About her painful tooth....."Euuuuuuuuwwwww.....it hurts when I touch it, when I try to eat." She seems to have managed to eat her dinner but she wants me to know how miserable she is. "I tried putting some 'Oil of cloves' on it...." I have heard that that works so I tell her "good idea" and ask if she has taken any Advil for the pain. She floats off in another direction of conversation, telling me about mail she got from "Marie's daughter - but it just had this in it." "This" is a prayer card from a funeral for Maries husband and other daughter, obviously they had died. From the return address it looks like Marie (IJ Bucks secretary from the 1960's) is now living with a daughter in Roselle. I am afraid she will be asking me to call her like she had me do with another friend. I end up being in the middle of a conversation(?) between deaf Pearl and her demented friend.....repeating the same stuff over and over again!
Annnnyhow, before I try to get out the door I ask her where her Advil is, "Oh I don't like that, I use Tylenol." Fine, I take out 2 pills and pour a glass of water. "2 pills.....nooooo, I don't like to take pain pills." These are Tylenol, plain Tylenol. "Well if you don't want to take anything for your discomfort then DON'T COMPLAIN about the pain!!"
I have to learn how to let her words go in one ear and right out the other. She is not looking for solutions or suggestions, she just loves to complain!!
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Saturday, May 25, 2013
"There's singing in my head"!!
"Do you hear the music? It's driving me NUTS!!" That is the latest issue with Pearl. Phantom music, in her apartment, in the hallways, out her patio.....everywhere she goes. "It was so bad during the night that I put ear plugs in and covered my head with a pillow!" but even that did not stop the music. "It's religious music....Glory, glory hallelujah.....over and over again! They play the same song over and over all day and even at 2 am!" Today she called to tell me how bad her tooth hurt (I had made a dental appt. for her weeks ago when she told Rick about the tooth, but she made me cancel it because "I'd rather go to the skin doctor." She has what is called "senile keratosis" and I have taken her to 2 dermatologists over the years. Since she doesn't like what they tell her she thinks she can continue to "doctor-shop" until she gets the answer she wants! But I digress......) As I was talking to her and figuring out when I could get her an appt. at the dentist, she starts complaing about the music again. "Is it on now?" I asked. "Yes, and it's all over the place. I can't stand it, it's driving me crazy, I must have lost 4 pounds because I am so upset!" She claimed that she had gone down her hallway to try and find the culprit. Fine, I decided to pop over there and clear this mystery up. Every time I have been to that condo it is very quiet, rarely is there any noise. It is a blessing.
So I get there and I walk the halls of floor #1, #2, and #3.....not a sound, no music, no voices, nothing. On her floor, #3, I run into a neighbor of hers just 1 door down and across the hall. A little elderly lady taking her trash out (or was that a body in that big bag???) and I ask her if she has heard any music on that floor. Her eyes get big and she says "No....are you her friend?" "No, I'm her daughter-in-law." "Well she had me come in and listen but I didn't hear anything!!" I tell her that I know and I have checked it out. Another neighbor shows up and I ask the same question....negative answer and he sighs "What a shame." I know what he is thinking.....she has lost her marbles!
So I let myself in to her place, the only noise a VERY LOUD television show and I go to her patio to check out the area in the back. Totally silent except for the birds and some people walking to their car. Now I go in to see her.."HELLO....." as she turns to me I ask, "Are you hearing the music now?" "Yes, yes, do YOU hear it?" She grabs the remote and tries to mute the TV, "No, I just hear the TV." She gets up and goes to the window, "Don't you hear that? La-la-la-la-la......la-la?" She trills a tune only she can hear.....I try to tell her that it is like tinnitus, a condition that both Rick and I have. "It's something in your ears, which is why no one else can hear it. You have to learn to live with it and try to ignore it." Of course, "I can't! It's horrible!" So I tell her that she needs to start thinking of a song that SHE likes and wouldn't mind hearing over and over again. No luck. She can never understand that there are many conditions that cannot be cured, her statement always is "There must be something!" She can't be happy that she has lived to 92 with hardly any medical issues except those related to old age. She can't adapt to changes in her body and so makes her life a continual complaint that only makes us want to stay away all the more. Just wait until I give her the information on "Musical Ear Syndrome" which has been around for 100's of years or longer! She, who has always insisted on complete quiet and darkness when she goes to sleep, will find out that she should count her lucky stars that she isn't hearing the "Mormon Tabernacle Choir"!
"Do you hear the music? It's driving me NUTS!!" That is the latest issue with Pearl. Phantom music, in her apartment, in the hallways, out her patio.....everywhere she goes. "It was so bad during the night that I put ear plugs in and covered my head with a pillow!" but even that did not stop the music. "It's religious music....Glory, glory hallelujah.....over and over again! They play the same song over and over all day and even at 2 am!" Today she called to tell me how bad her tooth hurt (I had made a dental appt. for her weeks ago when she told Rick about the tooth, but she made me cancel it because "I'd rather go to the skin doctor." She has what is called "senile keratosis" and I have taken her to 2 dermatologists over the years. Since she doesn't like what they tell her she thinks she can continue to "doctor-shop" until she gets the answer she wants! But I digress......) As I was talking to her and figuring out when I could get her an appt. at the dentist, she starts complaing about the music again. "Is it on now?" I asked. "Yes, and it's all over the place. I can't stand it, it's driving me crazy, I must have lost 4 pounds because I am so upset!" She claimed that she had gone down her hallway to try and find the culprit. Fine, I decided to pop over there and clear this mystery up. Every time I have been to that condo it is very quiet, rarely is there any noise. It is a blessing.
So I get there and I walk the halls of floor #1, #2, and #3.....not a sound, no music, no voices, nothing. On her floor, #3, I run into a neighbor of hers just 1 door down and across the hall. A little elderly lady taking her trash out (or was that a body in that big bag???) and I ask her if she has heard any music on that floor. Her eyes get big and she says "No....are you her friend?" "No, I'm her daughter-in-law." "Well she had me come in and listen but I didn't hear anything!!" I tell her that I know and I have checked it out. Another neighbor shows up and I ask the same question....negative answer and he sighs "What a shame." I know what he is thinking.....she has lost her marbles!
So I let myself in to her place, the only noise a VERY LOUD television show and I go to her patio to check out the area in the back. Totally silent except for the birds and some people walking to their car. Now I go in to see her.."HELLO....." as she turns to me I ask, "Are you hearing the music now?" "Yes, yes, do YOU hear it?" She grabs the remote and tries to mute the TV, "No, I just hear the TV." She gets up and goes to the window, "Don't you hear that? La-la-la-la-la......la-la?" She trills a tune only she can hear.....I try to tell her that it is like tinnitus, a condition that both Rick and I have. "It's something in your ears, which is why no one else can hear it. You have to learn to live with it and try to ignore it." Of course, "I can't! It's horrible!" So I tell her that she needs to start thinking of a song that SHE likes and wouldn't mind hearing over and over again. No luck. She can never understand that there are many conditions that cannot be cured, her statement always is "There must be something!" She can't be happy that she has lived to 92 with hardly any medical issues except those related to old age. She can't adapt to changes in her body and so makes her life a continual complaint that only makes us want to stay away all the more. Just wait until I give her the information on "Musical Ear Syndrome" which has been around for 100's of years or longer! She, who has always insisted on complete quiet and darkness when she goes to sleep, will find out that she should count her lucky stars that she isn't hearing the "Mormon Tabernacle Choir"!
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