Mental game change

[[I did not get to post this yesterday because I was too tired last night to finish it.]]

Friday morning was not great. For some reason I was unable to pull the call light on when I was finished in the bathroom. I tried everything to move it. I wiggled so much that I knocked the shower chair pillow out from behind my back, which made me more comfortable. It made it easier for me to sit there and wait. They found me when they brought a tray to me. They said Melissa/speech therapist had looked in on me twice. I told them no one opened the bathroom door. I was upset about it.

I talked to a nurse, who disagreed with my story. I told her that I was left that long and there may have indeed been something the aides were doing. But I told her someone should have checked on me in an hour.

After breakfast I got washed up. The aide who normally does showers, is doing weights today, a priority. I was feeling unsettled because it seems the aides are having trouble getting used to my washup routine in the morning.

No one has said when I might be able to get a shower. I'm thinking Monday at the earliest, or maybe Tuesday. They don't take much time for primping I don't think. Some of these people probably don't care. They also do not look like people on Medicaid like the residents at Harding, and I don't feel as sorry for them.. Although, I am sure many of them are on Medicaid.

In the afternoon I met an amputee I will call "Sally" who is a real joy. She's in a power wheelchair and we talked in the front area for probably over an hour. She wants to write about a certain part of her life because her son wants her to. I was trying to encourage her. She's an artist and paints in her room just small acrylics because they dry fast. They said she has more stuff than I have – which is hard to believe.

It was nice to meet someone and I can talk to. Although "Sally" will be gallivanting around everywhere. So I probably will not get to talk to her very much. Maybe there's another little, quiet person who will want someone to talk to her.

But I need to get back to my computer. There are things I need to do. They seem reluctant to set me up at it after lunch, and I hope they will change their minds, after they get more familiar with me.

I get the sense that they do not want to feed me in my room. They said they do not have enough staff to do that. But, one of the aides told me that an aide on light duty could feed me but usually does not want to. She should be doing it because she can. I just wonder what she does do. She probably does one assist residents on this hall. But I don't see that many people getting up. The dining room is not large enough for more than 20 people to eat in. They do not eat in shifts. But all the feeds are supposed to go to the dining room.

Occupational therapy talked up getting tilt and recline on my chair quite a bit on Thursday and Friday. She thinks it would let me have a longer day. She might be right but it's not going to let me sit in my power chair and have my arm propped to use if I'm reclining.

I hope they are not going to want me out of here. I've already been told today that there is another woman here who is pickier than I am. I know I would like to meet her..