Thursday, October 30, 2008

Life as a Personal Aide: Out & About

Here's what happens when the personal aide and the person she's aiding are bleary with overwork and nauseated with exhaustion: they get giddy.

We get giddy. We are giddy.

I'd say we're slap happy except Ruth doesn't have either the energy or dexterity to slap anyone and I've promised her I won't. On Monday. When I'll want to slap a lot of people.

Since we cannot get Ruth's power chair to where she needs to be, she'll be using her manual chair. One problem: she can't wheel it any more without generating a lot of pain and exhaustion. This means I have to push her in it, which I really don't mind but she does for a slew of reasons that I completely understand.

What can we do about this situation other than get pissed, get over it, and talk about what I might wear?

"How about a nurse's uniform, with a cap and a cape and white shoes and stockings?"
"No."

"How about
I buy an aide's uniform with a smocked top -- teddy bears if I can't find kitties.""No."
It was time for me to get creative, so I made tomorrow's lunch and then washed some dishes and then scooped Buddy's poop and then finished putting away the Peapod order and then put away laundry and then rearranged the freezer and then loosened all the caps on the bottled water and then bagged some trash.

Being a kinesthetic learner, I knew activity would generate some great ideas and indeed it did.

"How about I rent a foam cervical collar..."
"For me?"
"No, not for you. For me."

We'll be thinking about this strategy over the weekend. My next suggestion will be crutches. No, not for her. For me.