it's not that today was horrible
but there's just some days when you ... I don't know, dudes, I don't know.
So I was attempting to explain to
ymfaery about one of our residents and why she is on a pureed diet and also why we are feeding her.
meg: the lady I was trying to convince to eat does the same thing with normal food [pocketing it in her cheeks instead of swallowing it]
meg: and she's not a huge fan of the whole puree and mechanical soft foods
meg: plus she's at what you might call the headtilt stage of eating
meg: sees the food, sees the utensils,sometimes even picks up the utensils, but has to be coaxed through actually putting it in her mouth
ymfaery: is it kind of like she forgets to eat it, or just likes to look rather than eat?
meg: well more like
meg: when you think about it eating is a really complicated process, even when someone makes the meal and brings it to you
meg: you have to pick up the utensil
meg: you have to get the food on the utensil
meg: you have to lift it to your mouth
meg: you have to put it in your mouth
meg: you have to bite down on the food
meg: you have to remove the untensil
meg: you have to put the utensil down
meg: and then you have to chew the food
meg: then you have to swallow the food
meg: (which is another entire can of worms with automatic reflexes that don't work as well as they once did.)
ymfaery: ...you outlining the steps to eating kind of gave me a flashback to my programming class. XD
meg: and then you have to do it what, at least twenty times
meg: hahaha
ymfaery: and that's not including cutting the food before picking it up and all that.
meg: so with dementia patients, especially alzheimers, after a while this process gets really confusing
ymfaery: so she kind of gets confused and doesn't know what to do next?
meg: well we cut the food into bite sized pieces because for fairly obvious reasons, they don't get knives
meg: yep
ymfaery: ah
meg: they see the food
meg: they may want the food
meg: but they don't always have the ability to get from point A to point G or whatever
ymfaery: do the sometimes need practical instruction, then? Or do you have to resort to feeding them sometimes?
meg: yep
meg: we usually feed this resident BUT
meg: when you put a spoon in her mouth she instinctively pushes it out with her tongue
meg: and she gets more confused if theres a lot of noise
meg: so you sit there with her and have to coax her to open her mouth
ymfaery: Just spoons, or any utensil?
meg: well any utensil
meg: plus she is getting to where she can't make sense of shapes sometimes so she pulls away and studies it for a minute, baffled
ymfaery: and if she doesn't like pureed stuff, there goes any idea with straws and shakes.
meg: actually she's pretty good with straws
meg: ... see
meg: sucking is an earlier and more basic behavior
meg: and with ALZ the rule is the last thing learned is the first thing forgotten
And you know, I am reasonably fond of my job, but all day! every day! *rubs face* Daily life, so daily. Plus it's really hard to be gentle and patient all the time and yet obviously it's not their fault and they can't help it. Ugh. I guess if it was something that you knew was going to get better it might be more endurable.
In other, less soul-sucking news I think I am going to do the K/S Valentine thing. One debates mentally
So I was attempting to explain to
ymfaery about one of our residents and why she is on a pureed diet and also why we are feeding her.
meg: the lady I was trying to convince to eat does the same thing with normal food [pocketing it in her cheeks instead of swallowing it]
meg: and she's not a huge fan of the whole puree and mechanical soft foods
meg: plus she's at what you might call the headtilt stage of eating
meg: sees the food, sees the utensils,sometimes even picks up the utensils, but has to be coaxed through actually putting it in her mouth
ymfaery: is it kind of like she forgets to eat it, or just likes to look rather than eat?
meg: well more like
meg: when you think about it eating is a really complicated process, even when someone makes the meal and brings it to you
meg: you have to pick up the utensil
meg: you have to get the food on the utensil
meg: you have to lift it to your mouth
meg: you have to put it in your mouth
meg: you have to bite down on the food
meg: you have to remove the untensil
meg: you have to put the utensil down
meg: and then you have to chew the food
meg: then you have to swallow the food
meg: (which is another entire can of worms with automatic reflexes that don't work as well as they once did.)
ymfaery: ...you outlining the steps to eating kind of gave me a flashback to my programming class. XD
meg: and then you have to do it what, at least twenty times
meg: hahaha
ymfaery: and that's not including cutting the food before picking it up and all that.
meg: so with dementia patients, especially alzheimers, after a while this process gets really confusing
ymfaery: so she kind of gets confused and doesn't know what to do next?
meg: well we cut the food into bite sized pieces because for fairly obvious reasons, they don't get knives
meg: yep
ymfaery: ah
meg: they see the food
meg: they may want the food
meg: but they don't always have the ability to get from point A to point G or whatever
ymfaery: do the sometimes need practical instruction, then? Or do you have to resort to feeding them sometimes?
meg: yep
meg: we usually feed this resident BUT
meg: when you put a spoon in her mouth she instinctively pushes it out with her tongue
meg: and she gets more confused if theres a lot of noise
meg: so you sit there with her and have to coax her to open her mouth
ymfaery: Just spoons, or any utensil?
meg: well any utensil
meg: plus she is getting to where she can't make sense of shapes sometimes so she pulls away and studies it for a minute, baffled
ymfaery: and if she doesn't like pureed stuff, there goes any idea with straws and shakes.
meg: actually she's pretty good with straws
meg: ... see
meg: sucking is an earlier and more basic behavior
meg: and with ALZ the rule is the last thing learned is the first thing forgotten
And you know, I am reasonably fond of my job, but all day! every day! *rubs face* Daily life, so daily. Plus it's really hard to be gentle and patient all the time and yet obviously it's not their fault and they can't help it. Ugh. I guess if it was something that you knew was going to get better it might be more endurable.
In other, less soul-sucking news I think I am going to do the K/S Valentine thing. One debates mentally