was her fall a result of the moved furniture? Was there a
reason other than her own misjudgment that caused her to slip? Does the
responsibility land upon the shoulders of anyone else? It’s the blame game.
Oh, one more thing. As I was finishing off this BLOG we
heard a loud call from the PA system from Red for help. My immediate thought
was, “Why do they both always have issues at the same time? Is it a conspiracy?”
All Red wanted to know is why he couldn’t find his shorts or shirt (which are
usually laid out for him). I reminded him that today was his shower day so
until then, he would have to wear his jammies. It took him a moment to process
the information…”What day is it” he asked. I told him and he smiled as he headed
out to have his breakfast.
6 days to go before our vacation . . . and counting
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