Beth was really talking…

I've written here previously about a young female resident here who is very quiet. In fact, some days she is barely animated. I wonder if she suffers from aphasia. But, since no one may tell us a resident's diagnosis, I have no idea what her problem is. Some of it could be medication. Unfortunately, it could be due to the fact that she was not stimulated enough at a previous facility. That would be particularly heartbreaking to me.

I have been sitting close to her and I will call her by her name, Beth since March of this year. I have to say it's been hard watching her. In the beginning she had to be fed. She also has to drink many liquids to keep her kidneys functioning properly. It was difficult to watch the process. Then, a couple of months ago an aide encouraged her to eat her food herself. And for some reason, Beth decided to. She's been feeding herself ever since.

Some days it's more difficult for Beth to eat, particularly when she's tired. She also has intermittent episodes of rapid eye movement while her eyes are open. To me, this looks like a seizure. But, I have no idea what is going on when it happens.

Beth is a good eater and likes most foods, even though her foods are puréed to prevent her from choking.

Today was just another day, but Beth was a bit less animated. She had a messy sandwich to eat and her aide was assisting so the sandwich wouldn't end up everywhere. Beth was stalling at times and acting like she wasn't paying very much attention. But, when encouraged, she would go back to eating.

Ruby a resident (not her real name) is a former nurse and she is very concerned about everyone at our table. She sits directly across from Beth and is usually checking up on how she's doing. Ruby wants to help but really can't and the staff don't want her to. Nevertheless, she asks way too many questions and checks up on Beth even when she doesn't remember her name.

At lunch Ruby picked up Beth's tray card and was reading it. She read the name out loud and thought it was my name. I tilted my head towards Beth to let her know it was her name. Then, Ruby just kept saying Beth's name (first and last) over and over. It was starting to get a bit tedious and her aide asked her to please try to stop.

While that same aide was assisting Beth to drink her liquids, all of a sudden Beth said, "Ta da! I'm here. I was somewhere else, but now I'm here, back here". Then Beth repeated it over and over while smiling. Ruby with her reduced memory even noticed that Beth was making a big to do.

In the months I've been sitting at Beth's table, she is never smiled. We all smiled when we heard her her respond without anger, and because we thought she was trying to be funny or maybe just cantankerous.