Dementia preview

A resident I will call Holly has been here for a few years. She is a nice woman and a former registered nurse. However, she has very little short-term memory.

Holly can remember things in her past and some things in her near past. But, five minutes after she meets someone, they are a stranger to her.

Holly tries really hard to interact socially with other residents. But is it is difficult. Some have severe mental health problems. Others have severe physical problems and can't or don't want to talk with her. Holly gets frustrated and as a former RN tries to help. She steps in and frequently oversteps her authority. Therefore, she is constantly reminded by staff, and sometimes by me, that she is not the nurse in charge ..

Today Holly was in a communicative mood. She wanted to get chummy with everybody. She was also watching everything that was going on.

Holly does unexpected things. She was eating a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar at lunchtime. All of a sudden she dunked it into her milk. I thought she was going to dunk it and then take a bite. But I think her brain moved on, and she forgot why the ice cream bar was in the milk. One of the aides went over and pulled the ice cream stick out so Holly would not choke on it. Then, Holly got upset. She did not finish the ice cream bar. Though she never said she didn't like it, I wonder if that is the reason why she dunked it in the milk.

Poor Holly always wants a napkin. But, she cannot have them because she will chew on them. She also tries to eat things that are not food. So, the aides have to watch her pretty carefully when she's in the dining room.

Holly was talking constantly and trying to interact with one female resident who was experiencing successive anxiety attacks. That poor, anxious woman held her breath until her face turned red. I think Holly trying to help her upset her more. Eventually, Holly was moved to another table.

It has to be confusing for Holly when she can't remember, and when her brain flits from one thing to another.

Watching Holly is a preview of what dementia is like. But I've known for a wow, that in between the mixed up moments, there are, all of a sudden, lucid ones..

But for Holly, who forgets almost everything, she seems to have no real concern later on. But she does cry out for her mother, dad, and her son. Holly knows she is not with them and even without much short-term memory, when she's alone, she says she misses them.