For the last month, from my last post to now, the days have mirrored each other for the most part. Some days have been a bit better and some a bit worse, but mainly they remained neutral. There was one horrible day a few of days ago that I will talk about.
The bad day stretched my patience thin and wore me out. I always start waking Margie up by opening the blinds and letting the sunlight shine on her and let her rouse a bit. Then after fifteen to twenty minutes I turn on some music she likes to finish waking her up and to put her in a good mood.
Those things did not work. After letting her listen to music for a while I tried to get her up but she fought against me and clung to the side of her bed and kicked at me so I could not move her into a sitting position. I stepped away and let her wake up a bit more. I waited about twenty minutes and tried again. The same thing happened.
On days like this one I would usually change her in bed and pivot her to her chair. But I could smell that there was a big of mess in her pull up, and it would have been too difficult to change her in bed that way without the mess getting all over everything. So I decided to lift her into a sitting position and pivot her into her wheel chair and then moved her into the bathroom so I could get her cleaned properly in there.
That did not work. For over two hours I struggled to get Margie up. She did not want to cooperate. She spit at me when I talk to her and asking her to stand, she bit me when I tried to get her up by hugging her and getting her on to her feet, she called me every name in the book, she hit me, and yelled and everything you could possibly think of.
To try and put her in better mood and to change what her brain was thinking I did different things. These are some of the things I did: hummed, played music, gave her food, took her out to the living room and walked up and down the space, opened the patio door to give her fresh air and let her watch the birds. I also clapped and danced and told her company was coming over and we had to get ready to go out. Company was coming over, her daughter, but we weren't going out. But even with all the things I tried she still would not get up and pivot for me.
I was getting wore out and my patience was just running thin and I was so frustrated I was crying because I did not know what to do. But I did not let Margie see any of those things. I stepped away a few times and take a deep breath and get some fresh air and gather myself and I would try again and fail again and then step away to cool down yet again.
Finally, Margie's daughter got there and she helped me. It was still difficult, but Margie's daughter held her up so I could get her bottoms down and onto the toilet. Then I stepped outside and sat down in my lawn chair and let her get Margie ready for the day so I could unwind. And then I went out with my mom for some time away.
After I got back from my break Margie was a-okay. She had a good time with her daughter and "the channel" in her brain changed. Even when Margie's daughter left she was in a good mood. We watched TV and talked and enjoyed the rest of the day. So it wasn't a bad day, just a very bad moment that seemed to drag on for so long.
~I have to ask.. when you are in a situation like this what do you do? Or what would you do? At moments like this I could use some help so if you have any ideas or pointers you could give me I would be very grateful. Thanks! -Danielle
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