I took Dorothy to the Dermatologist the other day. She has some places on her face that are irritating her, so she picks at them. One day when I was visiting her- she plainly stated she wanted me to take her to the doctor so they could be removed. So, I did. I’m telling you —–this outing would have made a great short comic movie clip.
We got her checked in at the doctor’s office (facemasks are still required in the office) and we were called back to the room. She climbed right up on the examining table like it was no big deal. (All I could see was her sliding off and hitting the floor-thankfully, she did not.) When she was up on the table, she looked at me and asked for the 5th time since we had gotten to the office- where are we? (-: What are they going to do to me? Her response was always oh, ok good! Then she would touch her face searching for the spots and once she found them, she would point them out to me. (-:
The nurse came in first and it didn’t take her too long to figure out mom was “special” she was very sweet to mom and directed questions to her and looked at me for agreement. The doctor came in –introduced herself and went right to mom’s face. Mom backed up and asked her what she was doing and the doctor just kind of looked at her – and then me, and the doctor explained she was just going to look at her face. LOLOL, (keeps me from crying) I guess it is one of those “you have had to been there” stories.
Anyway, she had some spots frozen off and the doctor took two biopsies- one off of each cheek. She put band aids on the biopsies. By this time the freezing pain had settled in- her face was priceless, and she was complaining that her face hurt- and asked the doctor what she had done to her face. (LOLOLOL, yes I actually chuckled.) Dorothy could not remember from 45 seconds what was happening. The doctor looked at me for help- I told mom what was happening and assured her she was going to be fine. At this point the doctor praised her for being such a good patient. (Note to self- ask the front office staff to write DEMENTED on the outside of the folder in big red letters so the doctor will see it.)
We left the examining room with facemasks on- when we left the office and closed the door– she asked where we were going. Sigh! Then she asked where we had been. She read the name on every door on the way out. It’s interesting to me that her brain can still put letters into words and those words into speech- but she can’t remember what she just did. When we were outside I told mom she could take her mask off- she said a firm NO- she did not want her face to get infected. Dementia is weird- how at that moment did she know what she had just done?
I find myself sometimes doing the same thing- not remembering where I put my phone, my keys, did I lock the door? Why am I in this room? Etc., etc., etc. And I wonder if when I’m with mom I’m looking at my future. Then I shake it off and move on- my ex-husband tried to teach me that there was no reason to worry about what might be- it will be what it will be. I am just now learning that. (-:
It was a good day, we had lunch together, hung out together, laughed together, cried together and even played her song over and over a few times. It will be a few weeks and we will take the trip back to the doctor’s office to either have the two biopsied cheeks either frozen or another procedure done. We will not worry about it- we will deal with it when it comes.
Love and Light!
Cheryl Doreen
Dorothy's Dementia 