The Nursing Home Drama Continues

02-19-2012 at 12:15 PM 

My visit to my grandmother yesterday was one I will never forget. I felt like I was watching an episode of the twilight zone. As my youngest son and I sat with my grandmother, legs crossed as if she were a teenager and making good conversation I asked how she was doing.

She said, I am waiting for someone to pick me up."
"Where are you going?", I asked.
"I dont know", she responded.

A few minutes later another resident who lived on the wing entered her room and addressed my grandmother.

She said, "I'm going home. Are you going home?"
My grandmother said, "No, I am home. This is where I live."
Then the lady turned to me and said, "are you going somewhere?" as if she wanted an escape.
After receiving an answer that didn't accommodate her she left us alone.
And, of course she wouldn't be my old Jewish grandmother if she didn't make a final remark about her uninvited visitor. "She's a noodge."

(A noodge is a person who persistently pesters, complains, or annoys.)

I was more than shocked to hear my grandmothers' response acknowledging that she is already home after hearing over and over again that she wants to go home herself. It was almost as if she was her old fit self when engaged in a conversation with a woman with dementia.

Our visit was a nice one that I will want to remember always. I got a glimpse of the younger and more sane grandmother that I grew up with. I don't think I have ever seen her cross her legs and if body language meant anything her legs were crossed in a way that indicated we were welcome in her space.