Holly was lost today

Holly has short-term memory loss. She said she had open heart surgery. I don't know if that caused it, or if there were other causes. But her memory is quite unreliable. Most of the time she's completely unable to pull up any short-term memories. She has no idea how old she is, and some days she has no idea where she is.

Yesterday Holly had some dental work. Part of her teeth problem was caused by her chewing on bedclothes when she is in bed resting. I think Holly is trying to soothe herself. Although, she says she chews on things to clean her teeth. She has loosened teeth on the left side of her mouth particularly from biting and chewing on cloth. She has made many trips to the dentist recently. Yesterday she realized her mouth was numb. But, did not remember she had been to the dentist, but she was quiet afterwards. Holly has to be prompted to do most things. She is 56 and still thinks she's in her 30s.

Holly sits at my table and tries to carry on conversation with the other residents and staff. But most of us are too busy eating. Holly avoids eating in order to talk. She seeks out socialization and appears to want validation from others. Unfortunately, it is hard for her to carry on a conversation. But she does know enough to seek to be social.

Today Holly was more confused than usual. Maybe it was yesterday's Novocain at the dentist. Holly has had similar symptoms before – general confusion – the day after going to the dentist. I guess last night they said she seemed high. Apparently Novocain does not mix well with her other meds.

This morning Holly was fretful. She did not know where she was. She asked aides and nurses repeatedly why she was here. She thought she was here for a meeting. Holly did not believe she lived here and wanted her family, and to find her car,  etc. etc. It it is strange when a resident is in a time warp and totally lost, without memory. Sometimes I wonder if it's some strange game that Holly starts so those around her, especially aides and nurses, have to continuously answer her. When she asks question after question, she is not being ignored. But today the aides and nurses wanted her to stop talking.

Holly was confrontational. She insisted she was an RN (which she was), and knew what she was doing. She was anxious about her purse and kept saying that she had to get going because she had things to do.

I wish I could say things became clearer for Holly. But that didn't happen.

The only good thing was that she was hungry enough to eat most of her lunch by herself. At least with this new table arrangement in the back dining room, she has more impetus to feed herself.,