The Latest on the Roommate Situation
Last night, Marilyn kept talking to imaginary people. At some point around midnight, she thought she saw smoke and decided that the building was on fire. She called the aide to have him put her in her wheelchair to take her outside. He said that it was after midnight and everyone was asleep. She said she needed to get out because of the fire, and he told her there was no fire. She said, don't you see the smoke? He said, "There's no smoke, and no fire."
I went to sleep soon after that, but at around 4:00am, she started in with the talking to her imaginary friends again (I may have slept through it until then). I got up earlier than usual, partially to get away from her and partially to complain about her. My aide told me to talk to Adrienne, the social services person, so I did, but she just asked me if there was another room I wanted to move to. I said I didn't want to move and she said she'd see what she could do.
Meanwhile, I was supposed to get picked up by Trimet (Portland's transit system) to be taken to their office to measure my wheelchair in anticipation of approval of my application to use the Trimet LIFT system (vans that pick up people in wheelchairs). Unfortunately, the lift on the bus they sent couldn't handle my wheelchair. For some reason, the handrails on the wheels (the rails I hold on to to turn the wheels) kept catching on something on the lift, preventing me from getting on. The driver said this was the first time this had happened in all of his years of driving Trimet buses. The thing is, okay, I have a wide wheelchair, but mine's only one size bigger than a normal wheelchair and there are plenty that are wider than mine. Plus, you would think that if they were picking me up to bring me in to measure my wheelchair that they would send a bus that could handle any size of wheelchair.
So I gave up on my Trimet appointment today (I'll call tomorrow and reschedule) and ended up playing cards with Carol and Stuart (I misspelled his name previously) for a few hours. At 3:30pm, there was a performance in the dining room of a singer/comedian. His guitar playing and the songs were okay, but the comedy part was terrible. He had a few good songs, like "Roll On Columbia" and "Crazy" and a silly song about duct tape. But for some reason, he played "Hound Dog" three times. Maybe that's his theme song.
Anyway, when I went back to my room, Marilyn's son and daughter-in-law were there (I mis-identified them previously as her daughter and son-in-law). I talked to the DiL and told her what had happened last night. She was surprised because she'd heard a little bit about it but not all the details. She also told me that Marilyn had fallen some time today. I assumed that she had fallen while trying to get out of bed alone, but one of the ambulance people said that someone told them that Marilyn had fallen when the PT (Kathie) had tried to get her into her wheelchair. I'm not sure if that's correct or not. Anyway, soon after that they decided to take her to the ER because her knee was hurting from the fall. So it looks like I'll have the room to myself tonight, and hopefully they'll keep her in the hospital until she's no longer delusional.
I went to sleep soon after that, but at around 4:00am, she started in with the talking to her imaginary friends again (I may have slept through it until then). I got up earlier than usual, partially to get away from her and partially to complain about her. My aide told me to talk to Adrienne, the social services person, so I did, but she just asked me if there was another room I wanted to move to. I said I didn't want to move and she said she'd see what she could do.
Meanwhile, I was supposed to get picked up by Trimet (Portland's transit system) to be taken to their office to measure my wheelchair in anticipation of approval of my application to use the Trimet LIFT system (vans that pick up people in wheelchairs). Unfortunately, the lift on the bus they sent couldn't handle my wheelchair. For some reason, the handrails on the wheels (the rails I hold on to to turn the wheels) kept catching on something on the lift, preventing me from getting on. The driver said this was the first time this had happened in all of his years of driving Trimet buses. The thing is, okay, I have a wide wheelchair, but mine's only one size bigger than a normal wheelchair and there are plenty that are wider than mine. Plus, you would think that if they were picking me up to bring me in to measure my wheelchair that they would send a bus that could handle any size of wheelchair.
So I gave up on my Trimet appointment today (I'll call tomorrow and reschedule) and ended up playing cards with Carol and Stuart (I misspelled his name previously) for a few hours. At 3:30pm, there was a performance in the dining room of a singer/comedian. His guitar playing and the songs were okay, but the comedy part was terrible. He had a few good songs, like "Roll On Columbia" and "Crazy" and a silly song about duct tape. But for some reason, he played "Hound Dog" three times. Maybe that's his theme song.
Anyway, when I went back to my room, Marilyn's son and daughter-in-law were there (I mis-identified them previously as her daughter and son-in-law). I talked to the DiL and told her what had happened last night. She was surprised because she'd heard a little bit about it but not all the details. She also told me that Marilyn had fallen some time today. I assumed that she had fallen while trying to get out of bed alone, but one of the ambulance people said that someone told them that Marilyn had fallen when the PT (Kathie) had tried to get her into her wheelchair. I'm not sure if that's correct or not. Anyway, soon after that they decided to take her to the ER because her knee was hurting from the fall. So it looks like I'll have the room to myself tonight, and hopefully they'll keep her in the hospital until she's no longer delusional.