8-6-2021 The magic of Facetime and Linda’s dream of diving

(Tricia)

Oh, the days when a fever and cough were just a fever and cough, and not the cause of two days of angst! Although it was unlikely that I would test positive for COVID, I still didn't breathe easily until I got the results of my test this morning—and it was negative, thank goodness!  Normally, finding out one has the flu isn't that much cause for celebration, but we're not exactly living in normal times.

Because I'm still not 100% symptom-free, Ed went to see Linda tonight alone, and patched me in on Facetime. He had told Linda I wasn't there because I was sick, and when I told Linda I was sorry I couldn't be there in person, she said that was OK, because I needed to get better. She thanked me for sending Ed! I walked around our house with my phone to show Linda our three cats—Davy, Bling, and Hopscotch—and to see if she remembered Bling and Hopper from her past visits. While I'm not sure she did, she seemed to commiserate with Davy when I admitted I woke him up to say hi to her. ("You didn't wake him up, did you?")  She talked about how cute Hopscotch was, which is an immediate red flag. Under normal circumstances, Linda isn't a big fan of cats in general or Hopscotch specifically. :-) 

I don't know if it was the fact that we were talking about our pets, but suddenly Linda asked, "Where's Dukie?" Dukie was the pet poodle our family had when I was growing up--he was so cute and incredibly smart. I wasn't sure how to respond, so I simply said, "I'm so sorry, he's not here. But he was a great dog, wasn't he? I loved growing up with him." I had hoped to leave it at that, but she pressed further to ask, "What happened to him?" I told her that unfortunately, he was hit by a car one night after Mother let him out before we went to bed (he couldn't hear or see so well, so we speculated that he simply didn't sense the car was coming). I told her that he had been 14 and had had a good, long life and we had loved him. She looked sad to hear this, but she seemed to accept that answer.

Ed put the Olympics on television, and once again, Linda watched the events with interest, from women's water polo to canoeing (we didn't even know that was an Olympic sport!). We discussed how the women's marathon wasn't the most interesting sport to watch on television. At one point, I asked Linda if she remembered what city the Olympics were being held in, and she responded, "Kansas?" I said that would be an unusual site for the games! When we told her they were being held in Tokyo, she told us that didn't sound right, but we assured her that the Olympics were indeed being held in Japan. I asked her again where it was held, and she couldn't quite get the word out, although we could tell she was trying to say "Tokyo."  I plan to ask her again this weekend, just to keep her on her toes!

When men's diving came on, she talked about how impressive it was. "I would do that, but they won't let me," she said in all seriousness. When Ed asked if she really wanted to jump off a diving board 30 feet above the water, she emphasized that she did. She said, "If I could do that, I would be so proud." (Linda also has not been one to be a fan of jumping from great heights!)

Just for fun, I asked if she would do a couple of math problems for me. I asked her to add 2+3, and she said "5," with some apparent indignation. But when I said, "OK, add 10+2," she responded with "14." So, that one wasn't quite so easy! She wasn't too happy with me when I told her that wasn't quite right. But then, after telling her that 10+2=12, I asked her what 10+4 added up to, and she said "14" without hesitation.  

Despite her continued confusion, the one constant in all of our visits is that she wants her independence back so badly. At one point, she wanted to get out of bed and insisted she could get up on her own. Ed helped her sit up and put the walker in front of her, so that she could put her hands on it. She tried her best to get her balance and stand. Ed and I both knew that she wouldn't be able to get out of bed on her own, and once she came to the same realization, she asked Ed to help her lie back down. Even so, it was great that she tried and could sit up as she did. The more she tries, the closer she'll get. Eventually, we hope she'll get there.

At this point, it was close to 9 and Linda was starting to fall asleep, so I told her good night and "I love you," and she did the same. Then we ended the call. What was so strange was that interacting over the iPad using Facetime didn't seem to faze her at all. We were still able to have our "visit." Modern technology certainly has its advantages.

But as great as technology can be, I hope to get back to seeing her in person this weekend.



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