Estelle In Virginia: Monday, March 28, 2011

Two weeks today and still acclimating. Today was another "first" and a surprise for both Estelle and I.

I seem to always arrive before they are done giving the morning baths and dressing the patients so I spent my first half-hour or so reading old magazines in the hallway. Usually when the aides are done they simply come and get me and tell me that I can go in the room now but today they came out to where I was sitting with a surprise - Estelle!!

She was in the chair and ready to go. We decided on the "day" room which doubles as the dining room during meal times since it is bright, airy, looks outdoors on two sides, has a television, is close to her room and was not heavily populated at the time.

Unfortunately she refused to open her eyes for the entire time we were there. She was talking, even had a fairly long phone conversation with her friend, Meryl, but would not look around at all. I'm not sure why. She seemed a bit confused as to where she was and perhaps she was fearful, but that's conjecture on my part, I really don't know why.

She was a bit upset and confused at first - wanting to call Vivian and speak to her - wanting to know when she could "go home," and wondering where her husband was and why he was not telling her what to do. However, her lucidity soon returned as she reported to me that that's what husband's do, you know, they tell you what to do all the time.

We stayed in the sitting area for a little less than two hours, sometimes talking, sometimes not. I did ask that they return her to her room before I left because she did still seem a little confused and I did not want her to be alone and frightened. The head nurse took her right back to her room when I requested and I stayed a bit longer and she was fast asleep in the reclining chair when I left.

I was glad to see her breathing remained stable the entire time - without supplemental oxygen and she seems to be sitting straighter and not slumping to the side nearly as much as before.

I took a few pictures while we were "out and about" and I'll share them with you all.

We are still waiting for maintenance to come and hang the other three pictures on her walls. One is a large O'Keefe print from her condo and the other two are photo collages which we've made from the photos everyone's sent.