Tag Archives: visiting Harvey at the nursing home

November 13, 2025 · 3:34 am

Thursday Thoughts 11-13-2025

James Lucas – Substack. – I WANT this!!!!

____________________

Family Handyman

I’m having real trouble with the door on my place. For a while, it was just a challenge to open and close. It got so that I had to put my foot on the door frame when I was inside to get enough leverage to finally pull it open. Same thing on the outside with my key, with my foot on the door trying to force it open. Finally it has gotten to the point where I cannot get in or out by myself.

Fortunately, Brian lives in the same building, so he comes to get me and forces the door open and closed for me, brings me supplies, checks on me regularly, and has called the problem in to the building handyman who is trying to make time to come look at things. He will either think the door can be fixed and arrange for someone to come and do that, or will tell us that it cannot be fixed and we’ll have to buy a new door with a new lock and he will arrange for someone to bring those and install them for us.

Either way, my job is to show patience. This is an annoyance, rather than a big issue, since Brian is so careful to take good care of me. I’ll be very happy when leaving and coming back to my place isn’t such a challenge.

____________________________

We went to visit Harvey this morning. We had trouble getting a Grab because graduation day was happening at a bunch (or maybe all) of the schools and there weren’t enough Grabs to accommodate everyone who wanted to go somewhere. The streets were especially clogges, and lines of students in their various uniforms were everywhere on the sidewalks.

___________________

Harvey seemed comfortable and more alert than sometimes. He announced that ‘they’ had tried to kill the head nurse there by filling her nasal tube with salt…. Other than that, he seemed to follow things we were telling him, so the visit was what passes for success these days.

People had been harvesting more of the rice growing around the nursing home. There were at LEAST 30 birds – some completely white and some gray and white – all with long legs – in the water in the fields while we were there. Their wings caught the light and it was really a nice sight.

____________________

I’ve had a short afternoon since the trip to see Harvey took a good 4 hours or more today, so I’m late writing blog posts. I’ve also been trying to do my chores in getting ready for Khun Nong, my housekeeper, to come tomorrow.

____________________

I did these two drawings on small cards for Khun Nong, but yesterday I did full sized images of them. I had a great time.

I hope that your day is fun filled and that your face hurts from smiling.

4 Comments

Filed under Thoughts on a ________

Tagged as , , , , ,

June 10, 2025 · 4:21 am

A Good Day

This is from my friend, Marsha. I have to say it takes the whole idea of facing things with optimism to a whole new level! 🤣

We went to visit Harvey this morning. This was the most lucid he has been, although the neurologist has warned us that episodes like this may not be repeated. We had good contact today, he thanked us for coming (!), knew who we were, wanted us to fix his watch and download more books on his Kindle for him. We left feeling that we had had the first contact in a LONG time with him.

We stopped on the way home for a celebratory coffee. I had the best tall, cold glass of Thai chocolate on the planet. Brian laughed at my face when he saw my reaction after the first sip. Beyond words! 🤗

I’m still suffering from my sore back. I’m beginning to suspect that this is due to side effects from my new blood pressure medicine. I read the side effects and two of them are light-headedness and back pain. Brian is going to see what else he can find. Meanwhile, I’m taking pain pills morning and night, electrolytes and three magnesium pills in the morning, a concentrated version of potassium with distilled water in the afternoon, and I’m doing gentle walking around my condo and trying to stretch some.

Our cleaning lady is working in Brian’s place today from 4:30-7:30. He is doing his work at a place cleverly called, “The Work Space” today, and will bring dinner to my place around 6:30 this evening. I have had a resting day. I may be be bringing being a slug to an art form…

I hope you are well today.

10 Comments

Filed under Family

Tagged as , , , , ,

June 3, 2025 · 8:48 pm

Wednesday, June 4, 8:32 a.m.

From my dear friend, Marsha.

I’ve had my mile walk at the gym, shower, and breakfast, and am ready (more or less) to tackle the world. 😄

The main thing on our schedule today is to go see Harvey at the nursing home. I’m really hoping he is glad to see us and talkative, even if he doesn’t make any sense. The last few times he looked up when we come into his room, but he didn’t react, and ignored the fact we were there, content to stare at the TV, silent, unless we proded him with questions. Then the answers were mostly one word.

It makes it even harder than it already is, when you have no clue whether coming to see him is of any benefit at all to him or not. It doesn’t really matter in the long run if he knows who we are or not. If he was happy we came, we could try to make that enough.

Our new routine, for financial and sanity reasons, is to visit him one day and not visit the next two, boiling down to three times a week. We are hoping that he will get with the program there, be more cooperative with the staff, and be comfortable with his new ‘in-the-moment-40-or-more-years-ago’ life.

Brian needs to spend a longer time at work today, so we may or may not stop for a coffee on the way home, and then I’ll entertain myself with all the wonderful things I can do in my condo.

I hope that your day has been an enjoyable one.

6 Comments

Filed under Thoughts on a ________

Tagged as , ,

May 25, 2025 · 8:54 pm

Monday, May 26, 8:32 am

After my walking on the treadmill at the gym this morning, we again put on our “Thailand Raincoats” in the covered parking spaces just outside the gym. These are trashbags with sleeves and a hood with drawstrings. They really do a great job, where my tote got wet yesterday under my umbrella. I have the clever raincoat on my laundry rack drying now. I can fold it up and keep it in my tote for use the next time we have a good amount of walking to do, rather than simply getting into or out of a Grab. (Mine is purple, though it looks pink in this photo. Brian’s is blue. – we have a standing joke about him apologizing for not getting yellow – begun when MAC offered computers in that color that were simply hideous! I even LIKE yellow as a rule, but certainly not on my computer…)

Soon we’ll go see Harvey. He did have the nurse call Brian yesterday. He said, “Get me out of here,” about being at the hospital for tests. Brian assured him that the tests were over and that he, accompanied by Miko, would be on their way home soon. Miko thanked Brian, saying Harvey calmed down after talking with him. It will be interesting to see if Harvey 1) knows us, 2) missed us visiting yesterday, 3) remembers being at the hospital, 4) is still complaining about everything and threatening to do harm to the male nurse and the male physical therapy expert at the nursing home.

He keeps wanting to get out of bed. He thinks he can walk by himself, but it takes the PT guy with a strong belt that goes around Harvey’s waist to hold him up so he can walk, shuffling, to the wheelchair in the room or sometimes even to the front porch of the facility. He would certainly fall and hurt himself, possibly ending up in the hospital again if he tried. We have explained this to him endless times, but haven’t been able to get through to him yet…

Brian needs to work today, so he’ll do that while I do various fun things in my condo. We’ll regroup around 5pm and walk to a place Brian thinks I might find a larger tote I can use.

I wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day. I realize that as I type this, it is still Sunday evening for some of you. For others, it is already Monday evening. So a happy celebration to all who remember this day.

7 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , ,