Project Trend

My projects always start out well intentioned and end... Well, they never end. I never seem to actually complete a project. I know I'm not the one person like this, so what is it that makes us unable to finish anything?

I could spend a long time writing about how I don't finish projects, or I could go attempt to finish one of the ones I have already started. Until later...

School's Out for Summer!

The last official day of school was Tuesday, and I'm now spending a few days in my classroom packing away things for the summer and purging unnecessary papers. It's amazing how great it is to work in my classroom when no students are there! :) Don't get me wrong; I love teaching, but it is also really nice to have the uninterrupted time to get organized and think about what I will do differently next year.

In other news, Gram has been moved back to the nursing home from the hospital, where she spent about a week. She is very weak, doesn't eat enough, and continues to get more and more "loopy." Alzheimer's Disease is NOT a pleasant thing to watch. As Dad puts it, Gram is "circling the drain." He doesn't say that in a nasty or disrespectful way, but just as a way of describing the sad reality.

My love is almost fully recovered from his open-heart surgery. I would say he is 95% of his baseline.

What a time we have had the past six months! I have added two very gray hairs to my head, which I display proudly in the front by my forehead. Both appeared the week of Jeff's surgery. I also have two very distinct "creases" in my fingernails, which I have read can be formed during stressful times. I would like to look into how fast fingernails grow, so I could approximate the time of their formation. I could easily guess the dates, though. The whole pre-surgery, month and a half waiting period, time spent in the hospital, and post-surgery recovery point seems so surreal to me now. It was pretty shocking to me how difficult it was for ME, and I wasn't even the patient! There was so much worrying, while trying to appear calm and positive to him. On the plus side, hospitals, doctors, and nurses do not bother me in the least. I spent so much time as a child and young adult going to the hospital with my dad to make rounds and working in medical offices that I feel very comfortable. For that, I am thankful. I know some people dread even walking into a hospital, so I imagine time spent there with a loved one would be even more difficult than it was for me.

I love summer vacation, and there is so much I want to do this summer. I feel like I'm going to have to make a master plan to get everything accomplished, or even HALF of everything accomplished! A few things on the agenda are:

• Continue scanning Gram's family photos and publish on Shutterfly.com for the rest of the family
• Scan my own family photos from dad's house, since they are currently being kept in a cardboard box in his basement
• Create a website for the Springer house and tile factory history and photographs
• Refinish china cabinet from Sade and cabinet I found in the barn years ago
• Create a website for my French classes that is a thousand times better than the terrible one I have now provided by the school
• Do lots of planning for the upcoming school year
• Visit my brother in Columbus
• Visit family in South Dakota
• Knit
• Quilt
• Scrapbook
• Work in my flower beds
• Organize this crazy house
• ...

I had better stop my list, because I'm getting a little anxious and stressed just thinking about it! It's probably time for an early morning nap! :)

The "Dormitory"

As I sit in Gram's room at the "dormitory," I listen to Miss Shirley next door say the words, "Help me" over and over again. It isn't dire. It never is. She can say that a thousand times a night. I think maybe she is just lonely. Of course, the first time I heard her, I panicked! The nurse's aide with me assured me, "That's just Shirley. Just ignore her." That sounds fine, sort of, in theory, but what happens when she really DOES need help? "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" story comes to mind, but it isn't the same. That boy was capable of making choices and needed to be taught a lesson about only calling for help when it really needed. But, dementia patients really can't be held accountable...

This time, I checked on Shirley to be sure she was, indeed, okay. She told me she needed help. Uh huh. Got it. I asked her what I could do for her. She said, "I need help." Okay, I'll word it differently. "What kind of help do you need?" "I need help not to fall." She says this as she is sitting in her recliner, quite comfortable. I dug deeper. As it turns out, she wanted out of her recliner and into her wheelchair. She also needed her shoe put back on. I adjusted her wheelchair for her, and it became very apparent that I would never be able to do this myself. In addition, was I even allowed? What are the laws about this? If I help her and something happens, am I liable? Can someone sue me for trying to help an elderly dementia patient? It's so sad that these are the kinds of things one must think about... I let someone who works here know, and retreated back into Gram's room, a bit disappointed that I couldn't do more. As Shirley waited for help to arrive, she continued. "Help me. Help me. I need help. Somebody help me, please. Please help me." It goes against every instinct to sit idly by while someone calls for help! Then, she got more specific. "I need a man to help me. I need a man to help me. Or a boy. I need a boy to help me. But not a small boy. I need a big boy. I need a big boy to help me." Miss Shirley is a bit bigger, herself, and knows a small boy will not be able to help her make the transfer to her wheelchair. As the director explained to me earlier, "Shirley is a 'two-person lift.'" In the midst of the angst, I had to laugh a little at poor Shirley requesting help from a man or a big boy...

The morale of THIS tale? Miss Shirley got help into her chair, into the bathroom, got her eye drops, etc. She hasn't made a peep since...