he's a new man!

My husband met me at the nursing home (it's Wednesday) and we took my brother out.  We had dinner, he had already eaten, so we bought him a coffee.

Today, I also arranged for him to get his own phone.  I was so surprised when he told me he had already used it to call his case manager.  He hasn't done that for about 3-4 years!  He proudly told us that they had poker games on Tuesday and that he was going to play.  He plans on listening to the musical acts that are brought in on Sundays.  We made arrangements for me to leave him cash so he could buy food at the cafe they have in the home.

This new place is run much more like assisted living with nursing care.  He has free run of the building, he can go outside to sit whenever he wants, they don't seem to care.  He says the nursing staff is pretty good.

The only problem I have seen so far is that they are not shaving him and he obviously hasn't had a shower in a while.  I plan to call tomorrow to discuss that.  It might have to do with the Jewish holidays and that they have been short staffed because of that, I'm not sure.  (It's interesting though, he says only two patients fasted  I think the patients are too unhealthy to fast, it would be dangerous.)  My brother says that there are not many activities because of the holidays.  I told him that there are a lot of them in September and October, and then the schedule thins out!!

My life is much better.  Even with taking him out, I got home faster than I would have going to visit him at the old home.

settling in

This week my brother moved to his permanent floor.  He is still feeling his way around, but he seems much more normal than he has been in a long time.  I took him out to an International House of Pancakes for breakfast today.  I remarked that we never got to say good by to the staff at the old restaurant.  He indicated he would like to go back and do so.  I told him, there had better be a good reason to drive out that way again, that I wouldn't be up for it for a while!

so far so good

My husband and I took my brother out for lunch today, after we saw a lawyer to redo our wills.

Things are looking pretty good.  My brother was sitting with other folks at a  lunch table, and he has been spending some time just sitting outside, which he never got to do at the old nursing home. Tomorrow he plans to sit in on a concert, where someone is coming in and playing the violin.   So far the staff seem much better educated and much more friendly.  The whole placed seems better staffed and the level of education is higher.

This is putting me in a really good mood.  I figure that the last place he was in was so much better than the one before that, I didn't have anything good to compare it to.  At the old place, the nursing staff was kind, but there was a huge language barrier and it was difficult to communicate.  Plus they were overworked and harried most of the time.

It's a beautiful fall day and now I have the time to actually enjoy it.  Yippee!

moved

My brother moved today, from the old nursing home to the new one.  My husband and  I took a good chunk of the day off to help him move.  When I got to the old nursing home, they hadn't started any of the paperwork or packed up his stuff, but it only took about an hour.  Part of the problem with this place is that there are a lot of language barriers.  The staff means well but it is difficult to communicate sometimes.  There was not much of a good bye, a few of the staff came by and hugged, but it was not much.

We took my brother out to a Panera that is in a shopping center close to the new nursing home. It was kind of comforting to be somewhere we had been many times before, most specially with our parents.  My brother was a lot calmer than I thought he was going to be.

When we got to the new nursing home, the admissions person was not ready for us.  We sat there for about 10 minutes, and then they told us just to go up to his room and to wait for her.  The new room is a single and much nicer than the old room, but my brother didn't think so.  He felt that the room was smaller (it's not, it's just not a double).  The lighting is much better and he has a window that he can look out of.  There is a chair in his room so I can now sit with him if I want to.  But I think he likes the sociability of having a roommate (even though his old roommate was very sick and they hardly spoke).

Someone came in to take his vitals, and then left.  I was told to unpack his bag and put his stuff on the bed so that it could be inventoried, which I did.  There wasn't much for me to do, so we walked around and explored.  There are a lot more social spaces in this new nursing home, just not a lot of patients.  They have temporarily put him on a rehab floor instead of with permanent residents, which is good and bad.  On the one had, the patients are more together mentally, but on the other hand, there doesn't seem like there is much of a community.  He is supposed to be moved to a different floor when a bed opens up.

It was a beautiful day.  Patients have a lot more freedom to move around in the new nursing home.  I left him sitting outside by the front door.  There were four or five patients just sitting there.  I am hoping that in the long run, he will be able to make friends.

It took me 12 minutes to get home, instead of 45.  That made me smile all over!!

he's in a good mood

The new nursing home has been very slow in getting my brother assessed.  So far they say it looks good but they are not committing until they send out a team to the old nursing home to evaluate  him.  I asked them what was taking so long and they said because they are taking in a lot of people at once and because of the labor day holiday.

I am a bit concerned about what this is doing to my brother.  He doesn't like change.  But so far, he seems like he has perked up a bit.  I think he might even be looking forward to a change, because life at his home is so boring and dull.  I think he might even need to change environments every so often, just to get some stimulus. 

Meanwhile, on Sunday he was in a good mood, even though he told me the new nursing home was too Jewish Orthodox.  I asked him what he meant and he told me that all the men had yarmulkes on.  I assured him that not all the folks in the home were Orthodox.  Then we talked about the fact that the nursing home had told me he was going to be placed in a pod with people who were more alert and he was really pleased about that.

I am thinking that I need to take off work and be there when he is evaluated.  The stakes are too high to have hims tart freaking out with strangers.   The trouble is that I have a very busy week and work.  I hope I can work something out.