Meanwhile at the VA Dementia Ward

2 people

Why the Posts

I go there and visit my guys. Sometimes they are better, sometimes worse.

I suspect some viewers are not really comfortable with my writing about these visits in that it feels like I am bragging or showing off how “good” I am.

And I am not fully comfortable with it, either. But I am slightly more comfortable posting than not posting.

Fact is, I visited my guy for years and hardly mentioned it to anyone. He was more mobile then, and we went on day trips to O’Conner Hardware, to Lowes, CVS, and went out each time to a nice little Italian restaurant in Billerica.

He said he wanted to go to a little town fair in Maine “one more time before he died”, so I got permission and we went to Maine and back in one day. It was simply terrific for both of us.

But when he was relegated to the Dementia ward, I struggled to deal with it. Seeing all these men, and one woman, in various stages of deep dementia was very disturbing, so I wrote about it to help get through it.

However, now I am so used to the place that it is just another part of my week, a Sunday visit and a Wednesday visit. Many facilities are closed on Sunday, so the weekday visits open up more doors, literally.

Today we wheeled my guy through the basement tunnels to the Library where he was greeted with great warmth as an old friend.

The activity room staff were delighted that we barged in and also greeted my guy with much love.

These trips give him relief from the hours of sameness in the dayroom.

So I am ok about visiting him and generally ok posting about it.

(The image is another wall-under-repair that looks to me like a veteran telling the story of his service overseas.)