.jpg "\"The Few ...the Proud ... the Lions\" Penn State 14 Miami 10")
Multiple
Sclerosis visually impaired, my fellow holder got laughing so hard at my improvised
description of the poster in my best sportscaster affected voice that I had to
use her lap to support her end of the 1987 Fiesta Bowl victory poster.
Of
course to us the preeminent bowl is the bowl I use for my continuing
experiments with caring and the culinary arts. Recently we tried reverting to a
more conventional self-feed meal where food bites are similar, such as chicken
tenders as the main entre.
Sure
enough Patti reverted immediately to what I call ‘chipmunking’ her food. She
just keeps putting pieces in her mouth forgetting either to chew or swallow.
Unmonitored this can quickly create a choking danger. And this is why in the care
facility era she has progressed to being fed in the assisted dining room rather
than allowed to try and self-feed.
Soooo
all the more I wanted to try reverting back to using varying shapes, textures,
tastes and color of food pieces to try and keep her mouth rebooting (for the
lack of a better word) with each piece and extending her ability to self-feed
just a little longer. It worked like a champ just as it had last week. Today’s
bowl featured Patti’s favorite cut peaches, black grapes, cut up strawberries,
raspberries, and cut up chicken breast grilled in Italian dressing. No
chipmunking! No choking! I wish I understood why.
With my
own attention and time increasingly consumed by living with lung cancer, my lung cancer odyssey, I’m discovering that keeping all the balls in the air is a
bit more challenging when suddenly I am one of those balls … and yeah it’s just
a bit harder when Patti cannot remember.
by Patrick Leer
BLOGS:
Caregivingly Yours, MS Caregiver @ http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/
Lung Cancer Odyssey @ http://lung-cancer-survivor.blogspot.com/
Technorati Tags: "Mulitple, Sclerosis", caregiving, "Penn, State", NCAA
maybe it is the company she has when she is eating the bowls you make her Patrick, that she doesn't chipmunk her food since she is enjoying all the sensations, good food, great companionship with you, etc. Food looked good again!
ReplyDeletebetty
Thanks Betty for the implied compliment to my companionship but in the interest of scientific accuracy, Patti chipmunks her food with me as well as without me sitting next to her if the food is of similar taste and texture, as in a main entree.
ReplyDeleteJust when I think I have something figured out it up and changes again. I have found there is no such thing as predictability with caregiving. It's a minute by minute trip.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Corgi, if you weren't so interesting she could concentrate better!
ReplyDeleteAndy