h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

J___ couldn't stand my use of air conditioning in the room, so she packed her portrait of Jesus and moved next door to be with her friend B___, who is 101 and even more deaf than J___. Their conversations sound like a Monty Python skit, one I can hear fairly clearly through the wall.

In her stead I got Gretchen. She has MS which has confined her to a wheelchair and which has made its way into her brain, according to her brother and guardian. And so she acquired senile dementia... in her forties. She is a very pleasant lady, and one can have a conversation of sorts with her, and she laughs at jokes, truly gets them, but after a couple of hours she'll have forgotten what was said. I make sure her teevee is tuned to Animal Planet, knowing that frequent re-runs will not perturb her in the slightest.

And I am now permanently institutionalized. The medical people deem me unfit for independent living, at least for now. Maybe, after the matter of my possessions is resolved, the stress will abate and my motor skills will improve.

On the subject of improvement, the manager of the dietary department has left rather suddenly, and our corporate overlords have stepped in. The quality of food might improve soon: we only need to keep an eye on the platers, now.

I hope you do get a resolution regarding your things; that has been going on toooooo long.

But yay for potentially better food!

Sounds like your room mate has what I lost Dad to (also showed up in his 40s, which he never left--he died at 49, 2-3 weeks before my wedding, which we went ahead with, since everyone agreed that's what he would've wanted. Tom never got to meet him in his right mind.)

Yay for maybe better food!

Sounds like things improve.

Will you move to a different part of the building when you are institutionalized, or do they mix permanent and not permanent people?

What a mix of news Lil. I hope everything gets straightened out soon!

I was moved to "South Back" in mid-March, out of the skilled wing and into one of the three long-term sections. North wing is where the very advanced long-term residents are, the ones I call bristlecone pines; they require a great deal of attention just to exist. There is a little bleed between the wings, simply because patients go wherever a bed opens up, but generally South Back has a healthier class of resident than North.