the sundowners
many of our patients with dementia develop Sundowners Syndrome. sydney is known for its sunny climate but we do have two months of winter when the sun sets at 5.00 so from 4.00 pm onwards the sundowners are milling around my desk.Mrs A will front up with a query about where she will sleep that night followed by Mrs B wondering if we have a room for her. Mrs C asks if she will be evicted for not paying her bill and Mrs D enquires about transport home. Mr Z wants to buy batteries for a non existent hearing aid, Mr Y wants to file a tax return, Mr X would like to auction off his ostrich farm (yes, seriously).
it’s like they’re on a conveyor belt because as soon as I’ve shown Mrs A and Mrs B their rooms for the 17th time, Messrs Z, Y and X are back with their crumpled bits of paper and leaky pens.
for those unfamiliar with dementia it may sound like nursemyra’s job is difficult and depressing. of course it has its down side and I’m eternally grateful that mopping up urine and fandangling with faeces is someone else’s responsibility but playing along with a sundowner’s reality is therapeutic for not only the patient.
I’ve had a great time fudging tax returns, buying improbable animals and assuring hotel guests that the chambermaid will be up to take their room service order shortly. one of the more fortunate side effects of dementia is that the patient is easily distracted and it’s usually not too difficult to bring a smile to their face if you can keep your own sense of humour.
of course, for the resistant repeat offender there’s always the little blue pill. but nursemyra dons her special dispensing outfit to sweeten the swallow……
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If I ever met you in that outfit, I am afraid it would soon be YOU doing all the swallowing.
Being easily distracted doesn’t mean one does have dementia……does it? Oooo, how much is the ostrich farm? The first swallow of winter -ha ha ha.
Bye
LL: tut tut m’lord… I’m not that easy….
DaddyP: I can do you a deal on the ostriches. but first you have to get yourself to the gimcrack
This almost serious touch is why I keep reading here. Been there, done that. The urine and faeces thing.
Ooops, sorry about that, can I have my blue pill now, please? Oh, it’s THAT blue pill - - -
Christ, we’re guys. You could distract us by leaving shiny bits of tinfoil lying about.
And people wonder why so many nurses abuse drugs.
I have two theories, actually.
The first is sometimes it’s an escape from the reality of their job and their poverty-stricken lives.
The second is I believe some just want to sit back and enjoy the show.
I like what archie said: it’s the serious side melded to the bizarre that keeps me coming back. Oh,and a bit of sfw t&a.
My grandmother had dementia for years. I’d go visit and I’d have to tell her who I was. She’d look up at me with these milky eyes and exclaim, “I have a grandson???”
Ah, the demons of dementia … made worse when the sun goes down, every time. Especially when it’s gone past the yardarm. A few G&Ts and I’m well on the road to forgetting everything. Except nursemyra’s perfectly-formed URL, of course…
Bill
Bill– the demons of dementia are not nearly as vile as those demons which arise of a full moon in the emergency department.
Archie: but it’s preferable to needles, right?
FFF: oh there’s tinfoil galore at the gimcrack. hmm… maybe that’s the problem
doctor Mom: it’s the poverty stricken lives. definitely.
Letters: and one of our old chaps thinks his long suffering (visiting) wife is his grandmother….
Bill: you’re making me thirsty. it’s 8.33 am over here but a g&t would go down nicely
Doctor Mom: that’s why I work 9 to 5
Can’t quite make out what the figure is holding in the left hand. If that even *is* a hand…
See I’ve long since grown accustomed to bits of tinfoil. Turn ‘em into deflector beanies, that’s what I do.
Doesn’t seem to help though.
I’m thinking it’s a cross between a tourniquet and an enema. you don’t want to mess with one of those….
YIKES!!!!
The mechanics of that combination leave me shuddering in horrified wonder! I think I would prefer needles!
Given scale of presentation, that blue ‘pill’ looks more like a bar of laundry soap.
That should be even more frightening.
I think many of life’s unpleasantries would be more easily endured with the help of a special outfit.
Archie: be brave now. people are watching
FFF: best play along with me then….
RenalF: I agree. that’s why I don’t understand Radioactive Jam’s reluctance to let me conduct his upcoming “unpleasant exam”
hhmmm…….I need better office attire…..
office attire? I thought you spent all your time in a bikini
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