Saturday, August 11, 2012

channelling Hercule Poirot

With such recent success at home caring and the culinary arts, I thought I would drop in for a surprise visit with the ‘feeding professionals’ at Patti’s care facility Friday and help them feeding Patti dinner.

Passing Patti’s nurses’ station they greeted me and said they had seen Patti go by earlier to the dining room. Entering the assisted dining room, the staff greeted me with “Isn’t Patti with you?”

Having the overview of timetable and Patti’s abilities I know she has not left the building so I dust off my french accent and my impression of Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hecule Peroit and begin my detective work.

Retracing my investigation to her room, courtyard, social and meeting rooms along the way interrogating all the usual suspects I locate Patti in the lobby.

picture of Patrick on a wind surf board and Patti standing in water at Nag's Head, North Carolina 1983
Patti just happily sitting there in 'her now' is startled by my, “Aha! Mon ami – What are you doing here?”

She not only wants to know why am I talking like Pepe Le Pew but throws her parents under the bus, claiming they were just playing Trivial Pursuit with her and left her there.

I continue, “Excuse me! My accent is clearly Hecule Peroit and not Pepe Le Pew and your parents have not been here today. Therefore mon ami you are guilty of zee Multiple Sclerosis - your memory sucks!!!”

Now Patti is laughing too hard to talk, so I push her to the dining room.

Settling her in, getting her tray and sitting down next to her while waving off offers to help from staff  I can appreciate the impossibility of trying to extend self-feeding for any one resident in a facility setting where you have to prepare meals for many.

I fed her spoonful by spoonful a dinner of minced steak, mashed potatoes, and succotash with carrot cake for dessert along with ginger ale, apple/grape juice, and decaf coffee for beverages. Sampling each for myself it was quite good, or “bangin’” as Patti chose to describe dinner.

Yep, our current version of TGIF. 

Patrick Leer
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Caregivingly Yours, MS Caregiver @ http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/

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2 comments:

  1. When we go to feed my mother, she always says how good everything tastes. Unlike you, Hercule, I merely take her word for it!
    Peace,
    Muff

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  2. Hastings would be proud of your deductive reasoning! (At least, I think that's the name of the guy who assisted Hercule in a number of stories.)

    ReplyDelete

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