I don’t want anyone petting my lizard.
One of these days we'll both be fine
One of these days we’ll both be fine
I don’t want anyone petting my lizard
My mother has Alzheimer’s. The hospital wanted to discharge her—back to an independent living situation where she was falling multiple times a day.
Doctors with the pushiness of telemarketers tried to force us to send her back to her apartment. One day a nurse who had been caring for her all week whispered in my ear, “Keep fighting. She can’t go home”.
From what I’ve come to understand, this is common. The system is bursting at the seams.
Fortunately, the assisted living place where she lives refused to let her come back because it isn’t safe and that seemed to put an end to the conversation. Well that and some reminders from my sister (a retired psychologist) of their legal obligations, but it took well over a week. Lost time to get her onto a long-term care home list. But we were lucky to have a voice in the family that doctors would listen to.
Each day in the hospital, she risks picking up an infection.
She has no idea where she is. She is frightened, and it is heartbreaking.
Despite all this, she can still make me laugh.
The other day she said, “I don’t want anyone petting my lizard.”
“Do you have a lizard?” I asked.
“I used to,” she said.
When my grandfather had Alzheimer’s and saw buffalo running in the hallways, I remember being horrified that both my mother and grandmother were laughing about it.
They were laughing to the point of tears.
“That’s not funny,” I chastised them.
“Well, you can either laugh or cry,” my mother said.
I’m doing both.
Read more from One of these days we’ll both be fine
Kathryn Mockler is the author of Anecdotes.
Support Send My Love to Anyone
Support Send My Love to Anyone by signing up for a monthly or yearly subscription, liking this post, or sharing it
Big heartfelt thanks to all of the subscribers and contributors who make this project possible!
Connect
Bluesky | Instagram | Archive | Contributors | Subscribe | About SMLTA