Wheelchair

 

 

              My late father hated using a wheelchair. He had difficulty walking. He could walk very slowly, but he always refused to ride a wheelchair throughout his lifetime.

              Honestly speaking as a caregiver, if he took a wheelchair, it made my life easier. Following his weak walking was harder. If he could go with a wheelchair, I could move at my normal pace. We could move faster. Furthermore, it would clearly explain that I was a caregiver. Other people could easily understand that I was a caregiver. Maybe I looked like a good man. Please imagine a middle-aged man who stalks a weakly walking old man. No one can understand what he is doing. He can be a suspicious man. He can be a robber. I’d always wanted him to use a wheelchair.

              Still, I think my father was right.

              For an old man whose condition has no problems, walking is good exercise. Walking increases healthy conditions. It makes one’s life longer. Caregivers should not take away that opportunity. If an old man has the willingness and ability to walk, the caregiver should not force the person to use a wheelchair. That might be seen as the caregiver’s selfishness.

              When I took care of my father, I never forced him to use a wheelchair. I just followed his slow walking. People used to stare at me. I think I was a good caregiver. I just watched over him, but people couldn’t understand. On TV or movies, caregiving is always outright, like steering a wheelchair and meal assistance, but based on my experience, most caregiving practices were not simple like those.

              My father passed away without using a wheelchair at all.

              When I age, I should avoid a wheelchair like my father. I want to walk as long as I can, but it could take up much of the caregiver’s time. Most caregivers might be busy, like I used to be. I hope I will be taken care of by not-so-busy caregivers in the future.

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Playing a Priest

 

 

              When I lived with my mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease, I used to play an original game with my mother. I named it “playing a priest.”

              Caregiving for an Alzheimer’s disease patient is very hard. I needed to take care of my mother. People who were the same age as me were enjoying life. They could enjoy jobs, hobbies, and normal home lives. I was almost a shut-in. I needed to spend much time with my mother, who couldn’t even communicate with me. When I thought about my life, it made my mind blue. I was wasting my life.

              Then I invented the “playing a priest” game.

              I was trying to assume that I was not taking care of my mother. I tried to assume that I was a priest in a shrine. The shrine enshrined this kind of goddess. Japanese Shinto deities are more like Greek myths. Sometimes they might make trouble. Japanese priests are always calm and graceful. I always spoke the most polite words to my mother because I was a priest who worked for a goddess.

              This is a good way to treat an Alzheimer’s patient. If the caregivers use polite words, the patients tend to be calm. It was useful for my anger management. I was a priest. A priest never gets angry at a goddess. The goddess makes many troubles, but the priest accepts all of them.

              One day my mother was returned from a day service and saw our house. She spoke. “Where is here? Is this a shrine?”

              I didn’t mention that I had been playing a priest in front of my mother, but somehow she felt that our house had the atmosphere of a shrine.

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Single-Use Suit

  

             A friend of mine taught at a university. When I published a book about caring for my mother who had Alzheimer’s disease, she invited me to her class as a guest speaker.

             My job did not require me to wear a suit at the workplace, but I wanted to buy a nice suit for this. It was a good opportunity to have a nice suit, so I bought a really good one.

             I spoke in front of her students, who shoulder hopes for Japan’s future, with a brand new expensive nice suit. Having a nice suit was great. It gave me confidence. If I had an opportunity to visit some official place, I could come with the suit and confidence.

             Short after that, I spent a month in a hospital. I lost a lot of weight. I had been a tubby type, so that was good change for my health. But that expensive suit would never fit me anymore. If I wore it, I would look like a gangster from an old movie.

             Now, I have kept that weight off. If I maintain my weight, the suit could be a single-use suit. I don’t want gain weight again, for the sake of my health.

             Either way, I didn’t waste the money. I invested in making a good impression on the students, who are Japan’s future.

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Starting to Hate My Favorite Tunes

 

When I lived with my mother who had Alzheimer’s disease, I needed to be very punctual. I helped her at the same hour every day with tasks like waking her up, taking to the toilet, sending her to day service, and serving her dinner. I set alarms on my smartphone, using my favorite tunes to let me know when I needed care of her.

Being a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s person is not an exciting job. Actually, I hated it. Escorting my mother to the toilet was unpleasant. Supporting her with meals was boring. I cared for my mother for over ten years. The alarms always disturbed my private time. It felt like they made me take care of her.

             When my mother was in day service or short stay, I listened to my favorite tunes on my smartphone. I used the shuffle function, and sometimes my smartphone played the tunes I used as alarms for caring for my mother. When I heard the tunes, I thought, “I need to go take care of her.” At first, these were my favorite tunes, but I ended up connecting them to caregiving. I started to hate my favorite tunes.

             Now, my mother is in a nursing home. A few years have passed. Do I still hate the tunes I used as alarms?

             I actually can’t remember which tunes they were. My favorite tunes have become my favorite tunes again.

             That is nice. If I hated the tunes forever because I connected them to caregiving, I would feel bad for the artists who created them.

             I thank the artists. I got through the long hard caregiving because of the tunes. You know what? Music has actual powers.

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My Impression

A few years ago, I passed out at home. My wife called an ambulance, and I was admitted to a hospital. I was in the intensive care unit and was completely unconscious for a week. Sometime the next week, I regained consciousness, having had a narrow escape. Thanks to the doctors and nurses at that hospital, I became almost fine a few weeks later.

One day, when a doctor and I were chatting, the doctor said to me, “I couldn’t have imagined that you were the talkative type.”

I was shocked. I am the talkative type. All of my friends know it. How could someone assume something like that?

When I had met the doctor, I was in a coma. I didn’t have any expression on my face. He knew my “real” face. Depending on how he had seen my real face, my appearance would have looked reticent.

I am an adult, so I do know the meaning of the saying “Silence is golden, and speech is silver,” but my impression could be reticent to anyone. From now on, I should actively speak to everyone. I don’t want to be thought of as the reticent type.

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Blood Sugar Level

 

A few years ago, I passed out at home. My wife called an ambulance, and I was admitted to a hospital. I was in the intensive care unit and was completely unconscious for a week.

The reason was acute diabetes. I drank too much soda at the time.

Have you thought about your blood sugar level? Healthy people usually never care about that. Their blood sugar level might be around 80–99 mg/dl. A patient with a serious diabetic condition might have a level of around 800 mg/dl.

When I had arrived at the hospital, a doctor checked my blood sugar level. I was passed out, so I listened to the doctor later. My record was 2,154 mg/dl.

The doctor was surprised and said, “I have never seen such a figure!” The doctor then said to my wife, “Tonight would be the most critical stage of his illness.”

I survived, but I was completely unconscious for a week. The doctors and nurses worked hard to make me feel better, and then sometime the next week, I regained consciousness. I had had a narrow escape. After a few weeks, I was almost fine. I would leave the hospital before long.

The doctor came to my sickroom and said, “Your case is really rare. I want to write a treatise about you and publish it at a conference. Could you give me your signature on the document and permission to use your data?”

I wanted to contribute to medical science. I happily signed. Maybe at some medical conference, my data might surprise many doctors.

Don’t drink too much soda.

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Tasty Dramas

 

My wife loves TV dramas. I also love them, but my wife is always influenced by them.

Once, we watched a drama about the person who made Japanese whisky. My wife usually drank beer, but she started to drink whisky.

Once, we watched a drama about the person who invented instant ramen noodles. She started eating instant ramen noodles.

If we love dramas, we should be influenced in this way. We should watch and sample. I guess this is a good way to enjoy dramas.

I will follow her example and allow dramas to influence me.

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