Up In Age

Had myself a nice visit with Carmen yesterday afternoon. She was actually in a chipper mood, which is something of a miracle these days. As I walked in, I hear dogs barking “Jingle Bells” on her TV. I found that rather odd. I asked what she had going on there, and she grinned and told me that one of the nurses showed her how to find music stations on her TV and she was loving it. Her current station of choice is “Christmas in July”. I suppose if that’s what makes her happy, so be it.

Last week, her roommate passed away. We got to talking about that and I asked her how old she had been. Carmen says “Not too old. I think 84. That’s not really old, it’s just about the time you start getting up in age.” Alrighty then…

She recently broke her sunglasses (I think she rolled over them with her wheelchair). Glenn and I purchased a new pair for her. I had her put them on and pose for a picture. I told her I needed to be able to show Glenn how well they fit. She gave me one of her usual grumpy faces (she seriously looks and acts like Maxine). I asked her to smile, to let Glenn know she liked her new glasses. Very fashionable!

So, she proudly showed me some of the house dresses that were given to her by the daughter of the deceased. She says “I can’t wait to wear them. I’m just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit.” “Seriously??? 106 isn’t warm enough for you???” She says “Oh, is it that warm? Ruth (one of her friends from her old apartment) keeps telling me it’s really warm, but I didn’t believe her.” “Well Carmen, it’s blistering hot outside. It has been for weeks. I don’t even want to go outside it’s so hot.” I don’t think she still believes that it’s unbearably warm outside. If she’s waiting for it to warm up enough inside for her to wear those dresses, I don’t think she’ll ever get to wear them. Maybe they’ll crank the heat up in the winter. Who knows.

We got to talking about the roommate she had right after the other one passed away. Apparently, the gal they moved in was only going to be there for a few weeks to recuperate from a fall. She had visitors all hours of the day and night. Carmen says “All I heard was yack, yack, yack, yack. Who wants to listen to that nonsense? I sure don’t!” Ha Ha Ha. I wouldn’t either. At least that only lasted for a few days. I guess she mumbled enough about it for them to move her roommate to another room. We will see what kind of drama the next roomy brings.

Then she proceeds to “inform” me of how she ended up at the Skilled Nursing facility. The way she was talking, she has absolutely no recollection of the fact that I was there the day she ended up in the hospital. She told me that she had to convince Glenn that it would be better for her to be taken to the hospital via ambulance, versus him taking her to the emergency room. Funny…it was just the opposite. She went into great detail of how she had to “fight for her right to be taken by the fire department”. I tried to keep a straight face. I really did. I don’t argue with her about facts anymore. She won’t remember next week anyways. So I just let her talk. I take a great interest in her story, which keeps her engaged (and not enraged). With each telling, her stories are more and more embellished. She tells me that she was admitted to the hospital because she had a heart attack. I told her “I don’t think so. You had fluid on your lungs from congestive heart failure. That means, your heart is just old and tired.” (never mind we’ve had that conversation MANY times since March). She says “Really??? If you hadn’t told me that just now, I would have never known!!! Good thing I have you. You give it to me straight!”. OMG! I really had to keep myself from laughing at that one. “Yup Carmen, I’ve got your back. If you need to know the facts, just ask me. I’ll make sure you get the truth.”

She tells me that she feels like her body isn’t keeping up with her anymore. “Carmen! You’re 98 years old! Our bodies only hold up for so long, before they give out!”. “Well, I decided I want to live to 100 (Lord help us all!). At the rate I’m going, I’m not going to make it to 99. That wasn’t in my plans.” I tried to gently tell her that we all have to go at some time or another. She says “Yeah, I know. We all die. But I’m not old enough to die. But then my body tells me different. I just get so mad! I used to walk for hours, now I can’t even get down the hall without feeling like I ran a race. It’s disgusting!!!”

Her dinner arrived and I took that as my cue to leave. She wanted to discuss her dislike for certain meals, but I really didn’t want to leave on a sour note. I hugged her goodbye and headed home.

Success!