So, the elderly Mr. Froth is now in the nursing home section of his retirement community. It's a NICE retirement community. Way nicer than our house, for that matter. He and the passed Mrs. Elderly Froth bought into the deal several years ago, living in the independent living section. The options for him included the assisted living and nursing home (she didn't qualify for the nursing home due to her many and varied ailments and whatevers). She passed away in 2008 and that rather precipitated elderly Mr. Froth's (EMF from now on) decline, I think.
They had a completely warped co-dependent relationship in which he cared for her and she laid in bed and bitched. But, that's old news.
Last December we moved him into assisted living and at the time he was still lucid and mobile, although suffering from awful skin problems and general angst. Then, in February? or March he slipped out of his scooter, thought he broke his hip, entered the hospital, Mr. Froth went down for ten days as did the Froth sis, came back to his room, had a drug reaction, went back in, etc. and etc. and etc. The result was inability to walk or take care of himself, so he was plopped in the nursing home. He has steadily declined, is unintelligible, incontinent, all of the things that happen when dementia and age coalesce. So, we, Mr. Froth, Froth sis, Froth sis's husband and I went down last week.
It could have been worse. Oh, the cleaning out of the apartment and the SURPRISE! two storage lockers were daunting, but not as bad as the original apartment. And, EMF perked the hell up when we were there. It's amazing what happens when you roll someone around to visit people he used to know, employees he used to know, and, remarkably still does remember, and give him an opportunity to bullshit his eyes loose.
Mind you, it's not all understandable, but it's all good. We've arranged to have someone get him rolling three or four times a week. It makes a world of difference. I was all set to get into people's faces about meds or something, but what they're doing is correct and things have stabilized. I don't know how the nurses and aides do it.
So, the fun stuff. We were sitting outside the main entrance and EMF mentioned he'd lost $4500 at the track the night before. So, we asked him, "Didja have fun?" Well, yeah. So why not? He, of course, was asleep the night before and probably lost that money at the same place that he didn't get his paycheck from them...
He also informed us that they were putting on a play or revue, but the judging was suspect, though they told him he was going to be the comedian and would probably win. I wanted to know the outcome the next day but the results were iffy. Apparently it was called Harry of Hollywood and involved sexual escapades. I cannot make this up. Oh. And a three-pound potato. Maybe that was the door prize.
EMF is a social director, knowing no strangers, a flirt and has a tremendous sense of humor (it's genetic) and even when hallucinating is just fabulous.
All in all, it was better than we expected, yet still very rough.
Oh. Owls. That would be the elderly Mrs. Froth's owl collection that nobody wanted. While inventorying the apartment items I picked up each and ever owl and got a bit weepy and thought it would be awful to just leave them for the employee auction. So, we shipped a 100 pounds of crystal and porcelain owls to our house. NOT ONE BROKE. I'm not shitting you. Plus, there are some pricey ones in there. Must decide where to put and what to do with.
