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PARDON ME, ARE THESE YOUR PANTS?
Yesterday as I was getting ready to take my mother to her dental appointment, I received a frantic call from the nurse on Mom's floor. She blurted out, "Your mother has no pants!" Mom was still in her night clothes and the caregivers could find no pants for her to wear. My response was "Yes, I KNOW that". The nurse's retort was, "Well, YOU do her laundry"...to which I replied, "Lamplight has been doing Mom's laundry for two months now and I've reported a number of things missing - nine pairs of pants being among them". There was a soft, "Oh", then silence. I knew how many pairs of pants were missing because I'm the one who printed Mom's name on the label of each article of her clothing.
For the last two weeks I'd been asking the staff to please search for Mom's missing items. She has 10 pairs of pants but little by little all but one pair disappeared. She wore that same pair for a number of days and I was hesitant to purchase more because the others had to be somewhere in the laundry room at Lamplight. However, I wasn't allowed to go look for them myself. My sisters and I had searched every inch of Mom's room, since she often hides clothing and other things. She's been known to give away personal items and snacks, so that was possible, but it wasn't probable.
It's strange how that minor crisis caused my mother's caregivers to search the laundry area, as I'd previously asked them to do, and actually find ALL the missing pairs of pants. Will wonders never cease? I realize the Lamplight staff is very busy and my mother is only one of many Alzheimer's patients for whom they care, but pants are fairly essential to her well-being.
Now that the missing pants have been returned to Mom's room, I'll again remind the staff of all the other things that are missing - 2 stuffed cats Mom loved to carry in her walker bag, an upright push sweeper (which Mom probably told them wasn't hers), a number of sweatshirts decorated with Cardinal prints, and two pairs of slippers. A plant stand is also missing. I mistakenly let them take it out of the room when Mom's new furniture arrived and it seems to have disappeared. My mother may have given away some of those things but I've not seen anyone carrying the stuffed cats nor wearing the sweatshirts or slippers.
As I'd assumed, the dental appointment and re-organizing of Mom's closet took most of the day. I'd planned to take her to lunch after the appointment but it had taken a full 10 minutes to get her in and out of my car, so I opted for a quick drive-through at McDonald's. I found a shady spot to park and we had a picnic. Mom thoroughly enjoyed it. She was also happy to have had her pants returned.
7 comments:
Holy pants, Batman! Although, I'm sure this has caused you some grief, it is rather humorous! Your mom has no pants and the cat cartoons! LOL. I think it is strange that so much of your mom's just is missing? Is there a pack rat on staff or in residence? :)
Holy Pants! LOL Oh it did cause me to have to leave here earlier than I'd planned which meant I didn't get much done yesterday but I'm learning to laugh at most things and then just move on. I honestly think Mom is giving some things away but it's useless to ask her what happened to things. Her reply is always that she didn't do it. LOL
I realize this place is busy..but don't they have "candy stripers" there that could look for the missing stuff? I am happy you were able to have a "mini" picnic and that you both enjoyed yourselves.;)
No, Gina, they don't have anyone who could help look for missing items. I never see any volunteers except in the Hospitality Room at Bingo or during special events, concerts, etc. If they'd allow me to search the lost and found I might be able to locate some of the missing things. We did have a nice little picnic and that was nice for Mom.
I'm sorry Kady - I know you didn't intend this to be a funny post but I was laughing all the way through it. You're so tongue in cheek sometimes LOL And I guess because I've been through some fairy tales with my step-father the past few months - like when he "flipped his drivers license out into the street to the two little girls playing out there" or when he went to town and someone "took his truck for a joyride so the police had to bring him home and then they brought the truck later but no keys".....Don't you feel like you're in Never Never Land sometimes? LOL
Jill, I did intend this to be a funny post. It's such a comical thing to know Mom needed her pants, to have kept asking the staff to please find them, then to have them look for pants ONLY when it was a slight crisis for them. They wanted it to be my problem but I knew it was their fault the pants were missing. In the end, I finally won a battle! LOL
Yes some days I do feel I'm in Never Never Land. You should share those stories about your dad. I'm learning to laugh and just go along with whatever happens. It's still frustrating, but I'm coping better than I did at first.
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