Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Haven't painted for the last two weeks...

Hi all, two weeks ago my mother had a slip and fall and consequentially broke her hip. She is recovering from surgery for it in the hospital, so not much time has been available to paint. She is mending fine, and should be released soon. I hope to be painting soon and back to my weekly postings.
--Rob

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since my initial posting here, I feel an update is in order: Hospitals can either mend you or sometimes they can hurt you. While in the hospital mending from her fall she had at home, the hospital staff left my mother sitting in a chair with no supervision and she attempted to stand up and fell, breaking her other hip plus a wrist requiring more extensive surgery. Surgery can also be very hard on a person of her age (82) and is now confined to a wheel chair in a nursing home.

Cecelia said...

Good luck and my best to your mother. My last older relative, an aunt age 85 has been in a nursing home for a year now, and we have had some experiences. Finally, she is in a good nursing home, after she broke a hip, and she is confined to a wheel chair. She wouldn't do her therapy, so she can't even stand by herself. She started out with a stroke that affected her vision and recognition, but her doctor would only treat her for depression and anxiety. He refused to test her. We took her to a nursing home that was supposed to be a good one, but they wouldn't help or watch her, so she fell. We finally had to fire her doctor and take her to a different nursing home, but, by then, a lot of damage had been done. Before this, she talked constantly and her memory was excellent. Now, she has hallucinations, at times, (from the meds the first doctor had her on) she talks very little, and doesn't try to do much. Still she has improved from being unresponsive as she was after she broke her hip.
I firmly believe that when people have to go to a hospital, they must have someone with them full time-someone who knows something about nursing and medicine, just to watch after them. And someone who cares.
We always tried to pop in at odd times, just to see how things are going, and to be there frequently. My aunt had a phone and would call us from the first nursing home, but then was not able to use the phone anymore. We had to go there constantly to help her when the personnel just ignored her, and others.
By the way, when I go to the nursing home, I take a clipboard and do sketches, and write down the stories that my aunt can remember to tell me. I have a nice drawing of my aunt getting her hair washed, for example!
I also asked the nursing home if anyone does any art therapy or art work with the patients. There is no one. I offered to help with that, but I don't get to go on a regular basis and I don't get around too well myself these days. I noticed that, some residents who are in better shape, are sitting there, bored, just waiting for the next meal. I thought that some might like to paint or draw, or manipulate clay. I'm not big on crafts, but I thought an art outlet would be good for the residents. I used a lot of therapy as a teacher.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know that we have experienced something similar. I would have sent you a private e-mail, but I didn't see a place to do that.
Keep us posted on how your mother is doing. And take time for yourself too. It can be hard on the family and caregivers, too. Looking forward to seeing some of your art work, when you can post something.
Cecelia
http://cecelia-throughmyeyes.blogspot.com/