Saturday, November 21, 2009
She lived...even with Alzheimer's.
The thing about the former Birchwood Health Care Center nurse's aide that has posted in this blog, is her dishonesty. Her sneakiness. She's been posting snide comments here for years. Anonymously. And she'd often imply that she knew me. That she was closer than I imagined. As if, beware. She'd take me to task. For taking my dear Alzheimer-afflicted Jeanne out in a wheelchair. During summertime rain and thunderstorms. Saying I was irresponsible. But hey, I knew what I was doing. Maybe I posed both Jeanne and me to some degree of risk. But turns out, I took Jeanne outdoors for virtually every day in the last 3 years of her life. And did no harm. Didn't matter whether it snowed or rained or was hotter than blazes. It was good for Jeanne. And I knew it. It stimulated Jeanne. Mentally. Physically. She even enjoyed the rain dripping down her nose. I could see it on her beautiful face. The smile. The pleasure. The joy. Even in the wintertime. Tucked inside a thermal sleeping bag. When she returned to the nursing home, she had a glow. A special exuberance. The exposure to fresh air. The motion of moving about in a wheelchair. It all added up. To much-needed stimulation. Jeanne lived for 13 years with Alzheimer's. Longer than many. Maybe because she got the stimulation. I knew Jeanne. Intimately. For 38 years we were married. Lovers. I loved Jeanne dearly. I lived and died for Jeanne. I was devoted. And we took risks. Together. Because Jeanne always wanted to live. And I saw to it that she lived...even with Alzheimer's. --Jim Broede
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Another thing we did. My granddaughter and I took Jeanne to Europe a year or two before she entered a nursing home with Alzheimer's. Again, a calculated risk. But we thought Jeanne had enough left of her mind, to still appreciate something of Europe. To make one last trip. Before her mind faded. Before she died. And I'm happy we did. Sure, there was an accident. Jeanne fell in the shower. Broke a wrist. That curbed some of her traveling. But still, she went down the Rhine River. Walked into cathedrals. Flew over an ocean. And knew that we were all having a good time. Together. Yes, one last outing, one more big surge of stimulation for dear Jeanne. Living life. Yes, no regrets. --Jim Broede
When Jeanne was in the mid-stages of Alzheimer's, I took her to Arizona. For six weeks. In the wintertime. A welcome break from the snow and cold of Minnesota. Ah, what a good time. Wonderful memories. Jeanne was still relatively with it. But she did fall. Broke a suborbital bone beneath her left eye. Needed surgery at the Mayo Clinic. Spent one night in the hospital. But hey, if that was the price to pay for a winter of content, so be it. Indeed, a small price. --Jim Broede
As for you, Deloren, the comment you submitted for publication contains numerous factual errors. If you clean up your language and make suitable corrections, your comment will be printed here. You are required to meet our high standards. We run a respectable blog, you know. That means, be respectful. --Jim
By the way, anonymous snob lady, Jeanne never took showers alone. The time she fell and broke her wrist in the shower in Germany she was being assisted in the shower by our adult granddaughter. It was an unfortunate accident. Yes, shit happens. They even happen in nursing homes and assisted living facilities under the watch of trained professional care-givers. Meanwhile, if you clean up your language and get your facts straight we'll print your comments. I'm also aware of patients commmiting suicide when they were under the watch and supervision of care-givers and relatives. Like I say, shit happens. I know of a woman who feels bad because her brother committed suicide. And she was unable to stop it, even though he told her that he was gonna do it, and just how he'd do it, too. Now I would never hold that woman responsible. Although it's possible she could have taken action to prevent the suicide. Just as I could have taken action to prevent Jeanne's fall in the shower. By doing the supervising myself rather than delegating it to our granddaughter. I feel bad about it. But it happened. And I can't unhappen it, so to speak. Remember now. Get your facts straight and clean up your language and you'll get published here. Obey the rules. Follow our high standards. Don't be a jerk snob lady. Become a refined lady. --Jim
Keep trying to meet the standards of this blog, jerk snob lady. The only new information you provided are hints that you may be a transexual. I won't hold that against you. To each his/her own. Come up with relevant facts and you'll get printed. Your attempts at getting the facts have gone awry, from bad to worse. You need a good editor. Someone to give you a good kick in the ass and lessons in accuracy. You'd flunk out of journalism school. --Jim
Actually, to put it bluntly and factually, you are full of crap. And now you tell me you don't even know if you are a man or a woman. My gawd. Go see a doctor. I probably wouldn't want to be known as a snob lady either. But if you are, face up to it. Be one. It could be worse. But I don't know how much worse. You are beginning to sound pitiful. --Jim
You don't even have the guts to sign your real name. Do you know who you are? Seems to me you have an axe to grind. That's why you stay anonymous. You are a sniveling coward. It'd be better to be a genuine snob lady. At least that would give you some degree of respect. If it turns out you are a man, I'll bet you are hen-pecked. -Jim
For how long have you been masquerading as a snob lady? --Jim
Haven't we had an encounter before? You sound familiar. --Jim
You certainly don't use the language of a nice lady. So maybe you are man. A real macho man. Is that what you are trying to be? --Jim
Remember, this is a family blog. So watch your language. We have some refined ladies present. --Jim
See, what's so confusing, anonymous or would-be macho man, is that when you don't use your real name it's very difficult telling whether you are a man or a woman. I'd suspect that if you were truly a man of any sorts, you'd have admitted it right from the start. Because that's what men generally do. I find that women are far more likely to hide their identity. Because they have more reason to be scaredy cats in this male-dominated and sometimers perverse society. Maybe because of the presence of macho men. And now that's what you are claiming to be. A macho man. But I'm skeptical. I think you are a woman deciding to masquerade as a macho man. If you truly were one, you'd come out and post a name and a picture. Something verifiable. Yes, I have reason to believe you are conning us. And we ain't ready to be conned. --Jim
Maybe you are telling me your name really is Deloren. I suppose that could be taken either way. Put an 's' at the end in place of the 'n' and it becomes Delores. I suppose an 'n' does masculinize it a little bit. But maybe that makes it moreorless neutral. Transgender. But in most recent posts, you've gone by 'anonymous.' There are so many of 'em around here, it's almost impossible telling one from the other. Very confusing, indeed. Like being at a masqueradeb party on Halloween night. Little wonder that I could make an identity mistake. If so, you must forgive me. --Jim
I suppose masquerading is a way to play loose with the facts. And you certainly have. That's one of the drawbacks of the Internet. A lot of kooks get free rein. By never identifying themselves. --Jim
You could become Kook #1. I'm sure that there would be plenty others to follow. That would improve the accuracy count around here. It's a beginning. We already have a long lineup of idiots. I think all the way to Idiot56. There must be at least that many kooks hiding in the wings. --Jim
I'd like for the U.S. Census Bureau to try for an accurate count of idiots and kooks residing in the USA. I'm sure the count would easily go into the millions. And many of 'em are even holding higher political office. We Americans have a tendency to give them some semblance of power. We certainly don't discriminate against kooks and idiots. Like the Europeans and Scandinavians do. We Americans are open-minded. We give everyone a fair chance. Even the brain-deprived. --Jim
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